“Duty calls—the two little words are enough, although it grieves me sore to think that most likely we shall never meet again. Your work is here—your usefulness lies here. But as for me, my mission in the hills is finished. I am going to a far away country—not a new one, because there are many in squalor and poverty where duty leads me. There I will begin again my labors for the lowly and the poor—for those who are carrying an unjust portion of life’s burdens. There is no lasting pleasure in living, my dear Roderick, unless we help hasten the age of humanity’s betterment. Good-by,” concluded the Major, smiling into Roderick’s eyes and pressing his hand warmly—“good-by.”
Almost dazed by the suddenness of the parting Roderick Warfield found himself out in the darkness of the night He was stunned by the thought that he had gripped his dear friend’s hand perhaps for the last time—that there had gone out of his life the one man whom above all others he honored and loved.
Thus passed Buell Hampton from among the people of the hills. None of his intimates in or around Encampment ever saw him again.
CHAPTER XLI.—-UNDER THE BIG PINE
ON the following afternoon Roderick saddled his pony Badger and rode over to the Conchshell ranch. The Holdens received the news of Buell Hampton’s mysterious departure with deep regret; the Major had become very dear to their hearts, how dear they only fully realized now that he was gone.
It was toward evening when Gail proposed that they go riding in the woods. The invitation delighted Roderick, and Fleetfoot and Badger were speedily got ready.
“Let us follow the old timber road to the south,” Roderick suggested. “I want to show you, only a few miles from here, a beautiful lake.”
“I know of no such lake,” she replied.