parted so unceremoniously, his face turned in her direction--horse and
rider silhouetted against the western sky which showed a crimson hue
below a greenish blue that was sapphire farther from the horizon.




II.


Not until a turn of the road hid the stage from sight did the stranger
fix his gaze elsewhere. Even then it was not easy for him, and there had
been a moment when he was ready to throw everything to the winds and
follow it. But when on the point of doing so there suddenly flashed
through his mind the thought of the summons that he had received. And
so, not unlike one who had come to the conclusion that it was indeed a
farewell, he waved his hand resignedly in the direction that the stage
had taken and, calling to his _vaquero_, he gave his horse a thrust of
the long rowel of his spur and galloped off towards the foothills of the
Sierras.

For some miles the riders travelled a road which wound through beautiful
green fields; but master and man were wholly indifferent, seeing neither
the wild flowers lining each side of the road nor the sycamores and live
oaks which were shining overhead from the recent rains. In the case of
the young man every foot of the way to his father's rancho was familiar.
All hours of the day and night he had made the trip to the highway, for
with the exception of the few years that had been given to his education
in foreign lands, his whole life had been passed on the rancho. Scarcely
less acquainted with the road than his young master was the _vaquero_,