Well, so long," he said.
"Yu tell Buck we're obeyin' orders!" shouted Red, sorry that he was not going with his bunkie.
Frenchy and Red rode on in silence, the latter feeling strangely lonesome, for he and the departed man had seldom been separated when journeys like this were to be taken.

And when in search of pleasure they were nearly always together.

Frenchy, while being very friendly with Hopalong, a friendship that would have placed them side by side against any odds, was not accustomed to his company and did not notice his absence.
Red looked off toward the south for the tenth time and for the tenth time thought that his friend might return.

"He's a son-of-a-gun," he soliloquized.
His companion looked up: "He shore is, an' he's right about this rustler business, too.

But we'll look around for a day or so an' then yu raise dust for th' Lake.