"You were dreaming," scoffed Hippy.
"Ah wuz wide awake, Cap'n. Er fly er a bug bit me on de nose an' waked me up. Ah seed de man den, an' when he seen I sawed him he run away."
"I hope you gave him an anesthetic before you 'sawed' him, Wash," said Emma Dean, who had been listening eagerly to the conversation.
"Yes'm."
Hippy started towards the spot indicated by Wash.
"Wait! Don't trample down the bushes until I have had a look," begged Grace, stepping forward. "We will look first."
Parting the bushes she peered in and pointed. Hippy saw a well-marked trail where the bushes had been brushed aside, and here and there a tender leaf-stem broken off.
Stooping over, the Overland girl scrutinized the ground, and, with a finger, beckoned Hippy to kneel down.
"See that?" she demanded.
"What is it?" questioned the other girls in chorus. They had followed Grace and Hippy and were eagerly peering over the heads of the two kneeling Overlanders.