There is no saying how long he would have continued had he not been suddenly checked by coming to the edge of another stream which crossed his course. He had heard no warning rippling or murmur, and almost stepped into the water before he saw what was in front of him. “This is the second one which, as Jenkins told me, I shall have to cross, but plague take it! I don’t like the prospect at all.” The stream was not more than half the width of the other, but it might be ten times as deep and dangerous. He found it was flowing rapidly, and it was natural that he should shrink from venturing into its treacherous icy depth. The fact that it was an obstacle to his progress made Alden the more anxious to cross. Instead of waiting till the morrow, he felt he must do so at once. Then he asked himself whether he could not construct a raft to bear him. He even searched up and down the bank but a few minutes showed him the impossibility of his plan. About the only wood he found were willows and a species of elder, none of which was thicker than his wrist. The squat pines scattered here and there required an axe to cut them down, and he had only his hunting knife. Perforce he abandoned the scheme. It was at this moment that he fancied he dimly detected tracks in the mud on the edge of the stream. He had come so far from the carcass of the pony that he felt little fear of the Indians. He struck another of his matches and scrutinized the ground. To his astonishment, he saw the prints of broad tired wagons, and the tracks of oxen and horses. They extended as far up and down stream as he could see. The inference was plain: in wandering from the course of Bucephalus, he had found his way to a portion of the main path followed by the emigrants going westward. This as was the rule was spread over a space of a mile or more in width, and still greater in other places. All Alden had to remember was not to lose sight of these landmarks and he would reach the station sooner or later. Moreover the evidence on the bank of the stream left no doubt that it was a well-known ford, where teams could cross with little difficulty. Wherefore Alden could probably do the same. He decided to try it. Ever mindful of the inestimable value of the mail treasure, he adjusted them with much care about his neck, somewhat as if they were life preservers, and holding his light rifle in his hand, he stepped cautiously into the current like an elephant venturing upon a rickety bridge. Ugh! as the water crept up around his knees he shuddered. He was sure that half a degree colder would congeal it. Like some of the great rivers of Europe, it must issue from under a mass of ice. But he could stand it, and cheered himself with the thought that many others must have made the same passage, for not every man could ride in the heavy wagons of an emigrant train when fording a stream.