f an hour. It was nine
o'clock when the bodies were found, and half an hour after this friends
began to assemble. By ten o'clock a dozen more had arrived, and several
more could be seen in the distance coming along at full gallop to the
spot.

'I think,' Mr. Hardy said, 'that we had better employ ourselves, until
the others arrive, in burying the remains of our poor friends.'

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 centre 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 Guachos, all accustomed to
Indian warfare.

'How long do you think it will be before all who intend to come can join
us?' Mr. Hardy asked.

There was a pause; then one of the Jamiesons said:

'Judging by the time your message reached us, you must have sent off
before seven. Most of us, on the receipt of the message, forwarded it by
fresh messengers on farther; but of course some delay occurred in so
doing, especially as many of us may probably have been out on the plains
when the message arrived. The persons to whom we sent might also have
been out. Our friends who would be likely to obey the summons at once,
all live within fifteen miles or so. That makes thirty miles, going and
returning. Allowing for the loss of time I have mentioned, we should
allow five hours. That would brin