Cody began to search the ground quickly with his keen eyes. He saw a moccasin track by the rear door, yet he was not sure but it had been made at the time the master of the house had been killed. The house had been entered then, and some things had been taken, so the girl had declared. That more had not been taken was a marvel to the experienced scout. “Gordon, come here!” he called from the corner of the house. Pawnee Bill dropped the spade he was wielding and came running. “The girl is gone,” said the scout. “I found her absent from the house, and I fail to see her anywhere.” He looked at Pawnee Bill earnestly. “Was her mind so affected, do you think, that she would slip out of this back door and into the hills, there?” he asked. “If not----” “What?” said Pawnee Bill. Buffalo Bill pointed to the moccasin track. “That is suggestive, if it is new; but it’s hard to tell when it was made. The girl is gone. You heard me call to her, and she has not appeared, nor answered. If she did not go herself, some one took her. That’s why I asked you that question.” “Her mind was all right,” said Pawnee Bill anxiously. “She was depressed and almost hysterical, but not enough so to make her run away in that fashion, or do anything rash.” “Then we must investigate this moccasin track at once. You’ll see that an Indian could have slipped up to the house from the hills, and where we were working we could not have seen him. He could have entered by this rear door, and he could have carried off the girl. The question is, did anything like that occur?” Pawnee Bill was one of the best of the border trailers. He and the scout bent together to examine that moccasin track, after they had scanned the hills for signs there of Indians. Soon they found another track, and then another, and still another, all leading from the rear door in the direction of the hills. “They’re fresh,” said Buffalo Bill, pointing to a bent grass blade, which had been crushed so recently that sap was oozing from it. “And look there!” said Pawnee Bill, picking up a broken feather. Where the feather was found they discovered indications that a struggle had taken place, for the grass was cut and torn, and the footmarks did not go straight on; there had been an interruption of the progress of the Indian. “It’s clear as day now,” said the scout, rising and looking about. “Some redskin stole to the cabin while we were busy at the grave. He had seen her enter, and discovered that he could reach the cabin without being observed by us. The girl had lain down on her bed, and was perhaps half asleep, or may have had her head covered up. She did not see him, at any rate, until it was impossible for her to cry out; though his sudden appearance may have so frightened her that she could not utter a sound. Then he picked her up in his arms, perhaps choking her to make her keep still, and he carried her away into the hills.”