had been wanting to get out of the store and "try my wings" at something
else. When I began to cast my eyes about for something different from
the routine of store work, I met a certain Mr. Joe Dillon, who offered
me the opportunity I was seeking.



CHAPTER XXI.

Joe Dillon and I Go to Montana With Sheep.

Along about the 15th of March, Joe Dillon, who had been a quartermaster
in the Union army, left the army at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, the
possessor of $60,000 and a mule train of fifteen wagons, which he had
obtained some way or other, the Devil knows how. He was a peculiar man
and totally unable to keep a man in his employ. He was abusive, bossy
and altogether uncongenial.

With his train loaded with goods which he got in Kansas City and
Independence, he started with a wagon boss and several men across the
Old Trail to New Mexico, early in the spring of '65, but he had so many
altercations with his teamsters--some quit him, others would do as they
pleased, and altogether he had such a bad time of it that he did not
arrive at Maxwell's ranch until after the snow fell the
following winter.

Every wagon that passed him brought news of Joe Dillon's troubles to the
fort. When Mr. Dillon came to me in the spring of 1866, I knew him
pretty well by reputation. He approached me and told me that he had
bought 4000 sheep from Lucien Maxwell and wanted to get me to go with