EXT. PLAINS COUNTRY - CLOSE SHOT - MOVING JUST ABOVE GROUND 
               LEVEL - A STUDY OF HOOFPRINTS - LATE AFTERNOON

               The hoofprints are deeply etched in the ground, picking their 
               way through scrubby desert growth. An occasional tumbleweed 
               drifts with the light breeze across the pattern of prints; 
               and lightly-blown soil and sand begin the work of erasing 
               them. The CAMERA FOLLOWING the hoofprints