"And could you tell the horses if you saw their hoofs again?" asked Whitey, the Sherlock Holmes instinct stirring within him.
"Tell two," said Injun, holding up two fingers; and then, in response to Whitey's inquiry as to how he could do this, Injun pointed out certain slight peculiarities in the hoof-prints that were plainly discernible on a minute examination. Whitey was delighted at this exhibition, and he noted well the peculiarities for future reference.
Injun even went a little further than that. Two of the hoof-prints were very plainly marked; and taking some flat stones, he arranged them in such a manner as to cover and preserve the impressions of the hoofs in the ground and yet at the same time were not particularly noticeable.
Not satisfied with this, Injun then proceeded to search for a marked peculiarity among the cloven hoof-prints; and succeeded in finding one in which there was an unmistakable dissimilarity. The right forefoot of one of the cattle showed an unusual deformity, being so split as to give the impression of toes. This print Injun covered in the same manner. Injun had never heard of the Bertillon fingerprint system, but he had common sense.
Having followed the trail back to the point where the animals were separated from the rest of the herd, nothing new in the way of foot-prints was found, the nature of the soil and its thick carpet of grass making any discovery difficult. In fact, most of the marks were almost obliterated.
But the keen eye of Injun detected another thing, seemingly slight, but really of the utmost importance in the last analysis. On one of the tough branches of a small, thorny bush, there hung several woolen threads of variegated colors; threads not more than an inch or two in length, that had apparently been torn from a piece of cloth by being caught by the tough thorny branch. An examination of the ground near the bush, which was fortunately soft, showed that the heel-mark of a man's boot was plainly discernible, and also the four hoof-prints of a horse. The heel of the boot had been pressed into the ground to a more than ordinary depth, and the hoof-prints of the horse were on each side of it. Injun pointed this out to Whitey with some evidence of satisfaction, but it meant nothing to Whitey.
The keen eye of Injun detected another thing.