In a little while we emerged upon an open.
“Here's where they was grazing,” said the Virginian; and the signs were clear enough. “Here's where they must have got their scare,” he pursued. “You stay with them while I circle a little.” So I stayed; and certainly our animals were very calm at visiting this scene. When you bring a horse back to where he has recently encountered a wild animal his ears and his nostrils are apt to be wide awake.
The Virginian had stopped and was beckoning to me.
“Here's your bear,” said he, as I arrived. “Two-legged, you see. And he had a hawss of his own.” There was a stake driven down where an animal had been picketed for the night.
“Looks like Ounces,” I said, considering the footprints.
“It's Ounces. And Ounces wanted another hawss very bad, so him and Pounds could travel like gentlemen should.”
“But Pounds doesn't seem to have been with him.”
“Oh, Pounds, he was making coffee, somewheres in yonder, when this happened. Neither of them guessed there'd be other hawsses wandering here in the night, or they both would have come.” He turned back to our pack animals.
“Then you'll not hunt for this camp to make sure?”
“I prefer making sure first. We might be expected at that camp.”