Five minutes later Harris stepped out the back door and Deane followed him. At the sound of a footfall behind him Harris whirled on his heel and when he confronted Deane the dim light from the door glinted on something in his hand.
"Sho," Harris deprecated. "I'm getting spooky. I thought it was some one else." He slipped the gun back in its holster. "There's one or two that would like right well to run across me from behind."
"I followed you out to tell you it was decent of you to insist that I stay over a few days," Deane said. "It was a white thing to do, considering that we both want the same thing."
"We both want her to have what's best for her," Harris said. "And I don't know as she could do any better than to take up with you."
"It may sound rather trite—coming after that," Deane said. "But anyway, I'll have to say that I feel the same way about you."
"Then, if we're both right in our estimates, why she can't go very far wrong, either way she turns," Harris said. "So I reckon we're both content."
Harris moved on and motioned Deane to accompany him.
"I thought I glimpsed a man I knew a few minutes back," Harris said. "I'd like right well to have a talk with him."
They wandered completely round the post and looked in the shadows of the outbuildings but could find no trace of life.
"Likely I was mistaken," Harris said at last. "I saw a face just outside the door. He was more or less on my mind—the party I thought it was. Some one else I expect, and he's gone inside."