“Boss, dem burros all gone!” he gasped.
“Why! Where do you suppose they could have gone?” gasped Mr. Gilroy. But Tally was already on the way back, so they all turned and followed him.
“Tally, what do you say? did the burros run back to Grass Mountain? If they did we shall soon know because Oliver will bring them down,” said Mr. Gilroy.
“Burros go down-trail,” remarked Tally, “Not ’lone; two man-riders drive ’em.”
This amazing information surprised the scouts, and Mr. Gilroy said: “How do you know.”
Tally explained about faint impressions made by the hoofs of the burros, and the tracks made by two larger animals.
After a time they came back to the place where the burros had been left.
“Dem men not gone long. He drop ash here, see?” and the guide pointed to a small rock beside the trail where some one had knocked the ashes from a smoking-pipe.
“Even that does not prove it to be from a man to-day. That may be from last night,” returned Mr. Vernon, deeply interested in Tally’s deductions.
“Dem foot-tracks not last night’s,” said Tally, showing plainly where the grass had been pressed flat.