"
There was a general murmur of assent, and all separated to look for
tools. Two or three spades were found thrown down in the garden,
where a party had been at work the other day. And then all looked
to Mr. Hardy.
"I think," he said, "we cannot do better than lay them where their
house stood. The place will never be the site of another
habitation. Any one who may buy the property would choose another
place for his house than the scene of this awful tragedy. The gate
once locked, the fence will keep out animals for very many years."
A grave was accordingly dug in the center of the space once
occupied by the house. In this the bodies of Mr. Mercer and his
family were laid. And Mr. Hardy having solemnly pronounced such
parts of the burial service as he remembered over them, all
standing by bareheaded, and stern with suppressed sorrow, the earth
was filled in over the spot where a father, mother, brother, and
two children lay together. Another grave was at the same time dug
near, and in this the bodies of the three servants whose remains
had been found with the others were laid.
By this time it was eleven o'clock, and the number of those present
had reached twenty. The greater portion of them were English, but
there were also three Germans, a Frenchman, and four Gauchos, all
accustomed to Indian warfare.
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