“Don’t you worry, ma’am,” he answered cheerily.  “No harm could come to her!  She just walked till it got dark and is just starting for home now, I bet!  She can’t have got out of sight of the ranch lights.”

“But she may have!  You can’t tell what she’s done, she’s such a tenderfoot,” insisted Katherine nervously.  “She may have been hurt!”

It was well that Katherine could not see the foreman’s face during the conversation.  It had a decided scowl of apprehension, but he managed a cheerful laugh.

“Well, you have got nervous, Mrs. Newman!  I’ll just send three or four of the boys out to meet her.  Eh?”

“Oh, yes, do!” cried Katherine.  “I shall feel easier.  Good-by!”

Dick Freeman dropped the receiver and hurried into the neighboring bunk-house.

“Boys,” he said quietly, “Mrs. Newman just ’phoned me that Miss Tuttle went to walk at sunset, to be gone half an hour.  She ain’t got back yet.  She is alone.  Will some of you come with me?”

Every hand of cards was dropped before Dick was half through his statement.  In less than twenty minutes twenty cowboys were circling slowly out into the desert.  For two hours Katherine paced from the living-room to the veranda, from the veranda to the corral.  She changed her light evening gown to her khaki riding habit.  Her nervousness grew to panic.  She sent Li Chung to bed, then she paced the lawn, listening, listening.

At last she heard the thud of hoofs and Dick Freeman dismounted in the light that streamed from the open door.

“We haven’t found her, Mrs. Newman.  Has Mr. Newman got back?  I think we must get up an organized search.”

Katherine could feel her heart thump heavily.

“No, he hasn’t.  Have you found her trail?”

“No; it’s awful hard to trail in the dark, and the desert for miles around the ranch is all cut up with footprints and hoof-marks, you know.”

Katherine wrung her hands.

“Oh, poor little Rhoda!” she cried.  “What shall we do!”

“No harm can come to her,” insisted Dick.  “She will know enough to sit tight till daylight, then we will have her before the heat gets up.”

“Oh, if she only will!” moaned Katherine.  “Do whatever you think best, Dick, and I’ll send Jack and John DeWitt to you as soon as they return.”

Dick swung himself to the saddle again.

“Better go in and read something, Mrs. Newman.  You mustn’t worry yourself sick until you are sure you have something to worry about.”

How she passed the rest of the night, Katherine never knew.  A little after midnight, Jack came in, his face tense and anxious.  Katherine paled as she saw his expression.  She knew he had met some of the searchers.  When Jack saw the color leave his wife’s pretty cheeks, he kissed her very tenderly and for a moment they clung to each other silently, thinking of the delicate girl adrift on the desert.