“And insurance and undertakin’,” added Smith. “I’ll ketch ’em comin’ and goin’.”
“If you had a doctor to hitch in with you on the deal,” suggested Slavens.
“What’s the matter with you?” grinned Smith.
“I’ll be cutting a streak out of here before long, I think.”
“Soon as you sell that claim?”
Slavens nodded.
“Don’t let ’em bluff you on the price,” advised Smith. “They’re long on that game here.” 292
Slavens answered as Smith doubtless expected, and with a show of the deepest confidence in his own sagacity, no matter what feeling lay in the well of his conscience at that hour. He left Smith and went back to Agnes’ camp, hoping to see a light as he drew near. There was none. As he carried no food with him, he was forced to draw on her stores for supper.
For a long time he lay upon his saddle, smoking beside the stove, turning over in his mind a thousand conjectures to account for her sudden and unexplained absence. He was not worried for her safety, for he believed that she had gone to Comanche, and that was a ride too long for her to attempt in a day. Doubtless she would set out on the return early in the morning, and reach home about noon.
It was well in the turn of the following afternoon when Slavens decided that he would wait in camp for her no longer. Fears were beginning to rise in him, and doubt that all was with her as it should be. If she went toward Comanche, she must return from Comanche; he might meet her on the way to his own camp. If not, in the morning he would go on to Comanche in search of her.