And yonder, close in against those distant willows, some black dots were moving.

Hampton glued his anxious eyes to the glass.

The levelled tubes clearly revealed a man on horseback, leading another horse.

The animals were walking.

There could be little doubt that this was Silent Murphy.
Hampton lariated his tired horses behind the bluff, and returned to the summit, lying flat upon the ground, with the field-glass at his eyes.
The distant figures passed slowly forward into the midst of the willows, and for half an hour the patient watcher scanned the surface of the stream beyond, but there was no sign of attempted passage.