The Outlet

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Adams Andy. The Outlet

PREFACE

CHAPTER I. OPENING THE CAMPAIGN

CHAPTER II. ORGANIZING THE FORCES

CHAPTER III. RECEIVING AT LOS LOBOS

CHAPTER IV. MINGLING WITH THE EXODUS

CHAPTER V. RED RIVER STATION

CHAPTER VI. CAMP SUPPLY

CHAPTER VII. WHEN GREEK MEETS GREEK

CHAPTER VIII. EN PASSANT

CHAPTER IX. AT SHERIFF'S CREEK

CHAPTER X. A FAMILY REUNION

CHAPTER XI. ALL IN THE DAY'S WORK

CHAPTER XII. MARSHALING THE FORCES

CHAPTER XIII. JUSTICE IN THE SADDLE

CHAPTER XIV. TURNING THE TABLES

CHAPTER XV. TOLLESTON BUTTS IN

CHAPTER XVI. CROSSING THE NIOBRARA

CHAPTER XVII. WATER-BOUND

CHAPTER XVIII. THE LITTLE MISSOURI

CHAPTER XIX. IN QUARANTINE

CHAPTER XX. ON THE JUST AND THE UNJUST

CHAPTER XXI. FORT BUFORD

CHAPTER XXII. A SOLDIER'S HONOR

CHAPTER XXIII. KANGAROOED

CHAPTER XXIV. THE WINTER OF OUR DISCONTENT

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"Well, gentlemen, if that is the best rate you can offer us, then we'll drive the cattle. My boys have all been over the trail before, and your figures are no inducement to ship as far as Red River. We are fully aware of the nature of the country, but we can deliver the herds at their destination for less than you ask us for shipping them one third of the distance. No; we'll drive all the way."

The speaker was Don Lovell, a trail drover, and the parties addressed were the general freight agents of three railroad lines operating in Texas. A conference had been agreed upon, and we had come in by train from the ranch in Medina County to attend the meeting in San Antonio. The railroad representatives were shrewd, affable gentlemen, and presented an array of facts hard to overcome. They were well aware of the obstacles to be encountered in the arid, western portion of the state, and magnified every possibility into a stern reality. Unrolling a large state map upon the table, around which the principals were sitting, the agent of the Denver and Fort Worth traced the trail from Buffalo Gap to Doan's Crossing on Red River. Producing what was declared to be a report of the immigration agent of his line, he showed by statistics that whole counties through which the old trail ran had recently been settled up by Scandinavian immigrants. The representative of the Missouri, Kansas, and Texas, when opportunity offered, enumerated every disaster which had happened to any herd to the westward of his line in the past five years. The factor of the International was equally well posted.

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On the arrival of the train, several other westward-bound cowmen boarded it. We all took seats in the smoker, it being but a two hours' run to our destination. Flood and I were sitting well forward in the car, the former almost as elated over my good fortune as myself. "Well, won't old Quince be all puffed up," said Jim to me, "when the old man tells him he's to have a herd. Now, I've never said a word in favor of either one of you. Of course, when Mr. Lovell asked me if I knew certain trail foremen who were liable to be idle this year, I intimated that he had plenty of material in his employ to make a few of his own. The old man may be a trifle slow on reaching a decision, but once he makes up his mind, he's there till the cows come home. Now, all you and Quince need to do is to make good, for you couldn't ask for a better man behind you. In making up your outfit, you want to know every man you hire, and give a preference to gray hairs, for they're not so liable to admire their shadow in sunny or get homesick in falling weather. Tom, where you made a ten-strike with the old man was in accepting that horse herd at Dodge last fall. Had you made a whine or whimper then, the chances are you wouldn't be bossing a herd this year. Lovell is a cowman who likes to see a fellow take his medicine with a smile."

Riding over with us to where a group were sitting on their horses, our employer scanned the crowd without saying a word. Turning halfway in his saddle, he looked over towards Flood's remuda and said: "One of you boys please ride over and tell Paul I want him." During the rather embarrassing interim, the conversation instantly changed, and we borrowed tobacco and rolled cigarettes to kill time.

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