Suddenly he got to his feet and looked down the stream, where the water swung around an undercut bank, practically undermining a heavy growth of willows. Something had attracted his attention, and he shoved down through the brush to this spot, where he sprawled along the bank, reaching down in the water.
After some little effort he was able to draw out the object, which he lugged back to a clear space. It was a Navajo rug, about four feet wide and five feet long, which had been rolled tightly and tied at both ends with whang-leather strings.
Hashknife cut the strings and unrolled the rug. It was rather difficult to tell how long the rug had been in the water. It was rather discolored, but the pattern was clear enough. The two ends of the rug were of red and gray design, while the center was dead black, with a jagged strip of white, representing the Navajo idea of lightning.
Hashknife carried the rug over to the corral, where he spread it out on the ground. It was a very distinctive pattern, and Nan was sure she had never seen it before. Just why it was in the creek, none of them were able to say. It was not a rug that any one would discard. He hung it over the top-pole of the corral to dry out, and left it there, dripping down across the poles.
‘That must have been a beautiful rug,’ sighed Nan. ‘I have always admired Navajo rugs, but we have always been too poor to buy one.’
‘You can have that one,’ smiled Hashknife. ‘Probably take a lot of washin’ to clean it up. Lot of that silt has soaked up in it, and it’ll take time to get it out. Might be better to let it dry, and then beat it out.’
‘What would they do to us if they knew what we had done?’ asked Rex anxiously.
‘I dunno,’ smiled Hashknife. ‘Better not tell anybody else. It would be a point for the prosecution, yuh know. It would prove just where Peter Morgan was killed. It’s too bad yuh didn’t think to get that gun.’
‘We were too excited to think of anything except to get the body away from here,’ said Nan.
‘I’ll betcha. That was shore some job for you two. Now, we’ll just forget all that.’