Building a Nation After the Smoke Cleared Away:

Little by little the packing companies had found a market for all the big head of cattle, and the last big roundup was over. Each cowboy was given the horses he had in his string if he had any company horses. He was paid off, and many of them stayed in the Deadwood Country of South Dakota while others hit for the Rio Grandy where there were several small cattlemen already in business.

One day in August, three hardened and worn riders with poor horses and dirty packs rode in the yard. There were only three bright things I could see… their saddle seats, spurs and the handles of their six shooters. They wobbled when they walked and one of them had a new Winchester in a scabbard on his saddle. This was the tallest one of the three and the one I was most afraid of. Father went out and shook hands with them all, and suddenly Mother discovered what had happened and came running, and the big fellow grabbed her up in his arms and they both started to cry. Father motioned to the other men to unload his pack by the house door, and he unloaded the third pack himself.

I watched from around the corner of the house. I wasn’t quite so frightened after Mother had taken the big fellow in the dugout. The packs unloaded, they took the horses to the barn and fed them hay, and after they had ate a while, they were turned out to the creek for water and pasture. They [the cowboys] all went back to the house. I stayed well behind as I didn’t care about making any sudden acquaintance with that big fellow with the long black moustache and the pearl-handled six shooter.

Finally Esther came out of the dugout and told me that tall cowboy was Kay, my brother, and that he wouldn’t hurt me. This helped a little but I still felt kinda sick at my stomach. Mother came out of the dugout and called me. I came to her on the run as she was the only one I could trust. She took me up in her arms and told me not to be afraid of those men as they were the ones we had been talking about and they would be with us all summer. Kay came out and very quiet he shook my hand and told me he had a horse in his bunch that I could ride.

This was the most interesting thing I had heard, and in a short time I was passed from Mother’s arms into his and we became very good friends. I told him all about the frogs and the ants and my friend Freddie, and I told him of the dance and that I heard Jennie Caldwell say that she didn’t have a good time at the dance because Kay wasn’t there. This was overheard by Chuck, the boy from San Antonio, Texas. He jumped to his feet, slapped Kay on the back and said, “It is natural that a man wants to get back home if he has one to go to, but I see now what the big hurry was to get back here. Nels and I had to change horses twice a day to keep up with him.”

Kay seemed to enjoy the remark and said to me, “Buddy, I see you and I will have to get off by ourselves and talk things over.” I didn’t know what I had said that caused so much laughter, but what I liked about Kay was he didn’t get mad and knock my ears down when I accidentally told something on him like my sisters did. Grace and Cora had made acquaintance with Chuck. He said, “Just call me Tex for short,” so the names were Nels and Tex.

Father said, “I don’t have much cow punch’en to do. Grace and Cora does that, but we have a lot of work here to be done. If you boys want your horses to rest up a while, I can give you a little change of work. It will do you good to get out of the saddle a while anyway.” “Well,” said Tex, the corner of his mouth twisted as though he was about to break down and cry. “The riden is all done. We shipped our job down the Missouri River and if you have anything for us to do, I for one am ready to start right now.” Nels said, “That goes for me too,” and after Kay and Father had talked privately for a while, Father said, “We have a well to dig the first thing so we will have water for the house.” Mother was in the best of humor, and she picked me up and kissed me and said, “Now when these men start to work, you want to stay back out of the way. They are not used to having little boys around and you might get hurt.”

Kay harnessed the team and said to me, “You can go with me. We have work to do.” Two barrels were loaded in the wagon, and Kay and I started south and after we had drove a while, we came to a large hole of rain water. We stopped and there we filled the two barrels, spread a canvas over each and put a hoop over to hold the water from splashing out. We drove back in the yard, and the four men each took his place around the barrels and sat them on the ground. “There,” said Mother, “that beats packing it out of the creek.”