ce on th' stream combinin'
grazin' and waterin', and they've never been hunted into that region
yit."

"Well, Paul, they will be now."

I urged the men on as fast as possible, taking care not to exhaust the
horses and unfit them for a long pursuit. The soldiers were animated
by a strong desire to punish the Indians for their treatment of the
family in Skull Valley, and were excited by the fear that the gentle
and beautiful young girl in their hands might fall a victim to some
barbaric cruelty before they could be overtaken, so that the animals
were constantly urged close to their powers of endurance.

Near the middle of the forenoon, as the soldiers were riding up a
canon, on each side of which rose rugged sandstone precipices, we came
to a fork in the trail and the canon. Not only the track parted, but,
judging from footprints, most of the captured stock had passed to the
right. Weaver said the right-hand path led to the northern branch of
the Santa Maria, and the left to the southern.

I halted the detachment, perplexed. To divide my party of twenty-nine
in order to follow both trails seemed to me to be inviting disaster.
To take the whole number over a wrong trail and not rescue Brenda was
a course to be dreaded. I called up the scouts, Weaver and Cooler, for
a consultation.

"Don't you think it is probable," I asked, "that a girl who was
thoughtful enough to drop a 'sign' to show she is alive and a captive,
would be likely to give a hint here as to which trail she was taken
over?"

"That's prob'ble, liftinint," replied Weaver. "'F you'll hold th' boys
here a bit, George an' I'll ride up th' two trails a piece an' look
for signs."

"Go quite a distance, too. She might not get an opportunity to drop
anything for some time after leaving the fork."

"That's true, sir," said Cooler; "the redskins would naturally be
watching her closely. Which way will you go, Paul?"

"Let the liftinint say," answered the elder scout, tightening his belt
and readjusting his equipments for resuming his riding.

"All ready, then," said I. "You take the right, Weaver, and George the
left. While you are gone we'll turn out the stock."

The scouts departed, and a few moments later the horses of the command
were cropping the rich grass of the narrow valley, sentinels were
placed to watch them and look for the return of the guides, and the
rest of the men threw themselves upon the turf to rest.

An hour passed away, when Weaver w