The
trail,--the main trail, that is,--seemed to go straight away eastward,
and, for a short distance, downward through a hollow or depression;
while, up the mountain side to the left, the north, following the spur
or shoulder, there were signs as of hoof tracks, half sheeted by the
new-fallen snow, and through this fresh, fleecy mantlet ploughed the
trooper boots in rude, insistent pursuit. The sergeants' horses were
held by a third soldier a few yards back behind the spur, for Winsor was
"side scouting" up the heights.
The snowfall had ceased for a time. The light was growing broader every
moment, and presently a soft whistle sounded somewhere up the steep, and
Schreiber answered. "He wants us, sir," was all he said, and in five
minutes they had found him, sprawled on his stomach on a projecting
ledge, and pointing southeastward, where, boldly outlined against the
gray of the morning sky, a black and beetling precipice towered from
the mist-wreathed pines at its base. Bear Cliff beyond a doubt!
"How far, sergeant?" asked the captain, never too reliant on his powers
of judging distance.
"Five miles, sir, at least; yet some three or four Indians have turned
off here and gone--somewhere up there.
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