Hardy and his
friends tied up their horses, and proceeded to examine these heaps,
to see if they were formed by the remains of human beings.
Very carefully they turned them over, and as they did so their
knowledge of the arrangements of the different rooms helped them to
identify the various articles. Here was a bed, there a box of
closely-packed linen, of which only the outer part was burned, the
interior bursting into flames as they turned it over; here was the
storeroom, with its heaps of half-burned flour where the sacks had
stood.
In half an hour they were able to say with tolerable certainty that
no human beings had been burned, for the bodies could not have been
wholly consumed in such a speedy conflagration.
"Perhaps they have all been taken prisoners," Hubert suggested, as
with a sigh of relief they concluded their search, and turned from
the spot.
Mr. Hardy shook his head. He was too well acquainted with the
habits of the Indians to think such a thing possible. Just at this
moment Dash, who had followed them unnoticed during their ride, and
who had been ranging about uneasily while they had been occupied by
the search, set up a piteous howling. All started and looked round.
The dog was standing by the edge of the ditch which had been dug
outside the fence.
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