"Well," said the sheriff, "I reckon you been usin' your eyes, too. Let's hear about it."
"It's your hunt."
"So it is. McCrae's met up with McHale. This here is their camp."
"How do you know?"
"You askin' because you don't know yourself, or because you want me to tell you?"
"I think you're right, but I'd like to know how you get at it."
"Well, I ain't no Old Sleuth nor Sherlock Holmes," said the sheriff, "but I've lived some years out of doors. I ain't workin' out no chain of reasonin'; I'm just usin' my eyes and a bit of savvy. This is how she works out:
"McHale and McCrae is both foot-loose, and both know this part of the country. They leave about the same time, and chances is they make for it. Then they meet. That's easy. Then we find the moccasin track. That fits McCrae. Next we find a lean-to with a two-man bough bed. There's the hollows where two men lay. That helps prove our first guess. It shows that some one was with McCrae, and the only other man hidin' out is McHale."
"But there are other bough beds. How do you know they weren't all made by one outfit?"
"There's only one lean-to."