"You found nothing after I left you where the trail split tip?" he said.
"No," said Okanagan. "Anyway, not for more than a mile. Ran into rock and gravel, and lost the trail. Crawled round in rings most of the day, and couldn't strike it again. Guess the beast swam the river and lit out for home."
"Well," said Alton dryly, "I found more than that, for I ran into a man's trail, and it wasn't very old. I think he had long boots on and one was down at the heel. I spent an hour over it, and when it led me into rock came back again."
"A man?" said Seaforth. "I fancied there was nobody but ourselves between here and Somasco. What could he be doing?"
"I don't know," said Alton. "Did you find the panther's trail?"
"No," said Seaforth. "Rock again!"
Alton said nothing for a minute, and when he spoke his voice had a curious tone. "Well," he said gravely, "the rock belongs to this place and we don't, so there's no use kicking, but it would have been convenient if there had been less of it. Now it's quite possible that a few pounds of grub and a load of blankets may make a big difference before we get home again, and if we can't trail that horse to-morrow you'll go back to Somasco for another one. We'll cache the load somewhere here and make a big smoke for you at every camping."
"That means the loss of a fortnight, anyway," said Seaforth. "Time is valuable with the winter coming on."
Alton nodded. "Still, it can't be helped," he said.
"I'll lose no time," said Seaforth, who had been watching his comrade.
"Are you quite sure you have told us all, Harry?"