At length Raven Wing remarked, "Very soon we should come across a trail to the river."
"The trail of the paleface trader Renville?" inquired Hawk Eye.
"Yes; 'tis wide and well worn by the wheels of his carts and the hoofs of his oxen," answered Raven Wing.
As the sun reached the middle of the sky, Hawk Eye stopped. Dropping his end of the leather thong, he said;
"We have not yet found the trail. Let us spread apart. I will follow a line running between the land of Snows and the Rising Sun. You go forward slantingly toward the Ever Summer Land. But neither of us may go far without again setting face toward the Rising Sun. By so doing, one of us may come upon the trail as we journey toward the upward bend of the river."
"We must keep within the sound of each other's voice," cautioned Raven Wing.
"Yes," agreed Hawk Eye. "I will shoulder the meat. It is by now quite dry." Making a bundle of the strips, he set off at a slant towards the north. Raven Wing veered towards the south.
Before long he halted at a faint, distant call from Hawk Eye.
"He has come across the trail," said Raven Wing to himself. Turning toward the north, he broke into a run. As he came to the ridge of a low swell of ground, he saw Hawk Eye. In a few minutes he stood beside him.
"You have found the trail," he laughed, perceiving the sunken track made by cart wheels.