The publication of this volume was decided upon in the fall of 1912. Mr. Dixon was in vigorous health, and became greatly interested in the undertaking. His memory was remarkable for its tenacity, which enabled him to recall the past with ease and accuracy. At our home on our claim in Cimarron County, I took down from his dictation the greater and the essential part of the present narrative. I kept note-books in every room, and sometimes carried them to the corral, that I might be in readiness to set down what my husband might say as he was moved by reflection or inquiry to talk of the past. Many of his pioneer friends learned of his plans, and encouraged him to persevere until the work should be accomplished. The material grew until there was an armful of manuscript, and the ground had been fairly covered. Little did we suspect that Death--the enemy from whom he had escaped so many times in the old days--was at hand, and that the arrow was set to the bow. During a winter storm early in 1913 he was suddenly stricken. He went unwillingly and complainingly to his bed, regretting that what he believed was a trivial illness should pull down a man who never before had known a day's sickness. Pneumonia developed, and he expired March 9, 1913, insisting with his last breath that he would recover. Interment took place in the cemetery at Texline, Texas, under the auspices of the local Masonic Lodge. Mr. Dixon for many years had been a consistent member of that order. In the publication of this volume, I wish to acknowledge my obligations to Mr. Frederick S. Barde, of Guthrie, Oklahoma, who compiled the manuscript and carried the book through the press, and also to those pioneers of the Panhandle, Mr. Chas. Goodnight and Mr. James H. Cator, friends of many years, whose counsel and suggestions were helpful in many ways. MRS. OLIVE DIXON. Life of "Billy" Dixon CHAPTER I. In no other country could there have been found a region so inviting, so alluring, so fascinating, to the spirit of adventure as the Great Plains. How it gripped the imagination of young men, sons of pioneers, between the Mississippi and the Alleghanies, in those early days! How it called to them, and beckoned to them to forsake their homes and journey westward into the unknown! Vast and undisturbed, it stretched from the British Possession to the Rio Grande. It was a natural stage on which was enacted the most picturesque and romantic drama of the nineteenth century. Its background was the Rocky Mountains, from whose towering ramparts the Plains swept down toward the east, giving an unobstructed view of the stirring panorama that for more than half a century was unrivalled for its scenes of daring and conquest.