e other the most powerful and the most popular man in all
America--and when we retired to the obscurity of our hotel we were
silent with satisfaction. For the moment it seemed that fortune was
about to empty her golden horn at my feet. I was happily married, my
latest book was a hit, and I had the friendship and the favor of the
President.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Signs of Change

As a matter of record, and for the benefit of young readers who may be
contemplating authorship, I here set down the fact that notwithstanding
my increasing royalties, my gross income for 1901 was precisely $3,100.
Out of this we saved five hundred dollars. Neither my wife nor I had any
great hopes of the future. Neither of us felt justified in any unusual
expenditures, and as for speculation--nothing could induce me to buy a
share of stock--or even a bond (gilt-edged or otherwise), for I owned a
prejudice, my father's prejudice, against all forms of intangible
wealth. Evidences of wealth did not appeal to me. I wanted the real
thing, I wanted the earth. Nothing but land gave me the needed sense of
security.

In my most exalted moments I began to dream of using my income from _The
Captain of the Gray Horse Troop_ in the purchase of more Oklahoma land.
In imagination I saw myself in a wide-rimmed hat and white linen suit
sitting at ease on the porch of a broad-roofed house (built in the
Mexican style with a patio) looking out over my thousand acres--I had
decided to have just a thousand acres, it made such a mouth-filling
announcement to one's friends.

I did not go so far as to think of a life without labor (I expected to
work in the North till February, then rest and ride horse-back for three
months in the South), but I did hope to relieve Zulime of some of her
drudgery. Now that I think back to it, I am not at all sure that my wife
rejoiced over my plan to go to Weatherford to purchase another farm. It
is probable that I overcame her objections by telling her that I wanted
more material for my book of Indian tales; anyhow I left her in Chicago
almost as soon as we arrived there, and went again to Darlington and
Colony to see Major Stouch and John Seger, and to make certain
observations for President Roosevelt.

Seger, unskilled as he was with the pen, could talk with humor and
pictorial quality, and some of his stories had so stimulated my
imagination that I was eager to have more time with him among his wards.
Without precisely f