ere often called on to make even
greater distances, as the railroads were not so common then as now, and
transportation by rail was very little resorted to and except when beef
cattle were sent to the far east, they were always transported on the
hoof overland. Our route lay through southern Texas, Indian Territory,
Kansas and Nebraska, to the Shoshone mountains in northern Wyoming. We
had on this trip five hundred head of mostly four year old long horn
steers. We did not have much trouble with them until we struck Indian
Territory. On nearing the first Indian reservation, we were stopped by a
large body of Indian bucks who said we could not pass through their
country unless we gave them a steer for the privilege. Now as we were
following the regular government trail which was a free public highway,
it did not strike us as justifiable to pay our way, accordingly our boss
flatly refused to give the Indians a steer, remarking that we needed all
the cattle we had and proposed to keep them, but he would not mind
giving them something much warmer if they interfered with us. This
ultimatum of our boss had the effect of starting trouble right there. We
went into camp at the edge of the Indian country. All around us was the
tall blue grass of that region which in places was higher than a horse,
affording an ideal hiding place for the Indians. As we expected an
attack from the Indians, the boss arranged strong watches to keep a keen
lookout. We had no sooner finished making camp when the Indians showed
up, and charged us with a yell or rather a series of yells, I for one
had got well used to the blood curdling yells of the Indians and they
did not scare us in the least. We were all ready for them and after a
short but sharp fight the Indians withdrew and every thing became quiet,
but us cow boys were not such guys as to be fooled by the seeming
quietness. We knew it was only the calm before the storm, and we
prepared ourselves accordingly, but we were all dead tired and it was
necessary that we secure as much rest as possible, so the low watch
turned in to rest until midnight, when they were to relieve the upper
watch, in whose hands the safety of the camp was placed till that time.
Every man slept with his boots on and his gun near his hand. We had been
sleeping several hours, but it seemed to me only a few minutes when the
danger signal was given. Immediately every man was on his feet, gun in
hand and ready for business. The Ind