d broken out at the post, and five or
six men were dying daily. It was difficult to tell which was the greater
danger--fighting Indians on the prairie, or facing the cholera in camp;
but the former was decidedly the more inviting.

CHAPTER XIII.

A MILLIONAIRE.

Soon after returning to Fort Hays, I was sent with dispatches to Fort
Harker. After delivering the messages, I visited the town of Ellsworth,
about three miles west of Fort Harker, and there I met a man named
William Rose, a contractor on the Kansas Pacific Railroad, who had a
contract for grading near Fort Hays. He had had his stock stolen by the
Indians, and had come to Ellsworth to buy more.

During the course of our conversation, Mr. Rose incidentally remarked
that he had some idea of laying out a town on the west side of Big Creek,
about one mile from the fort, where the railroad was to cross. He asked
my opinion of the contemplated enterprise, and I told him that I thought
it was "a big thing." He then proposed taking me as a partner in the
scheme, and suggested that after we got the town laid out and thrown open
to the public, we should establish a store and saloon there.

Thinking it would be a grand thing to be half-owner of a town, I at once
accepted his proposition. We bought a stock of such articles as are
usually found in a frontier store, and transported them to the place on
Big Creek, where we were to found our town. We hired a railroad engineer
to survey the site and stake it off into lots; and we gave the new town
the ancient and historical name of Rome. To a "starter," we donated lots
to any one who would build on them, but reserved the corner lots and
others which were best located for ourselves. These reserved lots we
valued at fifty dollars each.

Our modern Rome, like all mushroom towns along the line of a new
railroad, sprang up as if by magic, and in less than one month we had two
hundred frame and log houses, three or four stores, several saloons, and
one good hotel. Rome was looming up, and Rose and I already considered
ourselves millionaires, and thought we "had the world by the tail." But
one day a fine-looking gentleman, calling himself Dr. W.E. Webb, appeared
in town, and dropping into our store introduced himself in a very
pleasant way.

"Gentlemen, you've got a very flourishing little town here. Wouldn't you
like to have a partner in your enterprise?"

"No, thank you," said I, "we have too good a thing here to wha