rdure also furnishes an indication.

I once employed as scout, a Mexican, who could tell by a single glance at
a trail, by what tribe it had been made, their number, its age, and in
fact every particular concerning the party, as truthfully as though he
had seen them.

We were one time following an Apache trail, when we came to a ledge of
bare rock. I examined it carefully, and could detect no mark of any kind;
but the Mexican led us across as easily as though it had been a beaten
path, without even once hesitating a moment, during the two miles over
which it extended.

When I asked him what he saw that indicated the course of the trail, he
showed me that the surface of the rock was covered with a very fine, dry
moss, that, with the closest scrutiny, bore evidence of having been
pressed by the foot: so slight was the impression made, it would have
escaped the notice of ninety-nine out of every hundred persons; yet his
keen eyes detected every footprint as plainly as though it had been made
in the grass.

If a trail is for any reason lost, an expert will easily recover it by
following for a time its general direction and watching the formation of
the land; for all trails are made over the highest portions, thereby
affording a view of the entire country through which they pass.

In the grass, a trail can be seen for a long time: the blades will be
trodden down and bent in the direction followed by the party; and, even
after it has recovered its natural position, a good trailer will have no
difficulty in following it; for his keen eye will detect a slight
difference in the color of the grass that has been stepped on from that
growing around it.

So, also, the appearance of the tracks will at once show him the gait at
which the party were travelling, and he thus knows how to regulate his
pace so as to overtake them.

It is exceedingly rare to find a white person that can retrace his steps
for any distance in an open country; while an Indian is always able to do
it. No matter how circuitous may be the route by which you may have
reached a certain locality, an Indian will find his way back to the place
of starting by the most direct route, though it be in the darkest night;
and, if you ask him how he does it, if he replies to your question at
all, he will simply shrug his shoulders and say, "_Quien sabe?_" or
who knows.

No matter how agreeable he may be about camp; on the road he never
speaks, except it should be ne