OF A RANCHMAN 17 



ries, picking up their own living even in win- 

 ter, all the animals of each herd having 

 certain distinctive brands on them. But lit- 

 tle attempt is made to keep them within 

 definite bounds, and they wander whither 

 they wish, except that the ranchmen gener- 

 ally combine to keep some of their cowboys 

 riding lines to prevent them straying away 

 altogether. The missing ones are generally 

 recovered in the annual round-ups, when the 

 calves are branded. These round-ups, in 

 which many outfits join together, and which 

 cover hundreds of miles of territory, are the 

 busiest period of the year for the stockmen, 

 who then, with their cowboys, work from 

 morning till night. In winter little is done 

 except a certain amount of line riding. 



The cowboys form a class by themselves, 

 and are now quite as typical representatives 

 of the wilder side of Western life, as were a 

 few years ago the skin-clad hunters and 

 trappers. They are mostly of native birth, 

 and although there are among them wild 

 spirits from every land, yet the latter soon 



