"What are your cattle worth laid down on
the Platte?" was the usual rejoinder, followed by a drink, a cigar,
and a conference, sometimes ending in a deal or terminating in a
friendly acquaintance. I had met many of these men at Abilene,
Wichita, and Great Bend, and later at Dodge City and Ogalalla, and now
they had invaded Texas, and the son of a prophet could not foretell
the future. Our firm never offered a hoof, but the three days of the
convention were forewarnings of the next few years to follow. I was
personally interested in the general tendency of the men from the
upper country to contract for heifers and young cows, and while the
prices offered for Northern delivery were a distinct advance over
those of the summer before, I resisted all temptations to enter into
agreements. The Northern buyers and trail drovers selfishly joined
issues in bearing prices in Texas; yet, in spite of their united
efforts, over two hundred thousand cattle were sold during the
meeting, and at figures averaging fully three dollars a head over
those of the previous spring.
The convention adjourned, and those in attendance scattered to their
homes and business. Between midnight and morning of the last day of
the meeting, Major Hunter and I closed contracts for two trail herds
of sixty-five hundred head in Erath and Comanche counties. Within a
week two others of straight three-year-olds were secured,--one in my
home county and the other fifty miles northwest in Throckmorton.
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