to be a curved streak of silver, fifty feet
in height and but two or three feet wide. It looked to be absolutely
motionless, and yet it was a waterfall, from whose foamy base little
clouds of steam floated upward or were wafted aside by the wisps of
wind.

Deerfoot refrained from using the instrument until he had done all he
could with his unaided vision. His reason for this was his wish to
place himself in the same situation as the Assiniboine party. None of
them knew what a spyglass is, and he tried to reason from what he saw
upon what point they would be likely to fix as their halting place.

Had he known the precise minute or hour when the horsemen had ridden
past the spot near where he was standing, the problem would have been
easy of solution, but no Indian or white hunter ever lived who could
settle such a question without more definite data. We hear stories of
achievements of that nature, but most of them are mythical, though the
woodcraft of many a trailer has enabled him to do things which to
others were impossible.

The Shawanoe believed the Assiniboines had ridden past at a moderate
pace about the middle of the preceding day. Acting on that supposition,
he selected a point somewhat more than a dozen miles to the northeast
as the one where they would have been likely to encamp for the night.
The trouble was that there was little in the wooded place, near a small
body of water, bearing a striking resemblance to the lake of the
previous day, to favor it above others in the neighborhood. They might
have halted several miles beyond or that much nearer the standpoint of
the Shawanoe.

At the best it was guesswork; but having made his conjecture, Deerfoot
now raised the glass to his eyes and centered his attention upon the
spot. As he did so he was thrilled by a discovery which set his nerves
at once on edge.

On the edge of the trees, near the lake itself, he saw two Indians,
standing as if in conversation. When he lowered the glass it was
impossible to make them out at so great distance, but the instrument
revealed them clearly. Suddenly one of the couple came forward to the
body of water, lay down on his face and drank. The other walked part of
the way and then stopped, and was rejoined by the former. It looked as
if they resumed their converse over some subject in which they were
unusually interested.

Deerfoot was almost certain that the two were members of the party for
whom he was hunting. If such w