Lew Allard gathers with close family members often, particularly his first cousin, Richard Allan, and his wife and their third cousin, Emily Crenfew. When they are together, they always talk about their vast family connections, bringing up more and more distant and far flung family members names and sharing stories. It isn't often that Tom Rivers is brought up, but on the occasion that he is, Lew feels proud and pleased to be the one who shares his story of the time he met Tom Rivers.

Lew meets Tom Rivers at eighteen in Cisco, Texas. He had just left an Uncle's home he had tried living at, but he did not respect the Uncle's sophisticated airs. When he arrives at the train station in Cisco he heads to the livery where Tom works and immediately introduces himself. The next day Tom has Lew a job as a driver. As Lew's stay in Cisco becomes more permanent, he comes to gain respect for Tom, who is large and strong and has a powerful presence that people acknowledge and respect. Lew watches Tom Rivers get into several fights. A gambler is in town and has been at the saloon every night playing poker, and has been winning every night. One night he tries to pick a fight with Tom and draws his gun. Tom calmly and quickly takes the gun out of the man's hand just to return it. The encounter is humbling and everyone at the bar is amazed at Tom's power. Lew feels powerful because of his close association with Tom and he gets drunk and begins talking big game in the saloon. There is cotton nearby that needs to be picked as a government tax on land, but it is being guarded by men in the town who are trying to resist the tax. Lew makes a smart comment to the government worker sitting in the corner about how he could easily pick the cotton himself. He realizes it is foolish as soon as he says it an is grateful when he thinks no one has heard it. The next morning, though, the government worker shows up at Lew and Tom's work and tells them to go try picking the cotton. The two men camp out on the land and when night falls, the guards approach on their horses. At Tom's count, the two men run into the darkness with their guns drawn, shooting. A flock of men disperse, around thirty on horses. Following this, the sheriff tells Tom to leave town after a man who was shot complains that nothing is being done. Tom protests, but when the sheriff stands his ground and leaves to let deputies come arrest him, Tom slides out the back door of the barn on his horse Barbara, and Lew never sees him again.