“I don’t see the scraps of paper he told about,” said Abner, who had been very anxiously peering about him.
“It may be that he was afraid to drop them, lest it should attract the Indian’s attention,” said Mr. Taylor, coming very near the truth.
“Maybe so. There is another way we can track them.”
“How is that?”
“Noticing where the grass and sticks are trodden over. That’s the Indian way. We’ll fight the red man in his own way.”
“Well thought of, Abner. Your eyes are better than mine. Lead the way, and I will follow.”
Abner was sharp-sighted, nor was he wholly ignorant of the Indians and their ways; and thus it was that he led the anxious father almost directly to the place where Carrie and Julius were waiting in fear and anxiety for the Indian’s return.
Abner spied them first.
“There they are!” he exclaimed, “and the Indian isn’t with them.”
Unable to control his impatience, Mr. Taylor, with a cry of joy, rushed to the spot, and in a moment his beloved little daughter, Carrie, was in his arms.{193}