The purchase of
eight herds of heavy beeves would thus fall to Major Hunter. Austin
and San Antonio were decided on as headquarters and banking points,
and we started out on a preliminary skirmish. George Edwards had an
idea that the Indian awards could again be relet to advantage, and
started for the capital, while the major and I journeyed on south.
Some former sellers whom we accidentally met in San Antonio complained
that we had forsaken them and assured us that their county, Medina,
had not less than fifty thousand mature beeves. They offered to meet
any one's prices, and Major Hunter urged that I see a sample of the
cattle while en route to the Uvalde country. If they came up to
requirements, I was further authorized to buy in sufficient to fill
our contract at Fort Buford, which would require three herds, or ten
thousand head. It was an advantage to have this delivery start
from the same section, hold together en route, and arrive at their
destination as a unit. I was surprised at both the quality and the
quantity of the beeves along the tributaries of the Frio River, and
readily let a contract to a few leading cowmen for the full allotment.
My active partner was notified, and I went on to the headwaters of the
Nueces River. I knew the cattle of this section so well that there was
no occasion even to look at them, and in a few days contracted for
five herds of straight threes.
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