"
"Turn up the lights," commanded Joe Cumberland sharply. "Got to see; I
got to think. D'you hear?"
Buck Daniels ran to the big lamp and turned up the wick. At once a clear
light flooded every nook of the big room and showed all its emptiness.
"Can't you make the lamp work?" asked the old ranchman angrily. "Ain't
they any oil in it? Why, Buck, they ain't enough light for me to see
your face, hardly. But I'll do without the light. Buck, how far will
they go? Kate's a good girl! She won't leave me, lad!"
"She won't," agreed Buck Daniels. "Jest gone with Dan for a bit of a
canter."
"The devil was come back in his eyes," muttered the old man. "God knows
where he's headin' for! Buck, I brought him in off'n the range and made
him a part of my house. I took him into my heart; and now he's gone out
again and taken everything that I love along with him. Buck, why did he
go?"
"He'll come back," said the big cowpuncher softly.
"It's gettin' darker and darker," said Joe Cumberland, "and they's a
kind of ringing in my ears. Talk louder. I don't hear you none too
well."
"I said they was comin' back," said Buck Daniels.
Something like a light showed on the face of Joe Cumberland.
"Ay, lad," he said eagerly, "I can hear Dan's whistlin' comin'
back--nearer and nearer. Most like he was jest playin' a joke on me, eh,
Buck?"
"Most like," said Buck, brokenly.
"Ay, there it's ringin' at the door of the house! Was that a footstep on
the hall?"
"It was," said Buck.
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