Edwards
and my active partner volunteered for this work, it being understood
that the Uvalde remudas would be retained for ranch use, and that
not over ten thousand cattle were to be put on the new range for the
winter. Our silent partner was rapidly awakening to the importance of
his usefulness in securing future contracts with the War and Indian
departments, and vaguely outlining the future, we separated to three
points of the compass.
CHAPTER XIV
ESTABLISHING A NEW RANCH
I hardly knew Fort Worth on my return. The town was in the midst of
a boom. The foundations of many store buildings were laid on Monday
morning, and by Saturday night they were occupied and doing a
land-office business. Lots that could have been bought in the spring
for one hundred dollars were now commanding a thousand, while land
scrip was quoted as scarce at twenty-five cents an acre. I hurried
home, spoke to my wife, and engaged two surveyors to report one
week later at my ranch on the Clear Fork. Big as was the State and
boundless as was her public domain, I could not afford to allow this
advancing prosperity to catch me asleep again, and I firmly concluded
to empty that little tin trunk of its musty land scrip. True enough,
the present boom was not noticeable on the frontier, yet there was
a buoyant feeling in the air that betokened a brilliant future.
Something enthused me, and as my creed was land and cattle, I made up
my mind to plunge into both to my full capacity.
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