When, shortly after six o'clock, Harry, Rob and Garnett stood at the corral gate and watched the visitors out of sight, Harry laughed and sighed together.
"I've had the best time in years," she said. "I only wish we lived nearer folks, so I could give a party oftener."
"Looks like you're goin' to have some more comp'ny to-day," Garnett remarked and nodded toward the lane.
Harry turned and saw two riders coming toward the barn. "They're welcome to what there is. There's at least a chicken wing left."
"I'll see what they want," Rob said as he went to meet them.
Garnett and Harry looked after him carelessly, and then went on with their pleasant chatter. But a sudden burst of angry voices from the barn silenced them abruptly. Garnett unconsciously tautened.
"Guess I'd better step down there," he said. "Looks to me like the buckaroos I met huntin' strays. Might be I could set 'em straight."
"I might as well go, too," Harry decided. She had heard her brother say, "Prove it if you can. It's absurd on the face of it."
"Do they think we've been stealing their critters?" she asked in a low voice as they hurried forward, and she thought of the calf she had brought inside to feed. "It's more likely some one has been stealing ours. The last time we went through the herd two were missing, and that was quite a while ago."