“One horse has a bad stone bruise,” he pointed out. “See how light the foot print is. That horse is limping.”
Little Bear dismounted and bent over the tracks. He could see that one hoof had not cut as deeply as the others.
“We should soon catch him,” he exclaimed.
“We have lost much time finding the trail,” Great Bear reminded him. “He is far ahead and today we must find game. Our food is gone.”
He smiled at Little Bear’s look of disappointment.
“Never fear,” he promised. “We will catch him and get our horses.”
Grandfather’s words warned Little Bear the chase was going to be much longer than they had planned. If there were hope of catching the thief before another sunrise, Grandfather wouldn’t stop to find food. He began to worry that a storm might erase the trail, or that the warrior would get back to the land of the Crows, where he would have friends to help him and it would be too dangerous for them to follow.
Now that they were sure they were on the trail of the Crow, Grandfather increased the pace to an easy lope. It was a pace the horses could keep up all day. It would carry them over a great distance. The Pawnees’ trail led almost due west so that there was no need to watch for a place where the Crow had left it. He was sure to stay on it as long as it went in that direction. The sun was almost straight overhead when they came to a small stream. Both Grandfather and Little Bear knelt and drank the clear, cool water. They let the horses drink their fill, too.
Grandfather and Little Bear sprawled in the sun while they allowed the horses to graze. Little Bear was very hungry, but he made no complaint.
“This afternoon we will get a buffalo,” Great Bear announced.
After a short rest, they started on the trail again. It led them across a shallow, sandy stream, wider than any they had crossed before. They had ridden about an hour after crossing the stream when the trail turned sharply to the left. Great Bear kept his horse to the right side of the trail and motioned for Little Bear to follow behind him. Both watched to the right. It was certain the Crow would not follow the trail far in this direction, and when he turned off, he would turn to the right and go west. After a time Great Bear slowed his horse to a walk.