270 EOTJGH COWBOYS. 



began, and if we had not gone out at once and held the two 

 corners of the tent on the side from which it came, it would 

 have been blown to pieces. We were in bed when it began, 

 and had only time to jump into our trowsers, so that in these 

 and a flannel shirt we had to sit for hours holding on with all 

 our strength, and we were quite worn out and nearly frozen by 

 morning. 



The following day we passed a cattle-ranche, one of the first 

 which had been started in Texas, the cattle having been allowed 

 up to this time to range anywhere, with no cowboys to keep 

 them within certain bounds. These first cowboys were very 

 rough fellows, being in many cases men who had to disappear 

 for a time, yet they were kind-hearted and hospitable, and 

 would give a passing stranger anything he wanted, or shoot 

 him, should a quarrel arise, with equal pleasure. There were 

 four men at this ranche, which consisted of a square house of 

 logs and a corral for cattle, with no attempt at a garden or 

 field. They told us that they had seen some Indians in the 

 distance a few days before, and that they were not going to 

 venture far from the ranche for some time, Black Kettle*, a 

 noted Sheyenne chief, being in that part of the country with 

 a hundred warriors. 



At our next camp we found a good deal of game deer and 

 turkeys, so we remained some days, when my " creased horse " 

 being missing, I borrowed a pony from a cow-ranche, a short 

 distance from our camp, and rode towards Henrietta, supposing 



* This was not the celebrated " Black Kettle," chief of the Sheyennes, 

 and who was killed by General Ouster's troops at the battle on the Little 

 Wichita Eiver in 1868, but was another chief, who probably took the 

 deceased chief's name after his death. 



