Audubon County journal. (Exira, Iowa) 1884-1993, 1912-03-28
CHAPTER u
The Scene Of Tragedy.


the tragedy it would be over with long
before this, and those moving black
spots away yonder to the west, that
he had discerned from the bluff, were
undoubtedly the departing raiders.
There was nothing left for Keith to
do except determine the fate of the
unfortunates, and give their bodies de-
cent burial. That any had escaped,
or yet lived, was altogether unlikely,
unless, perchance, women had been in
the party, in which case they would
have been borne away prisoners.
Confident that no hostiles would be
left behind to observe his movements,
Keith pressed steadily forward, lead
ing his horse. He had thus traversed
fully half mile before coming upon
any evidence of a fight-here the pur-
suers had apparently come up with
the wagons, and circled out upon
either side. From their ponies tracks
there must have been a dozen in the
band. Perhaps hundred yards furth-
er along lay two dead ponies. Keith
examined them closely-both had
been ridden with saddles, the marks
OF the cinches plainly visible. Evil
IDENTIFY one of the wagon mules had
also dropped in the traces here, and
had been dragged along by his mates
Just beyond came sudden depression
in the prairie down which the wagons
had plunged so heavily as to break
one of the axles; the wheel lay few
yards away, and, somewhat to the
right, there lay the wreck of the wag-
on itself two dead mules still in the
traces, the vehicle stripped of con-
tents and charred by fire. A hundred
feet further along was the other
wagon, its tongue broken, the canvas
top ripped open, while between the
two were scattered odds and ends of
wearing apparel and provisions, with
pile of boxes smoking grimly. The
remaining mules were gone, and no
semblance of life remained anywhere
Keith dropped his reins over his
horses head, and. with Winchester
cooked and ready, advanced eau
tiously.
Death from violence had long since
become almost a commonplace occur
renee to Keith, yet now he shrank for
an instant as his eyes perceived the
figure of man lying motionless
across the broken wagon tongue. The
grizzled hair and beard were streaked
with blood, the face almost unrecog-
nizable, while the hands yet grasped
bent and shattered rifle. Evidently
the man had died fighting, beaten
down by overwhelming numbers after
expanding his last shot. Then those
fends had scalped and left him where
he fell. Fifty feet beyond, shot in
the back, lay younger man, doubled
up in heap, also scalped and dead.
That was all; Keith secuted over a
wide circle, even scanning the stretch
of gravel under the river bank, before
he could fully satisfy himself there
were no others in the party. 1t seem
ed impossible that these two travelling
alone would have ventured upon such
trip in the face of known Indian
hostility. Yet they must have done
SO. and once again his lips muttered:
VI all the blame fOolS!
Suddenly he halted, staring about
over the prairie, obsessed by new
thought, an aroused suspicion There
had appeared merely the footprints
of the one horse alongside of the fee-
ing wagons when they first turned
out from the trail, and that horse had
been newly shod. But there were two
dead ponies lying back yonder; Meth
er shod, yet both had borne saddles.
More than this, they had been spur
red, the blood marks still plainly Wis
IDLE, and one of them was branded;
he remembered it now, star and ar
row. What could all this portend?
Was it possible this attack was no
Indian affair after all? Was the dis
figuring of bodies, the scalping, mere
ly done to make it appear the act of
savages? Driven to investigation by
this suspicion, he passed again over
the trampled ground, marking this
time every separate indentation, ev-
cry faintest imprint of hoof or foot.
There was no impression of mecca
sin anywhere; every mark remaining
was of booted feet. The inference
was sufficiently plaintiffs had been
the deed of white men, not of red; foul
murder, and not savage war.
The knowledge seemed to scar
Keith's brain with fire, and he sprang
to his feet. hands clinched and eyes
blazing. He could have believed this
of Indians, it was according to their
nature. their method of warfare; but
the cowardliness of it, the atrocity of
tho act, as perpetrated by men of his
own race. instantly aroused within
him desire for vengeance. He
wanted to run the fellows down, to
discover their identity. Without
thinking of personal danger he ran
forward on their trail, which led d.
rectly westward. along the line of
cottonwoods. These served to con-
ceal his own movements, yet for the
moment burning with nassion Ia