Half a mile farther on through the forest, however, he encountered tracks of three horses, made early the day before.

Still farther on he found cattle and horse tracks, now growing old and dim.

These tracks, pointed toward Elgeria, were like words of a printed page to Wade.
About noon he climbed a rocky eminence that jutted out from a slow-descending ridge, and from this vantage-point he saw down the wavering black and green bosom of the mountain slope.

A narrow valley, almost hidden, gleamed yellow in the sunlight.

At the edge of this valley a faint column of blue smoke curled upward.
"Ahuh!" muttered the hunter, as he looked.