The horses were fetched in, the bridles replaced, and the girths tightened.
"Now, which way?" Reuben asked the trackers.
"Along here, captain, by de foot of de hill, de trail is plain enough."
It was so. A track of some width was trampled in the grass.
Reuben was about to give the order to proceed, when he caught Jim's eye, and saw that the black wished to speak to him privately.
"What is it, Jim?" he asked, going apart from the rest.
"That not de way, captain. A hundred, two hundred sheep gone that way, wid four or five black fellow. De rest have all gone over de hill."
"Are you sure, Jim?"
"Me quite sure, sar. De ground very hard; but while de captain smoke him pipe, Jim went over de hill, saw plenty sign of sheep. Went straight uphill, and then turned away to de left. Dis little party here hab only gone to frow white man off de trail."
"The trackers ought to have seen that as well as you, Jim," Reuben said angrily.