within a short time the mother followed
her husband to the grave, the family resources, affected by the war,
became involved, although the two Garrett plantations embraced nearly
three thousand acres of rich Louisiana soil. On January 25, 1869, Pat
Garrett, a tall and slender youth of eighteen, set out to seek his
fortunes in the wild West, with no resources but such as lay in his
brains and body.

He went to Lancaster, in Dallas county, Texas. A big ranch owner in
southern Texas wanted men, and Pat Garrett packed up and went home with
him. The world was new to him, however, and he went off with the
north-bound cows, like many another youngster of the time. His herd was
made up at Eagle Lake, and he only accompanied the drive as far north as
Denison. There he began to get uneasy, hearing of the delights of the
still wilder life of the buffalo hunters on the great plains which lay
to the west, in the Panhandle of Texas. For three winters, 1875 to 1877,
he was in and out between the buffalo range and the settlements, by this
time well wedded to frontier life.

In the fall of 1877, he went West once more, and this time kept on going
west. With two hardy companions, he pushed on entirely across the wild
and unknown Panhandle country, leaving the wagons near what was known as
the "Yellow Houses," and never returning to them. His blankets, personal
belongings, etc., he never saw again. He and his friends had their heavy
Sharps' rifles, plenty of powder and lead, and their reloading tools,
and they had nothing else. Their beds they made of their saddle
blankets, and their food they killed from the wild herds. For their
love of adventure, they rode on across an unknown country, until finally
they arrived at the little Mexican settlement of Fort Sumner, on the
Pecos river, in the month of February, 1878.

[Illustration: PAT F. GARRETT
The most famous peace officer of the Southwest]

Pat and his friends were hungry, but all the cash they could find was
just one dollar and a half between them. They gave it to Pat and sent
him over to the store to see about eating. He asked the price of meals,
and they told him fifty cents per meal. They would permit them to eat
but once. He concluded to buy a dollar and a half's worth of flour and
bacon, which would last for two or three meals. He joined his friends,
and they went into camp on the river bank, where they cooked and ate,
perfectly happy and quite careless about the future.

As