“Do you make any thing of it?”
“Nothing more. The trail divides here; the main body proceeds onward in a direct line, while the minor trail leads off to the west. The division must have been very unequal, for as near as I can judge the smaller party does not number over three or four at the most. No efforts have been made to conceal their traces, and there is either a deep laid scheme afloat, or they don’t care a fig for us.”
“Very probably both,” remarked Graham. “They care enough for us to take good care to remain out of our reach, when they do not possess advantages over us, and have already shown their skill in not only laying but in executing schemes.”
“If we could only give that Seth Jones an inkling of our whereabouts and intentions, I should feel pretty sanguine again,” said Haverland.
“Very likely if that Jones could give us an inkling of his whereabouts and experiences, you would lose a little of that expectation,” rejoined the hunter with a meaning emphasis and look.
“But this is a waste of time and words,” said Graham, “let us lay our heads together and decide at once what is to be done. As for me, I’m in favor of following the smaller party.”
“What give you that idea?” asked Haverland.
“I confess that I cannot give much reason for the notion, but somehow or other it has struck me that Ina is with the smaller party.”
“Hardly probable,” returned Haverland.
“It don’t seem so, I allow,” remarked the hunter; “but queerly enough the same notion has got into my head.”