"Look closer, and you will see that it has been cut by something sharp, which I should say must have been a knife," the other went on, hurriedly, yet with conviction in his voice; "and, Roger, we might as well make up our minds that Peter is gone for good, because here are the imprints of moccasins in the soft earth; an Indian must have run across our packhorse, and carried him off!" CHAPTER IX ALONG THE BANK OF THE MISSOURI "WHAT a shame!" exclaimed Roger, as soon as he could speak. "Oh! well, it might have been a lot worse," remarked Dick. "You mean that we didn't care very much for old Peter, after all; is that it, Dick?" demanded the other. "Yes; and, besides, just think what a mess we would have been in if it had been a party of Indian thieves, and they'd made a clean sweep of _all_ our horses," was the way Dick consoled himself. Of course his cousin quickly saw things in the same light, as he generally did after Dick had explained his views. "How lucky," he went on, "that we were smart enough to build our little cooking fire last night in that hollow, so it couldn't have been seen a hundred feet away. Only for that this same horse thief must have found out where we had our camp, and tried for the balance of our horses." "Well, how can we blame him for picking up a stray animal that seemed to be wandering around without an owner?" asked Dick. "I heard an old trapper and trader tell Captain Lewis one day, when I was hanging around the camp near the settlement, that he would always have lots of trouble keeping his horses; for that was one thing the Indians coveted. After this, we must not let our two animals wander away." "I should say not," Roger returned, vigorously. "Why, it wouldn't take an Indian ten seconds to throw a leg over one of our fine horses, and be off like a flash. What would be the use of firing after him, when we'd be just as apt to hit the running animal? No, we'll simply have to be careful--more than ever, now. To lose a horse would ruin our chances for overtaking the expedition, wouldn't it, Dick?" "I'm afraid it would," replied the other, as he started to take off the huge packages with which each of their animals had been burdened. "What are we going to do now?" asked Roger. "The first thing is to look over all this stuff, and see what we can do without." As he said this Dick cast aside the Indian tent that made quite a good-sized package of itself, even when carefully folded. Roger gave it a rueful glance, for he had thought more than a little of that old affair. Then he laughed in his quick, nervous way, and on his own account began to toss things from the back of the other horse. Whenever he came to something concerning which he seemed to be in doubt, Roger would hold it up, and say: "What about this, Dick; think we really need it?"