AND OTHER HUNTING ADVENTUKES. 337 



the fiery ordeal, just as their brothers and sisters 

 were at the Mayday party. 



Stray cattle, either calves or adults, bearing no 

 brand and found alone or herded with others already 

 branded, but whose parentage can not be definitely 

 determined, are called " Mavericks," and in some 

 districts are sold at auction and the proceeds given 

 to the school fund. In others, they become the 

 property of the man or company upon whose range 

 they are found. This privilege, however, is seri- 

 ously abused by dishonest ranchmen and cattle 

 thieves, who infest every Western cattle-growing 

 district. These men ride out over the ranges at 

 times when they are not likely to be observed, carry- 

 ing their branding-irons along, and rope and brand 

 every animal they can find that does not already 

 bear a brand. In some cases these are allowed to 

 remain where found, for the time being, but are 

 usually driven onto the range claimed by the pirate 

 who does the work. In other instances, these men 

 first drive the unbranded stock onto their own 

 ranges, and then, under cover of the Maverick law, 

 openly claim and brand it as their own. Many 

 large herds have been accumulated almost wholly 

 by this system of thievery, and there are wealthy 

 cattlemen in the West to-day who never bought or 

 honestly owned a dozen head of the thousands that 

 bear their brand. A certain cowboy, when asked by 

 an Eastern man what constitutes a Maverick, replied: 

 " It's a calf that you find and get your brand on 

 before the owner finds it and gets his on." . 



But it is risky business, this cattle stealing, and 

 many a man who has been caught at it has been left 



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