I felt no concern for my
personal welfare, riding in and out from Fort Reno at my will and
pleasure, though I well knew that my presence on the reservation was a
thorn in the flesh of my enemies. There was little to fear, however,
as the latter class of men never met an adversary in the open, but by
secret methods sought to accomplish their objects. The breach between
the Indian agent and these parasites of the army was constantly
widening, and an effort had been made to have the former removed, but
our friends at the national capital took a hand, and the movement was
thwarted. Fuel was being constantly added to the fire, and on our
taking a third lease on a million acres, the smoke gave way to flames.
Our usual pacific measures were pursued, buying out any cattle in
conflict, but fencing our entire range. The last addition to our
pasture embraced a strip of country twenty miles wide, lying north of
and parallel to the two former leases, and gave us a range on which no
animal need ever feel the restriction of a fence. Ten to fifteen acres
were sufficient to graze a steer the year round, but owing to the fact
that we depended entirely on running water, much of the range would
be valueless during the dry summer months. I readily understood the
advantages of a half-stocked range, and expected in the future to
allow twenty-five acres in the summer and thirty in the winter to the
pasture's holdings.
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