"
"I see," said Patches, "but that's different from finding a calf
misbranded."
"Sure. There was no question of ownership there," agreed Phil.
"But in the case of the calf," the cowboy's pupil persisted, "if it had
left its mother when the man owning the iron was asked to vent it, there
would be no way of proving the real ownership."
"Nothing but the word of the man who found the calf with its mother,
and, perhaps, the knowledge of the men who knew the stock."
"What I am getting at," smiled Patches, "is this: it would come down at
last to a question of men, wouldn't it?"
"That's where most things come to in, the end in this country, Patches.
But you're right. With owners like Uncle Will, and Jim Reid, and
Stillwell, and dozens of others; and with cowboys like Curly and Bob and
Bert and 'Shorty,' there would be no trouble at all about the matter."
"But with others," suggested Patches.
"Well," said Phil slowly, "there are men in this country, who, if they
refused to vent a brand under such circumstances, would be seeing
trouble, and mighty quick, too."
"There's another thing that we've got to watch out for, just now," Phil
continued, a few minutes later, "and that is, 'sleepers'.
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