It took him a long while to satisfy himself that he was on the right track, but at last he struck off at a lively step along a trail which only a man of his frontier skill could have discovered. After a walk of a mile he suddenly came upon a spot where there were the tracks of a horse visible. These he followed a mile farther, and the scout saw that the ground was trampled down, but not by hoofs. The track he had followed thus far had been that of one hoof only, showing that the other three had been muffled, but one had lost its covering. The trampled grass and ground revealed that the horses had been left there, and all had had their hoofs muffled in some way. But the keen eyes of the scout picked up the trail, and he followed it quite rapidly until he came to a small stream. "There were eight horses along, as their tracks show here, but how many men I do not know. When they have gone some miles farther they will remove the muffles from their horses' hoofs, and then the trail will be easy to follow, and it now looks to me as though I will be able to track them to their retreat, and that means the end. "But night is coming on now, and this is just the place for me to branch off and go to my own camp, following the trail to-morrow on horseback." Buffalo Bill quickly decided what course he would pursue. He would walk to his camp, get some provisions and an increased outfit, return there for the balance of the night and go into camp, so as to make an early start in the morning directly on the trail. So he set out at a rapid walk, and within three hours' time had reached his basin camp. He quickly set to work to look up some provisions and get ready for his trail, and in an hour was ready to start, mounted upon his best horse. It was after midnight when he reached his camping-place, but he was soon asleep, wrapped snugly in his blankets, while his horse was resting and feeding. With the breaking of dawn he was up and ready to start, and a few miles away discovered the spot where the outlaws had removed the muffles from the hoofs of their horses. From there on he felt no further anxiety about the trail, so cooked his breakfast, ate it leisurely, and again started on his way. He understood now thoroughly why the outlaws had left no trails going to and coming from the Dead Line and other points upon the Overland Trail. The muffled hoofs of the horses explained this, and they stuck to their determination to leave no tracks until they got far away from the scene of their evil deeds. Buffalo Bill did not believe that he would have to go very far from the Dead Line before he found their retreat, and was expecting to find out where they were in hiding within half a day's ride from his starting-point.