"Yes," Jessie repeated, nodding, "and it's quite safe, I can feel it. Our cowboy friend did not have time to find it. I only hope that Ralph has not got into mischief." He had not. I was obliged to leave Jessie and go over the ridge for the cows, but she told me, when I presently followed her into the house, that she had found Ralph still contentedly destroying his picture book. CHAPTER XVIII A VITAL POINT It was the day but one after our exciting trip to the Water Storage Reservoir when, as we were busy about our usual work, our attention was attracted by a loud voice at the gate, shouting: "Whoa! Whoa, sir! Whoa, now, I tell you!" and I was guilty of a disrespectful laugh. "There comes Mr. Wilson, Jessie. You can always tell when he is coming, for he begins shouting to his horses to stop as soon as he sights a point where he wishes them to halt. Evidently he is intending to call on us." "Good morning, young folks, good morning!" was the hearty salutation, a moment after, as our neighbor himself stood on the threshold. "No, I can't stop," he declared, as usual, when Jessie offered him a chair. "If I set," he continued, "I shall stay right on, like a big clam that's got fixed to his liking, prob'ly, and I've got a heap to do to-day." Nevertheless, he dropped easily into the seat as he continued: "Day after to-morrow's the day, I s'pose?" "Yes," Jessie responded, dejectedly, "it is." "Hu--m--wal', wal', you don't seem real animated about it, if you'll excuse my saying so. I swan, I 'lowed you all would be right pleased to think the long waiting's so nearly over." "It isn't that," Jessie told him, trying to keep her lips from quivering, "but--Joe has gone." "What!" Jessie repeated the statement. "Pshaw! Now, that's too bad!" Mr. Wilson exclaimed, rubbing his hair upright, as he always did when perplexed. "Wal', I don't know when I've heard anything more surprising," he continued, when Jessie had detailed the manner of Joe's disappearance to him; "I'd a banked on that old man to the last breath o' life. And he's gone! Appearances are all-fired deceivin', that's so, but don't you grieve over it, girls; it'll all come out all right in the end. The old man has stayed right by you and helped you good since your pa was taken, but we must remember that he never was in the habit of tyin' himself down to one place before this, and, more'n likely's not, his old, rovin' habits have suddenly proved too strong fer him, and he's jest lit out because he couldn't stan' the pressure any longer." "But Joe is so faithful; he has always been just like one of the family, and he knows so well how badly we need him," I objected; "it does not seem possible for him to have deserted us." "Desert is a purty ha'sh word, Miss Leslie. There's some mystery about it, take my word for it. Joe'll be back again, and when he comes I'll guarantee that he'll be able to give some good reason for going away."