was cheered by the evidence. Yet at the end of another
hundred yards of progress he sank down suddenly among some
bushes and remained perfectly silent, but intently watchful.

He had seen a column of smoke rising above the pines and aspens.
Smoke meant fire, fire meant human beings, and human beings, in
that region, meant enemies. He had no doubt that Sioux were at
the foot of that column of smoke. It was a tragic discovery. He
was looking for a home for Albert and himself somewhere in this
valley, but there could be no home anywhere near the Sioux. He
and his brother must turn in another direction, and with painful
effort lug their stores over the ridges.

But Dick was resolved to see. There were great springs of
courage and tenacity in his nature, and he wished, moreover, to
prove his new craft as a woodsman and mountaineer. He remained
awhile in the bushes, watching the spire, and presently, to his
amazement, it thinned quickly and was gone. It had disappeared
swiftly, while the smoke from a fire usually dies down. It was
Dick's surmise that the Sioux had put out their fire by
artificial means and then had moved on. Such an act would
indicate a fear of observation, and his curiosity increased
greatly.

But Dick did not forget his caution. He crouched in the bushes
for quite a while yet, watching the place where the smoke had
been, but the sky remained clear and undefiled. He heard nothing
and saw nothing but the lonely valley. At last he crept forward
slowly, and with the greatest care, keeping among bushes and
treading very softly. He advanced in this manner three or four
hundred yards, to the very point which must have been the base of
the spire of smoke--he had marked it so well that he could not
be mistaken--and from his leafy covert saw a large open space
entirely destitute of vegetation. He expected to see there also
the remains of a camp fire, but none was visible, not a single
charred stick, nor a coal.

Dick was astonished. A new and smoking camp fire must leave
some trace. One could not wipe it away absolutely. He
remained a comparatively long time, watching in the edge of the
bushes beside the wide and open space.

He still saw and heard nothing. Never before had a camp fire
vanished so mysteriously and completely, and with it those who
had built it. At last, his curiosity overcoming his caution, he
advanced into the open space, and now saw that it fell away
toward the center.