Produced by Sankar Viswanathan, Beth Baran, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive) [Illustration: Map to illustrate the Story of Philip of Texas] PHILIP OF TEXAS A STORY OF SHEEP RAISING IN TEXAS BY JAMES OTIS [Illustration] NEW YORK -:- CINCINNATI -:- CHICAGO AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY * * * * * COPYRIGHT, 1913, BY MRS. A. L. KALER. COPYRIGHT, 1913, IN GREAT BRITAIN. PHILIP OF TEXAS. W. P. I. * * * * * FOREWORD The author of this series of stories for children has endeavored simply to show why and how the descendants of the early colonists fought their way through the wilderness in search of new homes. The several narratives deal with the struggles of those adventurous people who forced their way westward, ever westward, whether in hope of gain or in answer to "the call of the wild," and who, in so doing, wrote their names with their blood across this country of ours from the Ohio to the Columbia. To excite in the hearts of the young people of this land a desire to know more regarding the building up of this great nation, and at the same time to entertain in such a manner as may stimulate to noble deeds, is the real aim of these stories. In them there is nothing of romance, but only a careful, truthful record of the part played by children in the great battles with those forces, human as well as natural, which, for so long a time, held a vast portion of this broad land against the advance of home seekers. With the knowledge of what has been done by our own people in our own land, surely there is no reason why one should resort to fiction in order to depict scenes of heroism, daring, and sublime disregard of suffering in nearly every form. JAMES OTIS. * * * * * CONTENTS PAGE MY DREAMS OF A SHEEP RANCH 9 SHEEP RAISING 10 HERDING SHEEP 12 SOMETHING ABOUT TEXAS 14 LAND GRANTS 15 THE "TEXAS FEVER" 16 WHY I WANTED TO GO INTO TEXAS 18 HUNTING IN TEXAS 19 FATHER GOES TO SPY OUT THE LAND 21 OUR PLANTATION IN MISSISSIPPI 23 FATHER COMES HOME 24 THE BIGNESS OF TEXAS 25 WHERE WE WERE GOING 26 WHAT I HOPED TO DO 28 CATTLE DRIVING 29 HOW WE SET OUT 31 A LABORIOUS JOURNEY 32