questions I wanted to ask, but they all seemed too wild
around town, so the next day I went out where they were in camp.

Approaching a party who were eating their breakfast, I got to speak with
them. They asked me to have some breakfast with them, which invitation
I gladly accepted. During the meal I got a chance to ask them many
questions. They proved to be a Texas outfit, who had just come up with a
herd of cattle and having delivered them they were preparing to return.
There were several colored cow boys among them, and good ones too. After
breakfast I asked the camp boss for a job as cow boy. He asked me if I
could ride a wild horse. I said "yes sir." He said if you can I will
give you a job. So he spoke to one of the colored cow boys called Bronko
Jim, and told him to go out and rope old Good Eye, saddle him and put me
on his back. Bronko Jim gave me a few pointers and told me to look out
for the horse was especially bad on pitching. I told Jim I was a good
rider and not afraid of him. I thought I had rode pitching horses
before, but from the time I mounted old Good Eye I knew I had not
learned what pitching was. This proved the worst horse to ride I had
ever mounted in my life, but I stayed with him and the cow boys were the
most surprised outfit you ever saw, as they had taken me for a
tenderfoot, pure and simple. After the horse got tired and I dismounted
the boss said he would give me a job and pay me $30.00 per month and
more later on. He asked what my name was and I answered Nat Love, he
said to the boys we will call him Red River Dick. I went by this name
for a long time.

The boss took me to the city and got my outfit, which consisted of a new
saddle, bridle and spurs, chaps, a pair of blankets and a fine 45 Colt
revolver. Now that the business which brought them to Dodge City was
concluded, preparations were made to start out for the Pan Handle
country in Texas to the home ranch. The outfit of which I was now a
member was called the Duval outfit, and their brand was known as the Pig
Pen brand. I worked with this outfit for over three years. On this trip
there were only about fifteen of us riders, all excepting myself were
hardy, experienced men, always ready for anything that might turn up,
but they were as jolly a set of fellows as one could find in a long
journey. There now being nothing to keep us longer in Dodge City, we
prepared for the return journey, and left the next day over the old
Dodge and S