It was their duty, as may be said, to keep the animals well in hand.

But for this precaution hundreds of them would gradually drift apart until, when the time came for rounding them up, they would be gone beyond recovery.

Great loss, therefore, was averted by looking after them.
A more aggravating annoyance, however, brings loss to the owners of the herds.

Despite the stringent law, there is always a certain number of desperate men who take perilous chances in stealing cattle and running them off beyond recovery by their owners.

This practice is not so prevalent as formerly, for since the brands are registered, and the agents well known at Cheyenne, Helena, and other shipping-points, the thieves find it hard to explain their possession of the carcasses thus marked and escape the arrest and imprisonment provided as a penalty.
One feature of this annoyance comes from the Indians.