True stories of old Houston and Houstonians: historical and personal sketches / by S. O. Young. Page: 97

HOUSTON AND HOUSTONIANS 97
that he came every afternoon. He adopted the company and the
company adopted him.
He and Frank Bates became inseparable. He got Frank to
talking-not a hard thing to do, by the way-and was never so
happy as when listening to Frank's stories of Indian warfare and
life of the frontier. Had a dime novel writer been present and
taken down those stories his fortune would have been made.
Frank saw the deep interest that Dr. Carrycross took in his
stories, so he spread himself. I remember only the main points
of one he told, but it serves well to show what and how Frank
was doing in his efforts to entertain a genuine "tenderfoot." He
was describing a wild ride he claimed to have taken once. "Yes,
sir," he said, "I rode from near my plantation to Navasota, fifty
miles, in little less than three hours. Let me see. What was
I in such a hurry about? Oh, yes, I remember, I had shot a man
that morning, and, then, feeling sorry, I went after a doctor
for him."
Frank stuffed Carrycross full of such stories and made him
believe that his life had been one great tragedy from the time
he left his cradle up to that moment. Carrycross swallowed it
all and asked for more. Day after day he entertained the boys
who went to town in the morning, but was entertained by them
every afternoon at our camp.
On the Sunday before we left for New York, we invited him
out to dinner. After dinner we lay out on the grass, smoking
and talking. Frank was making the best of his last opportunity
and was telling some thrilling stories when Carrycross interrupted
him: "Now boys," he said, "I want to tell you how much
I have enjoyed your visit. There are 5000 or 6000 troops here,
but you may have noticed, that I have never gone near any of
them. I have enjoyed being with you Texans too much. That
enjoyment arises from two causes-first, because you are from
Texas, and, next, because you have my dear friend, Frank Bates,
with you. I have enjoyed hearing him talk more than I can
make you understand. His descriptions of wild and woolly Texas
have been perfect. I am a competent judge, too, for now I am
going to tell you all something which will further explain the
great interest I have had in you. I was for nine years a Texas
ranger in West Texas and served under Captain Baylor along
the Rio Grande for three years. I said nothing about this because
I was afraid Frank might stop talking. Now, that you
are going away, it makes no difference, so I tell you."
When the crowd realized that Frank had been stuffing a Texas
ranger with blood and thunder stories for three weeks under
the impression that he was an ignorant tenderfoot, a great shout
went up and Frank took to his hole. We teased him all the way
to New York and home again, but it was hard to tease a fellow
who enjoyed a joke on himself as much as anyone else did, and
Frank did that.
Good old Frank. May his days be long and happy ones. He
is dignified and sedate now, but somehow I rather prefer the