“See! a skelp—no, by thunder! it’s a false b’ard!” was the astonished reply.
“Let me see,” and Hawksley snatched the article from Zeb’s hands. “Yes—it is his! He—Mark Haley wore this, and I—cursed fool that I am!—I thought it natural! Then it is true, as I feared—they are both dead! Fannie, my darling child—oh God!” and sinking to the ground, the stricken father burst into tears.
“Don’t bother him, Ned,” hastily muttered Ruel, as Campbell sprung from his horse. “It’ll be the savin’ o’ him—them tears. He’d go plum crazy else—an’ no wonder, nuther. First Fred, now the gal.”
“Then you think—” faltered Campbell, chokingly.
“But we don’t know,” was the hasty reply, for Ruel knew in what relation the young couple stood to each other, and dreaded the result. “An’ I never give up hope while thar’s a chance left. She may be rubbed out; I don’t say she isn’t. But why—who by? Surely the fellow wasn’t cussed fool enough to kill her an’ then hisself? You see some one must ’a’ helped—an’ that’s jest what we must look for now. You must help—you’re good on the trail—an’ it’ll keep you from gittin’ as he is. Go that way—I’ll go this. Look cluss round the aidges o’ the trampled spot. Mebbe we kin find sunkthin’ to pay us.”
Separating, the two young men crouched low down, carefully and thoroughly scrutinizing every inch of the ground for several yards beyond the edge of the torn and trampled spot. Their search was successful, for at almost the same moment, a cry announced some discovery.
“What is it, Ned?” muttered Ruel, springing to his friend’s side.
“Prints of a horse’s hoofs at full gallop. See—they toe away, and—look! See the blood-spots!”
“Sure enough—plenty, too. But now the question is—was thar anybody on him? Right here he looks as if he was runnin’ loose-like. But let that rest fer a bit, an’ come over an’ look at my find. I want your ’pinion on it. Them pesky wolves hes ’most blotted it out.”
“It’s the print of a man wearing a boot,” muttered Campbell, after a close scrutiny. “He is leaving this place—on a run. See how the toes cut in?”