Читать книгу Buffalo Bill, Peacemaker; Or, On a Troublesome Trail онлайн

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The surprise was mutual.

“There’s no mistake, Wild Bill,” answered the scout, as pleased as he was surprised. “Get down and tell me what brings you here.”

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The Texas steer, with the long horns and the brand bigger than a gridiron, has passed away. With this half-wild “beef critter” has likewise passed the old-time grizzle-faced herder with his cowhide boots and appalling profanity. Grade shorthorns, Herefords, and other swells in the kingdom of range cattle have taken the longhorn’s place, and the present-day cattleman is a keen, shrewd business man who has reduced cattle raising and feeding to a science.

Perhaps the elimination of the longhorn and the picturesque soldier of circumstance who looked after him is not a subject for regret; yet in the early days—the days of this chronicle—the rangy steer of the wide horns was bringing a flood of wealth into Texas. Those were really flush days for the cattle barons.

In those boom times, ranchers whose principal asset was cattle, had more money than they had ever possessed before—and more, it is said, than they have ever had since. Just what caused the boom was a mystery; nevertheless, the boom was a very real event, and some of the barons took in more money than they knew how to spend. When such a thing happens to a free and easy-going people, foolish extravagance is the result.