, hemmed between rocky heights on every side, and sturdy
horsemen front and rear.

It was eight by the watch at the parting of the ways. It was 8:30 when
Blake retook the trail, with Sergeants Schreiber and Winsor, the latter
borrowed from Ray, far in the van. Even had the ground been hard and
stony these keen-eyed soldier scouts could have followed the signs
almost as unerringly as the Indians, for each had had long years of
experience all over the West; but, despite the steadily falling snow,
the traces of hoofs and, for a time, of _travois_ poles could be readily
seen and followed in the dim gray light of the blanketed skies.
Somewhere aloft, above the film of cloud, the silvery moon was shining,
and that was illumination more than enough for men of their years on the
trail.

For over an hour Blake followed the windings of a ravine that grew
closer and steeper as it burrowed into the hills. Old game trails are as
good as turnpikes in the eyes of the plainsman. It was when the ravine
began to split into branches that the problem might have puzzled them,
had not the white fleece lain two inches deep on the level when "Lo"
made his dash to escape. Now the rough edges of the original impression
were merely rounded over by the new fallen snow. The hollows and ruts
and depressions led on from one deep cleft into another, and by midnight
Blake felt sure the quarry could be but a few miles ahead and Bear Cliff
barely five hours' march away. So, noiselessly, the signal "Halt!" went
rearward down the long, dark, sinuous column of twos, and every man
slipped out of saddle--some of them stamping, so numb were their feet.
With every mile the air had grown keener and colder. They were glad when
the next word whispered was, "Lead on" instead of "Mount."

By this time they were far up among the pine-fringed heights, with the
broad valley of the Big Horn lying outspread to the west, invisible as
the stars above, and neither by ringing shot nor winged arrow had the
leaders known the faintest check. It seemed as though the Indians, in
their desperate effort to carry off the most important or valued of
their charges, were bending all their energies to expediting the
retreat. Time enough to turn on the pursuers when once the rocks had
closed about them,--when the wounded were safe in the fastnesses, and
the pursuers far from supports. But, at the foot of a steep ascent, the
two leading scouts,--rival sergeants of rival troops but devot