FOLLOWING A CONCEALED TRAIL 125 



the cowboy came along. A short distance from 

 where the two trails crossed the stream Moore 

 stopped and took off his sombrero. The cow- 

 boy and the foreman, eager to know what new 

 discovery had been made, went to him, leading 

 his horse along with their own mounts. 



"This is too much for me," said the cowboy. 

 "I can follow a trail when most of the tracks are 

 missing, but not one where there are too many 

 tracks." 



Moore was standing in a bushy growth of 

 young oaks when the men came up. "This 

 kept me guessing for a while," he said. "But 

 there is his trail. Evidently the thief is heading 

 for Lost Basin." 



"But this is a trail coming downhill," said the 

 cowboy. 



"Yes," Moore agreed, "the tracks are going 

 downhill, but the trail is going up. Look closely 

 and you will see that the cuss backed his horse 

 out of the stream and up to these bushes. In 

 the bushes he turned around. The trail on the 

 other side of the bushes leads uphill." 



"Of all the dime novels and wild detective 

 stories that ever got into print," said the cowboy, 

 "this beats them all." 



"But what are the other tracks?" asked the 

 foreman. 



"I will show you in a minute," said Moore. 



