looked northward.

Ah! he saw something suggestive. The glass was pointed toward the spot
and instantly confirmed the unaided eye. In the horizon, in the mist of
a stretch of wooded country, he observed a faint, almost invisible line
of vapor climbing upward into the cold blue sky, and gradually
dissolving, until at the height of a hundred feet or less all trace of
it vanished.

The most careful scrutiny could not tell anything more. The spot was
between fifteen and twenty miles away, with the roughest sort of
country intervening. It was a good day's journey distant, but in the
same moment that Deerfoot made his interesting discovery he resolved to
thread his way to the place without a minute's halt on his part until
he reached his destination.

His quick mind instantly saw several explanations of the "sign." It
could not be the Nez Perces riding north, for it was impossible that
they had lagged to such an extent on the road. If it was Amokeat and
his party, they must be returning from their raid, or hunting
expedition, or whatever had engaged their energies. It would seem more
likely that the Indians belonged to some other tribe. Be that as it
may, the only means of answering the question was by finding out for
himself, and that Deerfoot started to do with the grim, unshakable
resolution of his nature.

With all his matchless swiftness and endurance, he would not have been
able to travel the distance until the night was well advanced; for,
though there were numerous places where he broke into his fleet lope,
and more than once rose to a higher pace, he was compelled to make
detours that greatly lengthened the distance and added to the labor.
Again, a moderate walk was the best he could do.

About the middle of the afternoon he came upon the bank of a deep,
swift stream fully a hundred yards wide. No doubt he could have found a
ford had he taken the time to search for it, but the minutes were too
valuable to waste. With hardly a moment's hesitation he took three
steps over the flinty floor, and then found he had to swim. He had not
so much as loosened the blanket looped about his shoulders and which
threatened to interfere with the movements of his arms. He held his
rifle above his head, so as to prevent any water running into the
barrel, either at the muzzle or by percolation at the vent, and swam
with his other arm and his feet. For a portion of the way he "trod
water," apparently with the same ease that he walk