"Dick!" cried Allen, in a broken voice, "forgive me. She's my child, she loves him now."
The betrayed friend took his hand without looking at him. In vain he tried to hide his deep emotion. "I know," he faltered, "I'll never trouble her. I'll go away never to return."
"Where'll you go?" asked Allen.
"Back where I came from, back into the desert—into the land of dead things. Good-by!"
As he wrung the ranchman's hand and turned to walk out of the life of his old comrades and the woman he loved, he heard the minister repeat: "The blessing of the Almighty Father rest upon and abide with you, now and forevermore. Amen."
"Evermore. Amen!" faltered Dick, bidding a last mute farewell to Allen.
The old ranchman watched him quietly as he mounted his horse and rode down the trail.
His reverie was interrupted by the bursts of laughter of the wedding-guests, and the cries of Fresno: "Kiss the bride, Slim! Kiss the bride!"