Chapter 5
Summer of '68The death of Mr. Loving ended my employment in driving cattle to
Fort Sumner. The junior member of the firm was anxious to continue
the trade then established, but the absence of any protection
against the Indians, either state or federal, was hopeless. Texas
was suffering from the internal troubles of Reconstruction, the
paternal government had small concern for the welfare of a State
recently in arms against the Union, and there was little or no hope
for protection of life or property under existing conditions. The
outfit was accordingly paid off, and I returned with George Edwards
to his father's ranch. The past eighteen months had given me a
strenuous schooling, but I had emerged on my feet, feeling that
once more I was entitled to a place among men.
