Rathburn rose abruptly. "I guess that's what I came up here to hear you say," he said irritably. "But I don't reckon it can be done, Joe. I haven't any business there." "How do you know, boy? Maybe you ain't bein' right fair." "Seems to me it would look better for me to stay away." "They don't _have_ to see you," urged the old man. "The Mallory place is a good fifteen miles from Hope, close up against the mountains. Boy, don't you think you better make sure?" The wistful, yearning look was back in Rathburn's eyes. His right hand rested upon the butt of his gun. The other held his forgotten cigarette. He turned and looked into the old man's eyes. "Joe, you said something about takin' something from the desert if I left it. You're right. But it can't be, Joe. This thing has killed my chances!" The gun seemed to leap from its holster into his hand at his hip of its own accord. The old miner's brows lifted in astonishment at the draw. "If I was you I wouldn't be much scared who I met on the way down to the Mallory place if I didn't meet too many of 'em at once," he said with a smile. "I--I couldn't wear it--there," Rathburn faltered. "Well, leave it hangin' on a handy peg, boy," said the old man cheerfully. Rathburn jammed the gun back into its holster and walked around to his horse. He led the animal down to drink and then returned and saddled. "You goin' on to-night?" asked Price casually. "I'm takin' a ride," Rathburn confessed. "You ain't takin' my advice at the same time, are you?" asked Price, pretending to be greatly concerned. Rathburn mounted and looked down upon him in the faint light of the stars. "Joe Price, you're a wise old desert rat, an' I'm a young fool," he said with a twinkle in his gray eyes. "If Bob Long happens this way give him my regards an' tell him they got the reward notices over in California all right, for I saw 'em stuck up over there. So long." The old miner called out after him and watched him ride down the canyon and disappear in the shadows. Nor was he the only watcher; for, high on the ridge above, another man touched his horse with his spurs and started down the west side of the range, as Rathburn vanished. CHAPTER XXVIII A NIGHT SUMMONS In two hours Rathburn came to a fence about a small ranch. Cattle were grazing on the sparse feed within the inclosure, and he saw a clump of trees marking the site of a house. He rode around the fence until he came to a gate. There was a light shining from two of the windows of the house. He passed through the gate, and, as he approached the house from the side, he saw two figures on the porch. He halted in the shelter of the trees, and, as one of the figures crossed the beam of light which shone out the door, he saw that it was a man. He obtained a fleeting look at the man's face. He was comparatively young, not bad looking, with blue eyes and a small, close-cropped, sandy mustache.