"Do you feel different about it?" Sun Bird inquired, anxiously.
"My brother, I am not sure about it," White Otter told him. "Only a few ponies passed this place—there are many Cheyennes."
"Perhaps they were scouts, going over there to look for buffaloes," suggested Sun Bird.
"Perhaps," said White Otter.
He was looking anxiously toward the west. The plain was level and free of cover, and it was possible to see a long distance ahead. White Otter realized that the riders were farther away than he had supposed.
"Perhaps they are wild ponies," said Little Raven.
"Yes, that may be true," replied White Otter. "Well, we will try to find out about them. Come, we will follow them."
He rode slowly along the trail, and Sun Bird and Little Raven followed him. His doubts had made them suspicious, and they kept a sharp watch for foes. They had gone a considerable distance when White Otter suddenly stopped and dismounted. He stooped and lifted something from the ground. He examined it with great interest. Then he turned to his companions.
"See," he said. "I have found something that tells me what I wish to know."
He passed the object to Sun Bird. It was a small, round, highly polished piece of bone. It had a hole bored through the end of it. Sun Bird recognized it at once. It had come from a bone breast-plate, worn by warriors to protect them from the arrows of their foes. For some moments he stared at it in silence. Then he gave it to Little Raven.