When she had finished the letter she threw on her hat and sweater and went out to do the chores. With 'Thello at her heels she raced across the garden to the stock yard. The cattle stood close to the fence, basking in the faint sunshine, waiting their ration of hay. Harry had left the hayrack full, ready for the evening feeding. Now she harnessed the team to it, drove the load on the feeding ground and forked off the hay as she moved slowly forward. At sight of her the cattle had begun to low, and now they followed the wagon, stopping one after another to feed. Harry knew each one of them: the quiet cows, the solid-built steers, the fat calves and yearlings in their furry winter suits. How big and strong they looked; how well-cared-for--even the scrubs that at first had looked so hopelessly poor! And she might have to sell them all to save her land! Fiercely she jabbed the fork into the flakes of solidly packed hay. When she had scattered the hay, she fed the chickens and milked. As she was beginning on the last cow, 'Thello, on guard at the corral gate, sprang up with a threatening growl. "Who's that?" Harry said to him. "If it's a cow-puncher, tear him limb from limb." "Who you hatin' so hard?" inquired a mild voice and Garnett made a long-legged step over the board fence of the barn yard. "Rob ain't to home?" "No. He's down on the South Side trying to find hay. I'm surprised you haven't seen him. What are you doing up here at this time of year, anyhow? Your renters have quit, haven't they? I thought you were on your ranch over there for the winter." "Had to go to Soldier to witness against a rustler." "Didn't happen to be Ludlum, did it?" Harry asked sardonically. Garnett grinned, and Harry said quickly, "I guess if you had lost a dozen critters and suddenly had found evidence of their having been killed right near home, you'd hate all cattle men and cow punchers, too." As they walked to the house together she told Garnett of the increasing trouble they had had with Ludlum's men toward the end of the season, and of her finding the hides. "You see," she concluded, "it's perfectly plain that Ludlum planned at the start to work things so I'd have to let my land go. That's what he was after. But if he thinks killing my cattle is going to put me out of the game, he'll be disappointed." "Say, now," Garnett put in, "I wouldn't pull my gun on Ludlum yet awhile. Don't look to me like a stockman would bother himself with such a job. He'd run off a hundred head mebbe into the mountains, but not this. I reckon I'd better ride over there and take a look at those hides. I could mebbe get a line on something." While Garnett was gone, Harry started the supper fire and set the table; then in a clean blue apron, she waited expectantly for his report.