r character he might
bear as a man he was a master scout. He had a knowledge and instinct far
greater than that of a bloodhound on a hot scent. He glanced around him,
taking in the lay of the land at every point of the compass. Then he
finally pointed at a brush growing a few hundred yards from the trail.

"The bluff," he said. "It may be what we look for. Sa-sa-mai, she tell me.
Ow."

The last was a grunt which expressed assurance.

The horses left the trail for the prairie. The eyes of both men were
turned upon the ground, which is the habit of such men when out on the
trail. It is the soil over which the prairie man passes which is the book.
The general scene is only the illustration.

At the bluff the men dismounted. Seth now took the lead. He did not plunge
haphazard into his search. He still studied the brush and the ground. But
it was the scout whose trained instincts were the first to discover the
signs they sought. And he found it in the dead, broken twigs which marked
the course of a wagon.

The two followed the lead; followed it unerringly. With every foot of the
way the task became easier. Once they had turned the cover the book had
become the simplest reading. In a few minutes they came to a clearing well
screened from the road. Now they parted company. The scout went on toward
the water further on, but the white man turned to the clearing. Herein was
displayed the difference in the men. Seth had come to the point where
imagination served him. The other was only a craftsman.

The grass was tall in the clearing. There was a low scrub too, but it was
a scrub that might be trodden under foot. In two minutes Seth was stooping
examining a tent-peg, discolored by weather, but intact, and still
holding in the earth where it had been driven. It was but four yards from
this to a place where two distinct piles of human bones were lying hidden
in the rank grass.

Seth was on his knees pulling the grass aside, but he did not touch the
bones. The skeletons were far from complete. Fortunately the skulls were
there, and he saw that they were those of a man and a woman. While he
contemplated the ghastly remains his thoughts conjured up many scenes. He
saw the bullet hole through the woman's skull, and the horrid rift in the
man's. The absence of many of the bones of the extremities made him think
of the coyotes, those prairie scavengers who are never far off when death
stalks the plains.

After a few moments he wa