The Kiowas and Comanches, not yet wholly confined to their reservations, sometimes took tribute, whether in theft or in open extortion, of the herds laboring upward through the long slow season.
Trail-cutters and herd-combers, licensed or unlicensed hangers-on to the northbound throngs of cattle, appeared along the lower trails--with some reason, occasionally; for in a great northbound herd there might be many cows included under brands other than those of the road brands registered for the drovers of that particular herd.

Cattle thieving became an industry of certain value, rivaling in some localities the operations of the bandits of the placer camps.

There was great wealth suddenly to be seen.

The weak and the lawless, as well as the strong and the unscrupulous, set out to reap after their own fashion where they had not sown.

If a grave here or there appeared along the trail or at the edge of the straggling town, it mattered little.