He was a conscientious young man, and since he had charge of Elk Spring camp, he set its interests above his own, which was more than some of the Sawtooth men would have done in his place.
Having reported the damage to the bridge and made his suggestions about the repairs, he touched up John Doe again and loped away on a purely personal matter, which had to do with finding the bag which the girl had told him was under a bush where a rabbit had been sitting.
If she had not been so very sick, Lone would have laughed at her naive method of identifying the spot.

But he was too sorry for her to be amused at the vagaries of her sick brain.

He did not believe anything she had said, except that she had been coming to the ranch and had left her bag under a bush beside the road.

It should not be difficult to find it, if he followed the road and watched closely the bushes on either side.
Until he reached the place where he had first sighted her, Lone rode swiftly, anxious to be through with the business and go his way.

But when he came upon her footprints again, he pulled up and held John Doe to a walk, scanning each bush and boulder as he passed.
It seemed probable that she had left the grip at Rock City where she must have spent the night.