Receiving cattle with me was an old story by this time, and frequently
matters came to a standstill between the sellers and ourselves. We
paid no attention to former customs of the country; all cattle had
to come up full-aged or go into the younger class, while inferior or
knotty stags were turned back as not wanted. Scarcely a day passed but
there was more or less dispute; but we proposed paying for them, and
insisted that all cattle tendered must come up to the specifications
of the contract. We stood firm, and after the first two herds were
received, all trouble on that score passed, and in making up the last
three herds there was actually a surplus of cattle tendered. We used a
road brand that year on all steers purchased, and the herds moved out
from two to three days apart, the last two being made up in Coryell,
the adjoining county north.
George Edwards had charge of the rear herd. There were fourteen days
between the first and the last starts, a fortnight of hard work, and
we frequently received from ten to thirty miles distant from the
branding pens. I rode almost night and day, and Edwards likewise,
while Major Hunter kept all the accounts and settled with the sellers.
As fast as one herd was ready, it moved out under a foreman and
fourteen men, one hundred saddle horses, and a well-stocked
commissary. We did our banking at Belton, the county seat, and after
the last herd started we returned to town and received quite an
ovation from the business men of the village.
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