She nodded gravely.
"But we have to try him," she said. "We can't keep him here at the ranch all the time. And if he really cares, Dad, he'll come back."
"And you let him go of your own free will?" asked Joe Cumberland, wonderingly.
"I asked him to go," she answered quietly, but some of the colour left her face.
"Of course it's going to come out all right," nodded her father.
"I asked him when he'd be back, and he said he would be here by dark to-night."
The old man sighed with relief.
"He don't never slip up on promises," he said. "But oh, lass, I'll be glad when he's back again! Buck, how'd you and Dan come along together?"
"We don't come," answered Buck gloomily. "I tried to shake hands with him yesterday and call it quits. But he wouldn't touch me. He jest leaned back and smiled at me and hated me with his eyes, that way he has. He don't even look at me except when he has to, and when he does I feel like someone was sneaking up behind me with a knife ready. And he ain't said ten words to me since I come back." He paused and considered Kate with the same dark, lowering glance. "To-morrow I leave."
"You'll think better of that," nodded Joe Cumberland. "Here's the doctor now."