I've already got back a good many times over all that it
cost. A single hot barren summer would destroy thousands of head of
cattle, to say nothing of the suffering of the poor brutes. And those
that didn't die would be so worn to skin and bone that they'd hardly pay
the expense of shipping them to market. The only way to make money in
ranching nowadays is to do things on a big scale and take advantage of
all up-to-date ideas.
"A good many people," he went on, "have an idea that if a man has a good
ranch and a few thousand head of stock he's found a short and easy way to
riches. That doesn't follow at all. There are just as many chances, just
as many ups and downs as in any other business. I know lots of men that
once were prosperous ranchers who to-day are down and out, and that too
through no fault of their own. Sometimes it's a disease that comes along
and sweeps away half of your herd at a single stroke. The drought gets
them in summer and a blizzard covers them up in winter. Then, too, there
are the cattle rustlers that, in the course of a season, often get away
with hundreds of them, change the brand and send them away to their
confederates.
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