The two men arose.
"Well, good luck to you, Gordon." Trowbridge slapped his friend on the shoulder, and they separated.
"Frank, can you let me have a bed?" Wade asked of the hotel proprietor, a freckled Irishman.
"Sure; as many as you want."
"One will do, Frank; and another thing," the ranchman said guardedly. "I'll need an extra horse to-night, and I don't want to be seen with him until I need him. Can you have him tied behind the school-house a little before nine o'clock?"
"You bet I can!" The Irishman slowly dropped an eyelid, for the school-house was close by the jail.
Wade tumbled into the bed provided for him and slept like a log, having that happy faculty of the healthy man, of being able to sleep when his body needed it, no matter what impended against the hour of awakening.
When he did wake up, the afternoon was well advanced, and after another hearty meal he walked over to the Purnells' to pass the time until it was late enough for him to get to work.
"Now, Gordon will tell you I'm right," Mrs. Purnell proclaimed triumphantly, when the young man entered the cottage. "I want Dorothy to go with me to call on Miss Rexhill, and she doesn't want to go. The idea! When Miss Rexhill was nice enough to call on us first."