Jack passed over the sarcasm. "No, sir, I won't. I'm not going to swallow another mouthful on this ranch. I held myself down till that damned fiesta was over, because I didn't want folks to say I was scared off. But now--I'm going, just as quick as the Lord'll let me get a saddle on that yellow mustang." "Why, you--" "Why, I nothing! I'm going. If you want to go along, you can; but I won't drag you off by the heels. You can suit yourself." He stamped himself into the other boot, went over and splashed cold water into his eyes and upon his head, shook off the drops that clung to his hair, made a few violent passes with towel and brush, and reached for his sombrero. "It's a long ways to ride on an empty stomach," Dade reminded him dryly. "We can stop at Jerry Simpson's and eat. That won't be more than a mile or so out of the way." Jack's hand was on the latch. "And that yellow horse ain't what you can call trail-broke." "He will be, by the time I get to the mine!" Dade threw out both hands in surrender. "Oh, well--you darned donkey, give me time to tell Don Andres good-by, anyway." Jack's eyes lighted with the smile Dade knew and loved to see. "Dade, they don't make 'em any better than you," he cried, and left the door to try and break a shoulder-blade with the flat of his hand, just to show his appreciation of such friendship. "Bill Wilson has got enough gold that he pulled out of the crowd for us yesterday to grub-stake us for a good long while, and--I can't get out of this valley a minute too soon to suit me," he confessed. "You go on and hunt up Don Andres, while I tackle Solano. I'll wait for you--but don't ask me to stay till after dinner, because I won't do it. "We don't want to go off without saying good-by to Jerry and his wife, anyway; and we'll beg a meal from the old Turk, and listen to some more yarns about Tige, just to show we're friendly. I'll have Surry saddled, so all you've got to do is make your talk to the don and pack your socks." Dade grinned and followed him outside. "Good thing I'm used to you," he commented grimly, "or my head would be whirling, right now." Not a word, you will observe, as to whether his own interests would be furthered by this sudden departure; but that was Dade's way. Not a word about the sudden change from last evening, when Jack had eaten at Don Andres' table and had talked amiably with José--amiably in spite of the fact that every one of them understood perfectly that the amiability was but the flowers of courtesy strewn over a formal--and perhaps a temporary--truce. But José was not a fixture upon the ranch, and the don's friendship for the two seemed unchanged. Dade did not argue nor did he question. Barring details, he thought he understood why it was that Jack wanted to go--why it was impossible for him to stay. A girl may be only seventeen and as irresponsible as a kitten, but for all that she may play an important part in the making and the marring of a man's most practical plans.