Melissy of the Bar Double G - Chapter 7 Watering Sheep

Balancing probabilities, it had seemed to Flatray that these might be the
tracks of ranchmen who had arrived after the hold-up and were following
the escaping bandits up the lateral. For unless these were the robber's,
there was no way of escape except either up or down the bottom of the
ditch. His search had eliminated the possibility of any other but the
road, and this was travelled too frequently to admit of even a chance of
escape by it without detection. Jack filed away one or two questions in
his brain for future reference. The most important of these was to
discover whether there had been any water in the ditch at the time of the
hold-up.

He had decided to follow the tracks leading up the ditch and found no
difficulty in doing so at a fast walk. Without any hesitation they
paralleled the edge of the lateral. Nor had the deputy travelled a quarter
of a mile before he made a discovery. The rider on the right hand side of
the stream had been chewing tobacco, and he had a habit of splashing his
mark on boulders he passed in the form of tobacco juice. Half a dozen
times before he reached the Lee ranch the ranger saw this signature of
identity writ large on smooth rocks shining in the sun. The last place he
saw it was at the point where the two riders deflected from the lateral
toward the ranch house, following tracks which led up from the bottom of
the ditch.