A moment later Lynch pulled up the snorting team and called Jessup to hold them. Buck was just turning away from a lightning appraisal of the new-comers, when, to his amazement, the young woman smiled at him from her seat.
“Why, Mr. Green!” she called out in surprise. “To think of finding you here!”
Buck stared at her, wide-eyed and bewildered. With her crisp, dark hair, fresh color, and regular features, she was very good to look at. But he had never consciously set eyes on her before in all his life!
CHAPTER XIV
THE LADY FROM THE PAST
Stratton’s first feeling was that the girl must have made a mistake. In a dazed fashion he stepped forward and helped her out of the buckboard, but this was a more or less mechanical action and because she so evidently expected it. As he took her hand she pressed it warmly and did not at once relinquish it after she had reached the ground.
“I’m awfully glad to see you again,” she said, her color heightened a little. “But how on earth do you come to be away off here?”
With an effort Buck pulled himself together. He could see that the men were regarding him curiously, and felt that he must say something.