"Goodness, Mr. Waring, I hope you don't think any of our boys was mixed up in that."
"I hope not. Have you seen Tony or Andy Brewster lately?"
"Why, no. I—why, yes! Tony and Andy rode over last Sunday. I remember it was Sunday because Bob was out to the line shack. Tony and Andy hung around for a while, and then rode out to look for Bob."
"Well, I'll step over and look at the horses. You say Jasper will be in this evening?"
"If he ain't too stiff with rheumatics to ride back."
Waring walked round the corrals, looking for a pony lame forward and with half a front shoe gone. Finally he noticed a short-coupled bay that had not moved when he had waved his arm. Waring climbed through the bars and cornered the horse. One front shoe was entirely gone, and the pony limped as Waring turned him loose.
Mrs. Starr was getting supper when Waring returned to the house.
"Any of the boys coming in with Jasper?" he queried.
"Why, nobody except Pete. Pete's been layin' off. He claims his horse stepped in a gopher hole and threw him. Jasper took him along, feelin' like he wanted some one on account of his rheumatics. Jasper gets so stiff ridin' that sometimes he can hardly get on his horse. Mebby you noticed Pete's pony, that chunky bay in the corral—lame forward."
"Yes, I noticed that. But that pony didn't step in a gopher hole. He was ridden down by some one in a hurry to get somewhere. He cast a shoe and went tender on the rocks."