to the vast herds and drive out the calves. Of
course, the mother follows the calf, lowing piteously for it.

When the cow is out with the calf, it can be plainly seen to whom she
belongs by the brand on her. Her owner, or his men or representatives,
promptly throw her and the calf into their own herd, and later put their
brand on the calf.

Calves which are motherless and are unbranded are known as mavericks,
and belong to whoever finds them. The cowman who finds a maverick
promptly puts his own brand on it and it belongs to him.

The safety of the system is in choosing a brand that cannot be easily
altered, and which will not be easily confounded with the brand of
another.

When the boys had chosen the brand Circle S for this herd in honor of
Stella, they had spoken of this, and Bud had remarked that it would be
easily altered by making an eight of the S, but they had found no Circle
8 in the brand book, and took the chance, especially as Stella now
insisted upon having no other brand for the herd than Circle S, her "own
brand," as she called it.

Ted and Bud could find no brand in the Texas or Oklahoma brand books at
all like theirs, and dismissed the matter from their minds.

The next morning early all hands turned out for a count of the herd. The
herd was split, and the broncho boys took turns at the count, as the
bunches of cattle were split and driven slowly past them on the point.

From the books, there should be two thousand three hundred cattle, or
thereabouts, in the herd. A few cattle more or less would not have been
surprising, for a great herd of cattle will, like a magnet, draw to it
all the individual strays in the country roundabout.

It was well in the afternoon before the count was finished, and the boys
rode into camp to count up and compare with the books. Ted totaled the
figures, while the boys hung eagerly over him to learn the result.

"Well, what d'yer make it?" asked Bud, as Ted, with an expression of
perplexity on his face, looked up from his work.

"The count is seventeen hundred and fifty," answered Ted slowly.

"Gee! And that's how many shy?"

"Five hundred and fifty. Bud, you have a good eye."

"Orter hev. I've been runnin' my eye over herds fer many a year. So,
we've been done out o' more'n five hundred head, eh? Well, Stella comes
fust, an' then ther man what thinks he kin rustle cattle from the
broncho boys had better take a runnin' jump outer this man's country."