The upshot of
the proposal was that we entered into an agreement whereby I was to
purchase and handle the cattle, and he was to make himself useful
in selling and placing the stock in his State. A silent partner was
furnishing an equal portion of the means, and I was to have a third
of the net profits. Within a week after this agreement was perfected,
things were moving. I had the horses and wagons, men were plentiful,
and two outfits were engaged. Early in March a contract was let in
Parker County for thirty-one hundred two-year-old steers, and another
in Young for fourteen hundred threes, the latter to be delivered at my
ranch. George Edwards was to have the younger cattle, and he and Mr.
Hunter received the same, after which the latter hurried west, fully
ninety miles, to settle for those bought for delivery on the Clear
Fork. In the mean time my ranch outfit had gathered all our steer
cattle two years old and over, having nearly twenty-five hundred head
under herd on my arrival to receive the three-year-olds. This amount
would make an unwieldy herd, and I culled back all short-aged twos and
thin steers until my individual contingent numbered even two thousand.
The contracted steers came in on time, fully up to the specifications,
and my herd was ready to start on the appointed day.
Every dollar of the fifty thousand was invested in cattle, save enough
to provision the wagons en route.
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