e heads of those dear to them.
There is no difficulty in lifting the trail of the soldiers. Their
horses are shod, and the late storm, with its torrent of rain, has
saturated the earth, obliterating all old hoof-marks, so that those
later made are not only distinct but conspicuous. So clear, that the
craft of Cully and Wilder is not called into requisition. Every Ranger
riding along the trail can take it up as fast as his horse is able to
carry him.

All see that Uraga has taken no pains to blind the track of his party.
Why should he? He can have no suspicion of being pursued; certainly not
by such pursuers.

Along the trail, then, they ride rapidly; gratified to observe that it
grows fresher as they advance for they are travelling thrice as fast as
the men who made it.

All at once they come to a halt--summoned to this by a sight which never
fails to bring the most hurried traveller to a stand. They see before
them the dead body of a man!

It is lying on a sand-spit, which projects into the river. Upon this it
has evidently been washed by the waters, now subsiding after the
freshet, due to the late tornado. Beside it shows the carcase of a
mule, deposited in similar manner. Both are conspicuous to the Rangers
as they ride abreast of the spit; but their attention has been called to
them long before by a flock of buzzards, some hovering above, others
alighting upon the sandbank.

Six or seven of the Texans, heading their horses down the sloping bank,
ride towards the "sign"--so sad, yet terribly attractive. It would
tempt scrutiny anywhere; but in the prairie wilderness, in that
dangerous desert, it may be the means of guiding to a path of safety, or
warding from one that is perilous.

While those who have detached themselves proceed out upon the sand-bar,
the main body remains upon the high bank, awaiting their return.

The dead man proves to be an Indian, though not of the _bravos_, or
savage tribes. Wearing a striped woollen _talma_, with coarse cotton
shirt underneath, wide sheep-skin breeches, ex tending only a little
below the knee, and rude raw-hide sandals upon his feet, he is evidently
one of the Christianised aboriginals.

There are no marks of violence on his body, nor yet on the carcase of
the mule. The case is clear at a glance. It is one of drowning; and
the swollen stream, still foaming past, is evidence eloquent of how it
happened. On the man's body there are no signs of rifling or