Riley Sinclair more lean and somber, when they rode out on the shoulder
of a flat-topped mountain and looked down into the hollow, where the
late afternoon sun was already sending broad shadows out from every
rise of ground. Sour Creek was a blur and a twinkle of glass in the
distance.

"Come to think of it," said Arizona, "it's just one year today. Riley,
was it that that brung you back here, and me, unknowing?"

The tall man made no answer, but shaded his eyes to peer down into the
valley, and Arizona made no attempt to pursue the conversation. He was
long since accustomed to the silences of his traveling mate. Seeing
that Sinclair showed no disposition either to speak or move, he left
the big cowpuncher to himself and started off through the trees in
search of game. The sign of a deer caught his eye and hurried him on
into a futile chase, from which he returned in the early dark of the
evening. He was guided by the fire which Sinclair had kindled on the
shoulder, but to his surprise, as he drew nearer, the fire dwindled,
very much as if Riley had entirely forgotten to replenish it with dry
wood.

A year of wild life had sharpened the caution of Arizona. That neglect
of his fire was by no means in keeping with the usual methods of
Sinclair. Before he came to the last spur of the hill, Arizona
dismounted and stole up on foot. He listened intently. There was not a
sound of anyone moving about. There was only an occasional crackle of
the dying fire. When he came to the edge of the shoulder, Arizona
raised his head cautiously to peer over.

He saw a faintly illumined picture of Riley Sinclair, sitting with his
hat off, his face raised, and such a light in his face that there
needed no play of the fire to tell its meaning. Beside him sat a girl,
more distinct, for she was dressed in white, and the fire gleamed and
curled and modeled her hair and cast a highlight on her chin, her
throat, and her hand in the brown hand of Sinclair.

Arizona winced down out of sight and stole back under the trees.

"Doggone me," he said to his horse, "they both remembered the day."

End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Rangeland Avenger, by Max Brand

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