XIX. THE CHEYENNE AND ARAPAHOE CATTLE COMPANY
XX. HOLDING THE FORT
XXI. THE FRUITS OF CONSPIRACY
XXII. IN CONCLUSION




CHAPTER I

IN RETROSPECT


I can truthfully say that my entire life has been spent with cattle.
Even during my four years' service in the Confederate army, the
greater portion was spent with the commissary department, in charge of
its beef supplies. I was wounded early in the second year of the war
and disabled as a soldier, but rather than remain at home I accepted
a menial position under a quartermaster. Those were strenuous times.
During Lee's invasion of Pennsylvania we followed in the wake of the
army with over a thousand cattle, and after Gettysburg we led the
retreat with double that number. Near the close of the war we
frequently had no cattle to hold, and I became little more than a
camp-follower.

I was born in the Shenandoah Valley, northern Virginia, May 3, 1840.
My father was a thrifty planter and stockman, owned a few slaves, and
as early as I can remember fed cattle every winter for the eastern
markets. Grandfather Anthony, who died before I was born, was a
Scotchman who had emigrated to the Old Dominion at an early day,