Little Bear turned his horse to Grandfather’s side of the trail. The grass was bent down, and there were plain tracks where the rider had brought his horses into the trail. Grandfather dismounted and studied the tracks.
“One horse has a bad stone bruise,” he pointed out. “See how light the foot print is. That horse is limping.”
Little Bear dismounted and bent over the tracks. He could see that one hoof had not cut as deeply as the others.
“We should soon catch him,” he exclaimed.
“We have lost much time finding the trail,” Great Bear reminded him. “He is far ahead and today we must find game. Our food is gone.”
He smiled at Little Bear’s look of disappointment.
“Never fear,” he promised. “We will catch him and get our horses.”
CHAPTER FOUR
Grandfather’s words warned Little Bear the chase was going to be much longer than they had planned. If there were hope of catching the thief before another sunrise, Grandfather wouldn’t stop to find food. He began to worry that a storm might erase the trail, or that the warrior would get back to the land of the Crows, where he would have friends to help him and it would be too dangerous for them to follow.