The trip was uneventful, the traveling was done
principally by night, and on the arrival at Loving's frontier home,
six hundred miles from Fort Sumner, his remains were laid at rest with
Masonic honors.
Over thirty years afterward a claim was made against the government
for the cattle lost at Horsehead Crossing. Wilson and I were witnesses
before the commissioner sent to take evidence in the case. The hearing
was held at a federal court, and after it was over, Wilson, while
drinking, accused me of suspecting him of deserting his employer,--a
suspicion I had, in fact, entertained at the time we discovered him
at the cave. I had never breathed it to a living man, yet it was the
truth, slumbering for a generation before finding expression.
CHAPTER V
SUMMER OF '68
The death of Mr. Loving ended my employment in driving cattle to Fort
Sumner. The junior member of the firm was anxious to continue the
trade then established, but the absence of any protection against the
Indians, either state or federal, was hopeless. Texas was suffering
from the internal troubles of Reconstruction, the paternal government
had small concern for the welfare of a State recently in arms against
the Union, and there was little or no hope for protection of life or
property under existing conditions. The outfit was accordingly paid
off, and I returned with George Edwards to his father's ranch.
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