Chapter 4

Things were getting a little complicated now, what with me trying to take on the bunch of thieves who had gathered together from the railroad and the stock buyers. I should have been worried over it and I would have been if I were really as dumb as I looked. I did have a couple of advantages over them though and I knew it.

They were too small an outfit to try something like this and even if they didn't know it I did. People back east had to have meat for the table, or at least they thought they did, and the small stopper the local buyers and railroad section boss had tried to put in the bottle just couldn't hold the pressure.

The cattle drive to Ft Worth was only a little more than a hundred miles and while it was senseless on the face of things it was close enough to give us an alternative market for our stock.

The local auction was put on hold for a month due to the meager turnout and it was right up my alley. I had my hands make a thorough gather of both ranches' stock and they beat the bushes and brought in everything they could find. I let the word out to a few of the smaller spreads and within a couple of days I was not only buying up stock the smaller places wanted to turn into cash I was also contracting with them for a dollar a head to drive their stock to Ft Worth to sell it for them.

I also sent several wires to buyers from other places letting them know when we'd be showing up in Ft Worth to sell and also sending in approximate figures for the stock we'd have available.

With things on the local scene quiet and since the railroad knew perfectly well there'd be no auction near us for a while I got another message from the railroad man who'd been contacting me. Seems his schedule had loosened up a little and he could now see his way clear to a meeting at my home if the offer was still open.

I sent a message back telling him he was welcome anytime, but I did mention the time I'd be gone for our drive to Ft Worth and I also let him in on the reason I wouldn't be available. Two days later I got a message that seemed to almost be begging for me to postpone the drive to Ft Worth and promising me we'd get better than the former prices we'd been offered lately at the local sale.

I returned his message letting him know his offer was too little too late and hoping we could do business next year. Lo and behold he showed up at my place two days later. Things were already all set up for the drive starting two days later and many of the men were already sleeping out to keep a watch on our traveling herd.

My mother gave me a good talking to over the proper treatment of guest in our home before supper with the railroad man and it sure put a kink on what I was going to say to him.

Instead of telling him he was too stupid and puffed up with his own importance to do business with me I told him how sorry I was things had come to this and I let him know I'd try my hardest to get along with him next year. He was not in a good mood when he left and no doubt he was in even a worse mood on his return trip.

I didn't have a thing to do with it but I'll admit I didn't mind. Some jackasses had tried to stop a train and rob it and they had actually blown out a large section of a bridge across the Red River. Really it saved one hell of a lot of confusion since it stopped his railroad's traffic for about six weeks. If he'd made a deal with me it would have all fallen through for us since I'm sure any promises he'd have made to me over prices would have been reneged upon since they couldn't have shipped the cattle if they'd have bought them.