e two boys. He seemed never to
hesitate or be in doubt as to the shortest and easiest course, and his
advance, therefore, was much the same as if he were striding across the
grassy plateau near camp. As he went forward his shifting position
frequently shut out the beacon-light, but he made no mistake at any
point in his walk. It was a striking proof of his woodcraft that when he
reached the canyon it was at a spot where it was so narrow that he
appeared merely to lengthen his step when he placed himself on the other
side. Progressing in this manner, it did not take him long to reach the
immediate vicinity of the camp.

The blaze had been kindled among a clump of cedars which were a
continuation of a growth that extended with more or less vigor for miles
among the mountains, gradually disappearing as the snow-line was
reached. Hazletine recalled the particular spot so clearly that he knew
precisely what to do.

It was not very late in the evening, else there would have been one of
the Indians on guard. As it was, the three were lolling in lazy
attitudes, smoking their long-stemmed pipes and talking in a disjointed
fashion. If they had eaten anything in camp, there were no evidences of
it.

Having reached a point from which he could survey the party without
being observed, the hunter proceeded to do so. His first feeling was of
disappointment, for Motoza was not one of the three bucks, who appeared
to be in middle life, and were dressed and painted similarly to that
individual. In fact, the trio were the ones seen by the youths earlier
in the day, at the point where the break in the canyon occurred.

Hazletine had set out with the belief that the vagrant Sioux was the one
chiefly concerned in the disappearance of Fred Greenwood. His absence
from camp confirmed that belief, while the indifferent manner of the
three, and the apparent lack of subjects of discussion among them,
indicated that they knew nothing of the abduction or death, as it might
be, of the missing one. Had they known of it, the guide was confident it
would have been betrayed by their manner, since they could have no
suspicion that they were under surveillance at that time, and therefore
would act their natural selves.

What would have been the course of Hazletine had he seen Motoza, not
doubting, as he did, the guilt of the miscreant? He would have walked
directly forward to the camp and warned the Sioux that if he harmed a
hair of the youth's head h