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880
etc., but came out uninjured. He used a pack horse to carry his bedding and provisions and sometimes he would pack the old horse so heavily that he would sit down and had to be helped up. Once when he had gone about two miles from home the pack turned under the old horse and he ran away, kicked the pack to pieces and scattered biscuits for a mile. Later he made a big "KYAX" as he called it, somewhat on the order of the old saddle bags, but very commodious, then he bought a real pack-saddle and had no more mishaps with his kitchen outfit.
In 1868, two cattlemen hired him to help round up a herd of cattle near the Perdinales River. He worked a month at two dollars a day and when the work was done, neither man would pay him. Mr. Cruze also made two trips to Kansas over the Chisholm Trail and of all the men he associated with on these trips and cow hunts, my half brother, Albert Heaton, of Del Rio, is the only man now living that we know of. On his last trip to Kansas his main helper was Adam Rector, a negro boy, who could ride and rope with the best. One morning he and Adam were leading the herd when suddenly he saw the negro wheel and come tearing by him shouting, "Indians ! Indians ! " and in spite of his yells, Adam kept going to the rear of the herd. He knew that it was poor time to run so he stood his ground. Soon the Indians came up to him looking very savage, and one of them made a grab for his quirt. Instantly he grabbed the Indian's, the strings slipped off each wrist and they had traded quirts. Then they began a guttural demand for beef. He motioned to the rear of the herd and they went on until they found the boss, who gave them a yearling.
Mr. Cruze drove his own cattle and made wages besides which was more money than we ever had before and wisely did not waste any of it. He bought two "Kansas" wagons, as they were called, complete with sheets, bows, etc., a Wheeler & Wilson sewing machine,