If any man was about he certainly kept outside the range of vision.  So the old man reasoned, and he began to creep toward a place where the smoothness of the rocks indicated the wear and tear of human feet.  It was the only trace of the trail, and barely visible.  As he approached the place he knew that he must be seen, but he relied upon the fact that a man lying flat on the ground is very difficult to hit.  An arrow could scarcely strike him, and in no case could the wound be other than slight, for the shot must come from a distance, as there was, he felt certain, no one near by.

He glided like a snake, or rather like a huge lizard, which crawls over obstacles, and whose body adapts itself to depressions instead of crossing or bridging them over.  His cautious progress scarcely caused a leaf to rustle or a stone to rattle, and these noises were perceptible only in the vicinity of where they were produced.  So he pushed himself gradually close up to a ledge, which, while of indifferent height, still protected his body somewhat.  On this ledge he expected to notice scratches which indicated that the trail passed over it.

It was as he suspected,—­the rock was slightly worn by human feet; but of fresh tracks there could of course be no trace here, for only long and constant wear and tear, and not an occasional hurried tread, can leave marks behind.  But Topanashka noticed a few fragments of rock and little bits of stone that lay alongside the old worn-out channel.  Without lifting his head, he extended his arm, grasped some of the fragments, and began to examine them.

Loose rocks or stones that have been lying on the ground undisturbed for some time, always have their lower surface moist, while the upper dries rapidly.  When the yellowish tufa of these regions becomes wet, it changes colour and grows of a darker hue.  Topanashka had noticed that some among the stones which he was examining were darker than the others.  The Indian, when he examines anything, looks at it very carefully.  One of the fragments was darker on the surface; of this he felt sure, as when he removed them he was careful to keep them as they lay.  Below, the piece had its natural colour, that of dry stone.  He assured himself that the darker shade really proceeded from humidity; it was still moist.  The fragment, therefore, must have been turned over; and that, too, a very short time ago.  Only a large animal or a man could have done this.  He looked closely to see whether there were any scratches indicative of the passage of deer-hoofs or bear-claws, but there were none except those that appeared so large as to show plainly from a distance.  There was every likelihood, therefore, that some human being had but very lately moved the stones, and not only since the rain of last night but since the surface had had time to dry again; that is, in the course of the afternoon.