One thing gave them food for thought—it was not one of their blankets he had used; therefore, some one had come to him, bringing him the blanket with which he had hid his tracks.
From that fact they had reached the conclusion that the reason the pony tracks sank deep into the sandy places was because the animal carried double—bore Toltec Tom and whoever it was who had come to his assistance.
Who was that person?
They could not guess, unless it was the Red Feather who had stolen away the child from the town of Skyline, and had dropped the silver earring in the trail close by the knoll at Morgan’s. If true, the same person had dropped the sun-stamped gold piece.
That person, they had argued, was an Indian; and what they had seen the previous day indicated it was an Indian woman.
But had an Indian woman, the stealer of the child, also stolen or enticed Toltec Tom to leave the camp in that mysterious manner during the watches of the night?
Here was a puzzle.
Buffalo Bill admitted that its explanation rested in the future. All they could do now was to go on as they had been doing and see what would come to pass.
One of the things which developed was of a character to again frighten the Indians and cause Nomad to talk once more of the whiskizoos.
The vulture seen previously, or another similar bird, was observed to hover over the trail some distance before them, and then close its wings and drop, like a hawk descending on a rabbit.