“No, no, oh no; I was abstracted at the time—absorbed in the investigation of some great truth which made me oblivious, as it were, to what else was going on around me.”
By this time the first fever of excitement was over, and the people began to converse rationally upon the all-absorbing subject, while the trappers occupied themselves in searching through the camp for some evidence of the direction taken by the audacious Apache with his prize.
When it was stated that the entire grove had been traversed back and forth by the men and animals, it will be seen that this was about impossible, even when all three of the keen-eyed hunters set themselves to work at the task, passing back and forth and scrutinizing every foot of ground.
But upon the outside of the encampment, beyond the range of the travel by the whites, Lancaster detected the print of a moccasin in the dusty earth. He followed it for twenty yards out upon the prairie, and then looking up, saw that it led directly toward a clump of trees about a quarter of a mile distant, and along the branches of the creek on which they were encamped—the stream making a sharp bend just above where the train halted.
“We’ll find something there,” said the old hunter, pointing toward the tree, “the snip has made for that point.”
“And left it as soon as he reached it.”
“I s’pose so; but he wouldn’t have gone there, if it wasn’t for something particular. Let’s go and see.”
The hunter hurried over the prairie, and in a few minutes reached the trees. Here, upon looking down at the ground, they were rewarded with another sight of the trail, proving the correctness of the conclusion at which Lancaster had jumped.
“And we’ll soon see what it all means,” he said, as he passed in among the trees.
It required but a moment indeed; a sudden “Ah!” was heard from the old hunter and he pointed down to the ground.