He was too anxious to save the scalp he had taken.
Even in case Topanashka had overtaken him, which seemed impossible, the Tehua would have avoided rather than attacked the unarmed old man.

And if the maseua surprised their interview and followed her knight, the latter had too much vantage-ground to be ever overtaken by his aged and unarmed pursuer.

The fact that the sandal had been found, Shotaye interpreted as evidence of Cayamo's precipitate flight.

From her standpoint she reached the very correct conclusion that the Navajos who followed in Cayamo's tracks, and not the Tehua, must have killed the father of her friend Say.
But she saw that her people would fall into error as to the manner of Topanashka's death.

She saw that they could not have reached a different conclusion, and also that the error must call forth extraordinary measures of revenge.