The sun was halfway up in the sky as the party completed its tenth round of searching for Slaton’s body. Not a sign could be found of it. Grey had no choice but to return home to Tahnee without her son’s body. It was not what he wanted.
He stood by the small river looking up at the cliff where Slaton had fallen. An examination of the whole area revealed to the men quite a bit about what happened. From the marks on the cliff up top, they knew that Slaton and Jolon had fought before the fall. They could smell Jolon’s climb back up and movements toward the mountain. Strangely, the trail had ended at a large projection of rock. Where the trio had gone, they couldn’t tell. They just knew that Jolon had not gotten a hold of them. It was all a mystery to them.
Grey heard a step behind him. He didn’t turn around. He knew it was Earl, and he was too emotional.