Philip of Texas

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Otis James. Philip of Texas

FOREWORD

MY DREAMS OF A SHEEP RANCH

SHEEP RAISING

HERDING SHEEP

SOMETHING ABOUT TEXAS

LAND GRANTS

THE "TEXAS FEVER"

WHY I WANTED TO GO INTO TEXAS

HUNTING IN TEXAS

FATHER GOES TO SPY OUT THE LAND

OUR PLANTATION IN MISSISSIPPI

FATHER COMES HOME

THE BIGNESS OF TEXAS

WHERE WE WERE GOING

WHAT I HOPED TO DO

CATTLE DRIVING

HOW WE SET OUT

A LABORIOUS JOURNEY

COMANCHE INDIANS

FATHER COMES TO MY RESCUE

THE ARRIVAL AT FORT TOWSON

PREPARING FOR A STORM

A DRY "NORTHER"

TWO KINDS OF "NORTHERS"

HOW TURKEYS KILL RATTLESNAKES

DEER AND RATTLESNAKES

MAKING A CORRAL OF WAGONS

ON THE TRAIL ONCE MORE

MESQUITE

A TEXAS SHEEP RANCH

THE PROFITS FROM SHEEP RAISING

FATHER'S LAND CLAIM

SPANISH MEASUREMENTS

THE CHAPARRAL COCK

OUR FIRST NIGHT ON THE TRINITY

STANDING GUARD

A TURKEY BUZZARD

PLANS FOR BUILDING A HOUSE

THE COOK SHANTY

A STORM OF RAIN

A DAY OF DISCOMFORT

THINKING OF THE OLD HOME

WAITING FOR THE SUN

TOO MUCH WATER

THE STREAM RISING

TRYING TO SAVE THE STOCK

THE ANIMALS STAMPEDED

SAVING OUR OWN LIVES

A RAGING TORRENT

A TIME OF DISASTER

THE FLOOD SUBSIDING

A JACK RABBIT

REPAIRING DAMAGES

ROUNDING UP THE LIVE STOCK

THE FIRST MEAL AFTER THE FLOOD

WAITING FOR FATHER

RECOVERING OUR GOODS

SETTING TO WORK IN GOOD EARNEST

SAWING OUT LUMBER

LABORING IN THE SAW PIT

WILD CATTLE

A DISAGREEABLE INTRUDER

ODD HUNTING

A SUPPLY OF FRESH MEAT

"JERKING" BEEF

SEARCHING FOR THE CATTLE AGAIN

OUR NEW HOME

PLANTING, AND BUILDING CORRALS

BAR-O RANCH

AN ODD CART

THE VISITORS

ZEBA'S CURIOSITY

POSSIBLE TREACHERY

SUSPICIOUS BEHAVIOR

GYP'S FIGHT WITH A COUGAR

IN A DANGEROUS POSITION

HUNTING WILD HOGS

TREED BY PECCARIES

GYP'S OBEDIENCE

MY CARELESSNESS

VICIOUS LITTLE ANIMALS

FATHER COMES TO THE RESCUE

THE INCREASE IN MY FLOCK

UNREST OF THE INDIANS

TEXAS JOINS THE UNION

WAR WITH MEXICO

SELLING WOOL

PEACE ON THE TRINITY

MY DREAM FULFILLED

Отрывок из книги

The day I was twelve years old, father gave me twelve ewes out of his flock of seventy-two, counting these sheep as payment for the work I had done in tending them. Even at that time I thought myself a good shepherd, for I was able to keep a small flock well together.

With Gyp, our dog, I could have herded five hundred as readily as I did seventy-two, because on our plantation in Mississippi the pastures were fenced. Therefore when father began to talk of moving to Texas and there making a venture in the cattle business, I decided at once that if he did so, it should be my aim to raise sheep. With this idea I gathered from the neighbors roundabout, who had larger flocks than ours, all the possible information about the business in our own state.

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Of course if the scab gets among the sheep, or the Indians kill many, or the wolves can't be kept away, there will be more or less loss which must come out of the seventeen hundred dollars; but take it all in all, unless one has very hard luck, it seems to me he should be able to count on at least a thousand dollars profit from five hundred sheep.

Now it might seem as if this matter of raising sheep, and the profit to be had from them, could have no influence in deciding my going from the state of Mississippi to the republic of Texas, and yet if it had not been for my hope of one day owning a big sheep ranch, I would not have been so delighted when father began to talk of making a new home in that country which had so lately separated from Mexico.

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