" Neighbours
had come near; every summer great rugs of grain, vari-hued, lay
over hill and dale.
Allen bad prospered, and begun to speculate in cattle. Every year
late in April he went to Canada for a drove and sent them south--a
great caravan that filled the road for half a mile or more,
tramping wearily under a cloud of dust. He sold a few here and
there, as the drove went on--a far journey, often, to the sale of
the last lot.
The drove came along one morning about the middle of May, 1847.
Trove met them at the four corners on Caraway Pike. Then about
sixteen years of age, he made his first long journey into the world
with Allen's drove. He had his time that summer and fifty cents
for driving. It was an odd business, and for the boy full of new
things.
A man went ahead in a buckboard wagon that bore provisions. One
worked in the middle and two behind. Trove was at the heels of the
first section. It was easy work after the cattle got used to the
road and a bit leg weary. They stopped them for water at the
creeks and rivers; slowed them down to browse or graze awhile at
noontime; and when the sun was low, if they were yet in a land of
fences, he of the horse and wagon hurried on to get pasturage for
the night.
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