"Yes, we found th' ashes of two or three brandin' fires," went on
Yellin' Kid, "an' we picked up th' broken handle of a brandin'
iron. No marks on it, like there was on the other," he said,
referring to the time one of the irons from Double Z had been
found on the range of the boy ranchers. "But we brought it along,
anyhow," and he exhibited a broken and charred piece of wood.

"But we found more than that," he continued. "We found one steer
they'd killed, for beef likely, after they'd blurred th' brand.
There wasn't much left. What th' rustlers didn't take th'
buzzards did. But there was enough of th' hide left to show what
work they were up to--blurring th' brand."

This, as you have learned from the previous books of this series,
consists in burning some other mark over the legitimate brand on
cattle, so that the original one can not be made out. Then the
animal may be claimed by whoever has it. Blurring a brand, that
is, making it illegible, or changing one brand into another, are
two of the methods used by unscrupulous men to steal cattle.

The boy ranchers well understood what was meant by the news
brought them by the two cowboys. The next thing to decide on was
what course to pursue. "Did they leave any trail?" asked Bud.

"Well, we didn't stop t' hunt for it, as long as it wasn't a
plain one," Snake answered. "Likely we could 'a' picked it up.
But as long as there had been a raid we decided th' best thing t'
do was t' save th' rest of th' cattle, an' then come an' tell
you, Bud."