“Yes, and starve meantime,” Mathews replied.
“You will not have to be a vaquero. I don't go ‘busquering’ around lassooing, unless I wish to do so,” said the Don. “You can hire an Indian boy to do that part. They know how to handle la reata and echar el lazo to perfection. You will not starve, either, for if you wish, you can make butter and cheese enough to help to pay expenses. I think this State ought to make and export as good cheese as it now imports, and some day people will see it, and do it, too. Thus, with the produce of your dairies, at first, and afterward with your fruits, you will do far better than with grain crops, and not work as hard. Let the northern counties raise grain, while we raise fruits and make wine, butter and cheese. You must not forget, either, that every year you can sell a number of cattle, besides keeping as many milch cows as you need.”
“Where can we sell our cattle?” asked Hancock.
“Cattle-buyers will come to buy from you. But if you prefer it, you can drive your stock north yourselves, and make a good profit. Since 1850, I have sent nine times droves of cattle to the northern counties, and made a handsome profit every time. The first time we took stock north, was in '50; I took nearly six thousand head—three thousand were mine—and the others belonged to my brothers. We lost very few, and sold at a good price—all the way from eighteen to twenty-five dollars per head. About five hundred of mine I sold as high as thirty dollars per head. I made sixty thousand dollars by this operation. Then out of the next lot I made twenty-seven thousand dollars. Then I made twenty-two thousand, and so on, until my tame cows began to disappear, as you all know. In four years after my cows began to get shot, my cattle decreased more than half. Now I don't think I have many more than three thousand head. So you cannot blame me for wishing to save these few. But believe me, the plan I propose will be as beneficial to you as to me, and also to the entire county, for as soon as it is shown that we can make a success of the industries I propose, others will follow our example.”
“If you have only three thousand head, you can't spare many to us, and it will hardly be worth while to stop planting crops to get a few cows,” said Gasbang.
“I think I will be able to spare five or six hundred cows. I don't know how many I have left.”
“We will buy from somebody else, if we want more,” said Darrell. “We won't want many to begin with; it will be something of an experiment for some of us.”
“For all of us here. Perhaps you understand vaquering; we don't,” said Hancock; all laughed.
“Then fence your claim and plant grain,” Darrell retorted.
“I am not so big a fool as to spend money in fences. The ‘no fence’ law is better than all the best fences,” Mathews said.