"And we didn't see a sign of 'em, neither!" added Buster Jones.
"Say, fellows, if this ever gets back to Rocky Ranch," went on Necktie Harry, as he adjusted a flaming red scarf, "we'll never hear the last of it. To think we heard a racket, got up, and let something be taken right from under our noses and didn't see it done—Good-night! as the poet says."
"Boys, we've got to make good!" declared Bow Backus. "We've got to take the trail after these scamps, and get back them pictures. It's up to us!"
"Whoop-ee! That's what it is!" shouted Necktie Harry, firing his gun.
"Oh, isn't this fine!" cried Alice, as she joined Ruth. "There will be a real chase and——"
"Oh, how can you like such things?" asked Ruth. "It may be something terrible!"
"Pooh! I don't see how it can be. If they have something that belongs to us we have a right to get it back," and Alice shook back the hair that was falling over her shoulders, for she was to take part in several pictures that day as a "cowgirl," and was dressed in a picturesque, if not exactly correct, costume, with short skirt, leggins and all.
"Oh, I hope there won't be any—bloodshed!" faltered Miss Pennington.
"They'll probably only use their lassoes," replied Alice, with a smile. "Oh dear! I hope breakfast will soon be ready. I'm as hungry as a——"
"Alice!" warned Ruth, with a gentle look. She was still trying to correct her sister's habit of slang.