ve been
gone over a week."

A worried wrinkle dodged into Buck's forehead. All along he had taken the
presence of the Mannings so entirely for granted that the possibility of
their having left the ranch never once occurred to him. But now, in a
flash, he realized that by this time, for all he knew, they might be back
in Chicago. As Bud said, it certainly seemed odd that neither of them had
appeared when the posse rode up to the ranch-house. What a fool he had
been not to make sure about it. Why hadn't he asked the question
outright?

"But I did mention it while we were talking," he thought, trying to
reconstruct that brief interview with Mary Thorne. "Hang it all! No, I
didn't. I was going to, but she interrupted. But she must have known what
I referred to."

Suddenly there came back the vivid recollection of the girl's face as she
said good-by. Outwardly cheerful and composed, that faint pallor and the
few lines of strain etched about her mouth and chin struck him now with a
tremendous significance. She had known what was in his mind, but purposely
refrained from revealing the truth for fear of becoming a drag and hamper
to him. She was game through and through.

The realization brought a wave of tenderness surging over the man,
followed swiftly by a deepening sense of trouble and uneasiness.

"I don't like it at all, Bud," he burst out abruptly. "I wish to thunder
we'd found out for sure about those Mannings. If they have gone, one of us
at least ought to have stayed."

"Well, of course I'm only guessin'. Quite likely they're there yet, only
it just seemed funny not to see them. But even if she is left alone with
only Mrs. Archer, yuh ain't worryin' about anythin' really happenin' to
her, are yuh? It'll be darn lonesome, an' all that, but Lynch an' the
whole gang has beat it--"

"How do we know where they have gone?" cut in Stratton curtly. "They had a
good hour's start, and more. It'll be getting dusk pretty quick. What's to
prevent one or more of 'em circling back by the southeast? Lynch is
capable of anything, and after what you've just told me--"

Bud's eyes widened. "But what would he have to gain--"

"Gain?" repeated Buck irritably. "How the devil do I know what's in that
polecat's mind? He's quite capable of hiding behind a woman's skirts. He's
even capable of carrying her off and trying to force her to marry him, or
something like that. I've half a mind to--"

He broke off, frowning. Bud, now thoro