The wood dropped from Florence’s hands and sent up a shower of sparks as it fell into the fire. “Gone!” she gasped. “Are you sure you looked in the right place?”
“Sure. The box’s turned over, and there’s nothing under it.”
By this time Peggy, hearing the excitement, rushed out of the house, and all three girls raced back to the spring, then stood staring at the overturned box.
“What do you think happened?” asked Jo Ann. “Do you suppose someone stole the things and left the box there so it’d look as if a dog had done it?”
“I hardly think so,” replied Florence thoughtfully. “There’s no one up here who’d——” She stopped abruptly.
“Could it have been those people down at the cave who——” began Jo Ann; then the next moment she answered her own question: “No, I know they didn’t do it. They’re poor, but I don’t believe they’d steal.”
Peggy looked over at Jo Ann. “How do you know? You can’t prove it.”
Dropping to her knees beside the spring Jo Ann began examining the moss-covered stones. “The moss is scraped off this rock where something heavy stepped on it, but then we could’ve done that last night when we put the things in here.”
Florence turned and started back toward the house. “It won’t do any good to stand here talking about it. Come on, we’ll find something else to cook in place of the bacon for breakfast. It’s a good thing we brought some canned milk along for an emergency, but we’ll have to do without butter for several days, till I can get some sent out from the city.”
Jo Ann ran to catch up with Peggy and Florence. “Why can’t you get some butter from the people down at the goat ranch?” she asked.