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It seemed that two days before, at the Bar O Ranch Monty had "turned up missing." Injun, who knew Monty's hoofprints as one friend would know the color of another's eyes, had taken it upon himself to follow them. They had led him a long chase, ending at a night camp, many miles west of the spot where he and Whitey met. Injun had tied his pony some distance from the camp.
And then a joy to be long remembered I went on a hunting trip with Tom and Cowan and three others where the Kentucky tumbles between its darkly wooded cliffs. And other wonders of that strange land I saw then for the first time: great licks, trampled down for acres by the wild herds, where the salt water oozes out of the hoofprints.
"Well, I hope you find him, and I'm glad you don't think any one around here had anything to do with it," said Uncle Tad. "I hope you find your horse soon." But it was a vain hope, for in a little while it began to rain and the rain, Mr. Brown said, would wash away all hoofprints of the Indian's horse, so they could no longer be seen. But Eagle Feather and his friend did not come back.
He was always glad to have Dave and Henry with him, and they were likewise delighted to go, for, as my old readers will remember, Sam Barringford was a famous hunter and rarely came back empty-handed. One day Henry, who had been out after wild turkeys, came back in a state of mild excitement. He had seen hoofprints which were strange to him, and he wanted Barringford's opinion on them.
"It's him, tagging along, I reckon." "Oh," said Hawkins. "That accounts for it." Past the field where the horses were grazing and up the canyon on the side toward Skyline Meadow, that lay on a shoulder of Bear Top, the dog nosed unfalteringly along the trail. Now and then he was balked when the hoofprints led him to the bank of Granite Creek, but not for long.
He knew that under saddle and blanket, sores were forming, that soon he would have no choice but a "trade" such as Hilders might be forcing now, though not at the expense of one of his own fellows. Kirby was reading sign on the other side of the road. His sudden hand signal brought Drew to join him. Hoofprints marked the softer verge. "Turned off not too long ago," Drew commented.
A minute or two later they came to the very spot where Wild had seen the villain disappear the night before. The boys could tell when he got there right away, as he had noticed the spot where he had dismounted, the ground being rather soft there; and the hoofprints, as well as his own footprints were discernible.
A clump of quaking aspens was the chief landmark in the bed of the park. Though this was the immediate destination of Mr. Dingwell, since the hoofprints he was following plunged straight down toward the grove, yet he took certain precautions before venturing nearer. He made sure that the 45-70 Winchester that lay across the saddle was in working order.
White man so left foot up, right foot down. White man's moccasin, Simon." "Huh!" Simon grunted gravely. "Mebbyso white man; mebbyso sitkum Siwash." "Half-breed nothing!" Farwell declared. "Straight white, I tell you. Now get ahead on the trail." But whatever Simon's skill as a trailer, it availed little. In half a mile the hoofprints merged with many others in a beaten track, and so were lost.
He did not go at once to the cabin, but always treading carefully where imprints would be lightest, he made a further inspection of the corral. The wind had done its work there, and hoofprints were practically obliterated. Satisfied, he returned to the cabin and sat down on the bench beside the door, where he could watch the trail while he waited. The telephone rang.
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