He led Little Bear along the trail upstream. There were many places where the horses had been led into the stream and back out again. They returned to the stream they had followed and went downstream. It was the same here. The horses had been led in and out of the water so many times it was impossible to tell whether they had finally gone upstream or down.
“He is clever,” Great Bear admitted grudgingly. “We shall have to search upstream and downstream to find which way he really went.”
Little Bear looked over the valley where yesterday’s fire had burned off the grass.
“Perhaps it wouldn’t make any difference whether he went upstream or downstream,” Little Bear suggested. “I think he would circle around and get on the trail the Pawnees made when they ran yesterday. He would think we couldn’t find his trail there.”
Great Bear gave him a surprised look.
“Very good,” he praised. “Of course that is what he would do. When we find the Pawnees’ trail, we shall find his, too.”
Where the fire had burned, it had covered all traces of the Pawnees’ tracks. But Great Bear judged the Pawnees would ride out of the path of the fire as quickly as possible. He led the way out of that valley and into the next one. The fire had burned over this one, too, but had not gone very high on the hills that formed the south boundary of it. Great Bear led the way in that direction.
Little Bear anxiously watched the sun. It was dropping to the ground rapidly. It seemed to be trying to hide its light so that they would have more trouble finding the Crow. From the time he and Great Bear had started on the trail, he had known they couldn’t find the horses before night. Still, he had hoped they could at least find the Pawnees’ trail before darkness fell. Suddenly Great Bear stopped his horse.
“Here is the Pawnee trail,” he pointed out. “The Crow didn’t ride along it here, but I think you are right. In the morning we shall find his trail, too.”
They rode across the next ridge of hills and down into another small valley. Here the grass was tall and a small spring gurgled up. Little Bear hobbled their horses while Grandfather got out cold meat for their supper.