The actors could go, but they could not do so without leaving traces which the two great scouts were able to read.
"How long ago do you think all this happened, Tayoga ?" asked Willet.
"Not many hours since," replied the Onondaga.

"It is mid-morning now, and we know that the warriors departed at dawn.

The people on the hill would stay but a little while after their enemies had gone, and since they were rangers they would not long remain blind to the fact that they had gone." They pushed into the bushes, and were soon among the traces left by the defenders.
"Here is where the guard knelt," said Tayoga, as they walked around the circle of the bushes, "and behind them is where the men slept in their blankets.

That is farther proof that they were rangers.

They had so much experience, and they felt so little alarm that most of them slept placidly, although they knew warriors were watching below seeking to shoot them down.