First were the two men employed in the house; then came Mr. Mercer;
then the two children and an old woman-servant; below them were the
bodies of Mrs. Mercer and her brother. There were no more. Ethel
was not among them.
When first he had heard of the massacre Mr. Hardy had said, "Better
dead than carried off," but the relief to his feelings was so great
as the last body was turned over, and that it was evident that the
child was not there, that he would have fallen had not Mr. Herries
hastened to climb up and support him, at the same time crying out
to the boys, "She is not here."
Charley and Hubert turned toward each other, and burst into tears
of thankfulness and joy. The suspense had been almost too much for
them, and Hubert felt so sick and faint that he was forced to lie
down for awhile, while Charley went forward to the others. He was
terribly shocked at the discovery of the murder of the entire
party, as they had cherished the hope that Mrs. Mercer at least
would have been carried off. As, however, she had been murdered,
while it was pretty evident that Ethel had been spared, or her body
would have been found with the others, it was supposed that poor
Mrs. Mercer had been shot accidentally, perhaps in the endeavor to
save her children.
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