"[color=7bcdc8]I dun' need anythung as smells like em' dipshits-- i's the dogs as needs at--- Yas can fin' a splotch er two o'er yonder... Not that yas can see it 'spose... If'n ya wants ta track the idjiots as napped the boy, I keen help with tellin' the dogs-- but I's agrees with the funny white man on thisa one.[/color]" Cedar rumbled. "[color=7bcdc8]If'n we split up, we's can cover more ground. Miss Matilda keen take the doctor an' Mr Anderson an his dogs to chase down the idjiots-- This feller an' me can go track down the missin' horses. We kin catch up la'er.[/color]" Cedar paused for a moment, as if contemplating an impossible task, before attempting to emulate Anderson's whistle, and failing miserably. He tried again several times. "[color=7bcdc8]Gull-darnit-- Mr Anderson, kin ya call the boys o'er agin? I ain't ne'er been able ta do 'at... --On accounta muh mouth looks like 'is-[/color]" Cedar pointed to his face then opened his mouth wide, revealing a rather frightening compliment of very sharp, meat tearing teeth with gaps between them where they would meet when closed. There were differences with what a keen observer would identify as being 'properly bear'-- false molar surfaces lined the insides of the last 4 incisors, before the real molars, indicating his human parentage-- but in all other ways, that mouth was "Decidedly Bear", with a dark colored and corrugated roof, a long and slightly purple tongue, and a long narrow shape. It was decidedly not suited to whistling in any capacity. Anderson made a bemused wince and shook his head, then put his fingers in his mouth and whistled. Once more the dogs bounded up in a jumble of excited bawling, drooling, and tail wagging. "Your show Master Cedrick" chuckled the man with a smirk. "[color=7bcdc8]Thank'ya kindly Mr Anderson[/color]" retorted Cedar with his own. After a few minutes with the dogs looking between Cedar and Anderson confusedly, he led them off to various parts of the scene, pointing out the particular scent they should be tracking. Anderson knew they had picked it up when they made their characteristic 'alert bawling' and animated pouncing with false starts down the trail. They were indeed good boys, and had not been given the signal to track, but eagerly wanted to. Satisfied that the dogs knew what to hunt down, Cedar walked back up to the congregation in that lumbering shuffle of his, with the dogs trotting behind. As he reached where Anderson and the others were standing, they made furtive looks and whimpers between Anderson and the area Cedar had indicated, amid tail wags and excited eyes. "[color=7bcdc8]'ere-- At'll do it. I got's muh own trail ta follow, ifn' we gunna fin' dem horses.[/color]" Cedar smiled, and probably shouldn't have. It looked more like an aggressive display than a grin. Only the alert posture of his ears gave it away as something different, besides his body posture and chuckling. "[color=7bcdc8] 'is Way Mister Henri![/color]" he chuckled, swinging his big head in the direction of preferred travel. He had already scoped out a good portion of the scene, and between it and what he remembered of his interview with the bird, he had a good idea which way to go. The horse tracks would almost assuredly all re-converge into a single path at some point, but it would save time to take the most likely and most direct set of tracks, which headed West. -------- (some time later) -------- Cedar's tracking of the animals took a meandering path through the trees, then over a clearing beside a rather lovely lake. The horses were together, but spread out just enough to be little shits about being caught, grazing on the grass leisurely. They did not really seem to appreciate Cedar initially either, acting spooky and stupid-- taking off with snorts, flagged tails, and farts amid squealing neighs to trot away from him repeatedly before he managed to finally get though their thick dumb heads that he wasn't there to eat them. They were robust, if squat little animals (to his perspective anyway), between 1.1 and 1.6 meters to the tops of their backs. Far too small for somebody like him to ride-- but maybe Henri could use one. Some of the animals had managed to get their saddles and other tack free of themselves-- tearing the straps that had held them on, via aggressive rubbing and 'clever' use of low lying tree limbs. Thankfully it was fairly conspicuous and easily located in or near the offending foliage. The saddles and gear that were still in place were encrusted in dried grass and mud, from where the animals had tried to roll in the soft earth near the lake. It would take a whole day for each saddle to get them clean again. One of the horses was clearly the Venerer's, given its very different livery. Cedar was glad it had made it, and the horse itself was surprisingly happy that its 'person' had survived the frightening encounter. Cedar liked 'happy endings.' It took a reasonably long time to rifle through the contents of 6 horses worth of saddle bags. Most of the contents were camping supplies and 'abduction kit'-- Ropes, cloth gags, and small bottles of a curious powder that made Cedar's nose tickle, before making him go nose-blind. Lots of sneezing and boogery snorts later, it slowly started to return, but the momentary disability worried and troubled him-- He worried that the dogs might run into such an obstacle. Perhaps it was for the best that the abductors had been cut off from their supply. Henri did not act like he found the sight of Cedar having a snotty sneeze attack at all amusing. If anything, he looked rather put off by it, and recoiled a bit when Cedar located, then proceeded to try and offer the last item he dug out of this latest bag. Among the miscellaneous odds and ends of camping and abduction kit, there was a curious bit of parchment, emblazoned with a map with a curious X on it. The map depicted a lake, not unlike the one they were currently next to, with what looked like some ruins in a marsh to the south, with the ruins clearly indicated. " [color=7bcdc8]'ere-- *(SNORT)* -- 'Ave a look at 'is--[/color]"