A little before dark, while they were riding swiftly along a rocky trail that here ran through a gorge, Carl looked down and happened to see something that brought him to a standstill. He dismounted, and found that the dirt had been thrown up and stones placed upon it to hide it from curious eyes. He threw aside the stones and began investigating with his sheath knife, the soldiers all standing around and wondering what he was looking for. A few prods with the knife, and Carl unearthed the horseshoes which had been removed by the Indians so that they could not be followed so easily.
“This beats me,” said the captain. “How did you know that the shoes were there?”
“I just saw it,” answered the guide. “When one is following a trail he must keep his eyes about him. I don’t suppose you know that there is an Indian watching us over the summit of that swell, do you?”
The captain was profoundly amazed. He looked in every direction except the right one, but could see nothing.
CHAPTER III.
The Ghost Dance.
While the guide was engaged in tossing out the shoes so that the soldiers could examine them he kept his eyes busy, and finally discovered something that fastened his gaze. It looked like a tuft of grass on the top of a swell, but as Carl looked at it he saw it move just a trifle. He was as certain as he wanted to be that there was an Indian behind that grass. He was watching the soldiers, and he had pulled up that grass to conceal the movements of his head.
“You are joking, ain’t you?” said the captain.
“I don’t joke in a case like this,” said the guide. “There is an Indian up there, and he wants to see what we are going to do.”
Carl pointed out the object that drew his attention, and the captain brought his binoculars to bear upon it. After gazing at it for a long time he said: