All hurried forward,
and a close and anxious examination took place.
Opinions differed a good deal as to the number that had passed;
nor, accustomed as they all were to seeing the tracks made by herds
of cattle and flocks of sheep, could they come to any approximate
agreement on the subject. Had the number been smaller, the task
would have been easier; but it is a question requiring extreme
knowledge and judgment to decide whether four hundred cattle and
two thousand sheep, or six hundred cattle and three thousand sheep,
have passed over a piece of ground.
Mr. Hardy at last sent Charley back, accompanied by Mr. Cook, to
request Mr. Percy to come on at once with the Gauchos to give their
opinion. Charley and his companions were to remain with the horses,
and were to request those not specially sent for to stay there
also, as it would be imprudent in the extreme to leave the horses
without a strong guard.
Pending the arrival of Mr. Percy, Mr. Hardy and his friends
followed up the trail for some distance, so as to examine it both
in the soft bottoms and on the rises. They returned in half an hour
to their starting place, and were shortly after joined by Mr. Percy
and the Gauchos. Again a careful and prolonged examination, took
place, and a tolerably unanimous opinion was at last arrived at,
that a very large number of animals had passed, apparently the
larger half, but that no positive opinion could be arrived at until
a comparison was made with the trail on the western side.
Pages:
293
294
295
296
297
298
299
300
301
302
303
304
305
306
307
308
309
310
311
312
313
314
315
316
317