With the first dawn those watchful Indians, creeping cautiously closer, would discover the stage deserted, and would be on their trail.
And they had left a trail easily followed.

Perhaps the hard, dry ground might confuse those savage trackers, but they would scour the open country between bluff and river, and find the dead warrior in the gully.

That would tell the story.

To go west, along the edge of the river, wading in the water, would be useless precaution; such a trick would be suspected at once, and there was no possibility of rescue from that direction.

They might as well walk open-eyed into a trap.