Taking advantage of
creeks and watercourses, natural boundaries that a prairie fire could
hardly jump, we had cut and quartered the pasture with fire-guards in
such a manner that, unless there was a concerted action on the part of
any hirelings of our enemies, it would have been impossible to have
burned more than a small portion of the range at any one time.
But these malicious attempts at our injury made the outfit doubly
vigilant, and cutting fences and burning range would have proven
unhealthful occupations had the perpetrators, red or white, fallen
into the hands of the foreman and his men. I naturally looked on the
bright side of the future, and in the hope that, once the entire range
was fenced, we could keep trespassers out, I made preparations for the
spring drive.
With the first appearance of grass, all the surplus horses were
ordered down to Texas from the company ranch. There was a noticeable
lull at the cattle convention that spring, and an absence of buyers
from the Northwest was apparent, resulting in little or no trouble
in contracting for delivery on the ranch, and in buying on company
account at the prevailing prices of the spring before. Cattle were
high enough as it was; in fact the market was top-heavy and wobbling
on its feet, though the brightest of us cowmen naturally supposed that
current values would always remain up in the pictures.
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