For instance,
Northern buyers could see three dollars a head difference in
three-year-old steers, but with the average Texan the age classified
them all alike. My boyhood knowledge of cattle had taught me the
difference, but in range dealing it was impossible to apply the
principle. I made many warm friends among both buyers and drovers,
bringing them together and effecting sales, and it was really a matter
of regret that I had to leave before the season was over. I loved the
atmosphere of dicker and traffic, had made one of the largest sales of
the season with our beeves, and was leaving, firm in the conviction
that I had overlooked no feature of the market of future value.
After selling the oxen we broke some of our saddle stock to harness,
altered the wagon tongue for horses, and started across the country
for home, taking our full remuda with us. Where I had gone up the
trail with five horses, I was going back with twenty; some of the oxen
I had sold at treble their original cost, while none of them failed
to double my money--on credit. Taking it all in all, I had never
seen such good times and made money as easily. On the back track we
followed the trail, but instead of going down the Washita as we had
come, we followed the Chisholm trail to the Texas boundary, crossing
at what was afterward known as Red River Station. From there home was
an easy matter, and after an absence of four months and five days the
outfit rode into the Edwards ranch with a flourish.
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