The two looked around carefully and saw the tracks of several feet in the soft soil. They wondered who the thieves could be, but could reach no satisfying conclusion.
Poor Si was utterly discouraged. He had heard before of outfits being stolen along the trail, and knew that some men guarded their horses night and day. At one place they had heard of a man being hung up on a tree for stealing a horse. There were no prisons and no courts, and the pioneers had to take the law into their own hands for self-protection. Any serious crime was punishable by death.
Neither Si nor Maybe Dixon knew exactly what to do, but at last they hit on a plan they thought was best. They put up a stick and in a slit at the top left a note for Bob and Mark, explaining the situation so far as they knew it. They added that they were going to hunt for the thief and would be back at that spot sooner or later.
This accomplished, they set off along the river bank and then into the timber. The trail was fairly smooth and they made good progress over the somewhat spongy soil. They did not know whether they were right or wrong, but, as Si declared, it was "better to do something than to do nothing."
"This is the way things in life change," said Maybe Dixon, as they trudged along. "One day everything is bright an' fair, an' the next you're in a fust-class mix-up an' don't know how to turn yourself."
"If we don't get that outfit back, I don't know what we are going to do."
"Oh, we must git it back, lad. It won't do at all to lose it. I wish I knew the skunk who dared to take it!"
"Is your rifle loaded?"
"Sure, and it's ready to fire, too. I won't parley with sech a miserable thief."
"You would shoot him down?"