he ground, the tracks must have
been made before it fell. A little further on he found another, and by
comparing the two he made up his mind that they must have been made the
day before. They were going the same way that he was, and appeared to be
holding the direction of a long line of willows a few miles off. Elam's
hair seemed to rise on end. He could imagine how those painted warriors
had yelled and plied their whips in the endeavor to hunt down their
victims; for that they were in plain view of someone Elam could readily
affirm. He thought he could hear the yells, "Hi yah! yip, yip, yip!"
which the exultant savages sent up as a forerunner of what was coming.

"They got them in there as sure as the world," muttered Elam. "It's all
right so far, and I can go on without running the risk of seeing any of
them. I just know I shall see something after I get up there."

Elam put his horse into a lope and followed along after the trail as
boldly as though he had a right to be there. He didn't feel any fear,
for he knew that he was on the trail of the Indians instead of having
them upon his, and he knew they would not be likely to come back without
the prospect of some gain. Presently he came to the place where some of
the savages had dismounted and gone into the willows to fight their
victims on foot, and then something told him that if he got in there he
would find the bodies of the men who had robbed him of his furs. How
that little piece of woods must have rung to the savages' war-whoops!
But all was silent now. He led his horse a short distance into the
bushes and dismounted, following the trail of an Indian who had crept up
on all fours toward the place where the doomed men were concealed, and
presently came into a valley in which the undergrowth had been trampled
in every direction. Near the middle of the valley were two men who were
stretched out on the ground, dead. There was nothing on them to indicate
who they were, but Elam had no difficulty in recognizing them.

"Well, it is better so," said he sorrowfully. "The Indians have got you,
and that's all there is of it. Now my furs have gone, and I shall have
to go to Uncle Ezra's to get a grub-stake."

There were no signs of mutilation about them, as there would have been
if the men had fallen into the hands of the Indians when alive. The
Cheyennes had evidently been in a hurry, for all they had done was to
see that the men were dead, after which they had stripped