Stopping auto-reply

A friend emailed me "For the love of god, John, you've got to turn off this auto-reply.

On Fri, Jul 8, 2016 at 1:07 PM, <*********mac.com> wrote:

I am currently away and am not checking my email. I will respond to your email as soon as I return."

Is there a way to turn it off?

I went to Mail preferences>rules and didn't see any rules to remove.

<Email Edited by Host>