ng the planting act. I sent
part of my boys with our wagon to look after our own cattle for the
day. It took us all the afternoon to clean up a minute's work in the
morning.

"I never like to refer to it. Fact was, all the boys felt gloomy for
weeks, but there was no avoiding it. Two months later, we met old man
Andy, way up at Fort Laramie on the North Platte. He was tickled to
death to meet us all. The herd had come through in fine condition. We
never told him anything about this until the cattle were delivered,
and we were celebrating the success of that drive at a near-by town.

"Big Dick told him about this incident, and the old man feeling his
oats, as he leaned with his back against the bar, said to us with a
noticeable degree of pride, 'Lads, I'm proud of every one of you. Men
who will fight to protect my interests has my purse at their command.
This year's drive has been a success. Next year we will drive twice
as many. I want every rascal of you to work for me. You all know how I
mount, feed, and pay my men, and as long as my name is Erath and I own
a cow, you can count on a job with me.'"

"But why did you take them back to the sand-hills to bury them?" cut
in Lucy.

"Oh, that was Big Dick's idea. He thought the sand would dig easier,
and laziness guided every act of his life. That was five years ago,
son, that this lower trail was made, and for the reasons I have
just given you. No, I can't tell you any more personal experiences
to-night; I'm too sleepy."

VII

RANGERING

No State in the Union was ever called upon to meet and deal with
the criminal element as was Texas. She was border territory upon her
admission to the sisterhood of States.

An area equal to four ordinary States, and a climate that permitted
of outdoor life the year round, made it a desirable rendezvous for
criminals. The sparsely settled condition of the country, the flow of
immigration being light until the seventies, was an important factor.
The fugitives from justice of the older States with a common impulse
turned toward this empire of isolation. Europe contributed her quota,
more particularly from the south, bringing with them the Mafia and
vendetta. Once it was the Ultima Thule of the criminal western world.
From the man who came for not building a church to the one who had
taken human life, the catalogue of crime was fully represented.

Humorous writers tell us that it was a breach of good manners to ask
a man h