much we intended to charge them for what we had done for them.  We knew that these people were all poor, and we told them that they might give us what they could afford to pay without distressing themselves.  They made up one hundred and forty-four dollars and gave it to us, which was a much larger sum than we expected to receive.  After thanking them for their generous payment and refusing their invitation to stay with them longer, we bid them all good bye and continued on our journey to Fort Worth, which had been interrupted by the Indian raid on the settlement.

We had ridden to within ten miles or so of Fort Worth when we met an old acquaintance of Capt.  McKee.  His name was Reese.  There were two other men with him, and they all three wanted to purchase horses.  They examined all the horses we had, and then they asked Capt.  McKee what we would take for the entire lot.  The Capt. asked me what I thought would be a fair price.  I answered, “Let the men make an offer before we set a price.”

When the Capt asked them what they would give for them, they said they would give a hundred dollars apiece for them if we would help them drive the horses to Dallas.

I told the men that we would let them have the whole bunch and help drive them to Dallas for a hundred and ten dollars apiece.  The three men rode off a few yards and consulted together a few minutes.  When they came back, they said they would take the horses on my terms.

Capt McKee then told his men to go on to Fort Worth and go into camp, and he told them where to camp and to wait for us and we would come to them as soon as we could.  The Capt. then told Mr. Reese to lead on and we would follow.

We drove the horses to Dallas without any trouble and delivered them at Mr. Reese’s stable.  He paid us the money for them, and we lost no time in pulling out for Fort Worth.  It was thirty-two miles from Dallas to Fort Worth, and we passed two houses on the way from there to Fort Worth at the time of which I am writing.  I think there were about fifty houses in Fort Worth.  I do not know the number there were at Dallas.  The place was somewhat larger, but it was a small town.

[Illustration:  I took the lead.]

CHAPTER IX.

When we reached Fort Worth, the news met us that the Indians were on the war path in western Texas and were raiding all the white settlements, killing the people and driving off their stock throughout all that part of the state.

We laid in a supply of provisions and tobacco, enough to last three months, and struck the trail for western Texas.  The fourth day after we left Fort Worth, we came to a settlement, and all the people were natives of Tennessee, and as that was my native state, I soon made many friends.

The people of the settlement had met together that morning to try to plan some way to stop the depredations of the Indians, but they did not know what to do or where to commence, and they were glad to see the Capt., he being well known as an Indian fighter all over Texas.