ls blowing in and out, he was a
picture of terror.

Something wriggled in the thicket. The horse rose on his hind legs,
wrenched the rein from my hand and scampered across the plain. I sent a
shot into the bush. There was a snarl and a scurrying through the
underbrush.

"Pretty bold wolf! Never saw a broncho act that way over a coyote
before!"

I might as well find the body of the English lad before trying to catch
my horse, so I walked on. Suddenly, in the silver-white of a starry sky,
I saw what had terrified the animal. Close to the shrubbery lay the
stark form of a white man, knees drawn upwards and arms spread out like
the bars of a cross. Was that the lad I had known? I rushed towards the
corpse--but as quickly turned away. From downright lack of courage, I
could not look at it; for the body was mutilated beyond semblance to
humanity. Would that I had strength and skill to paint that dead figure
as it was! Then would those, who glory in the shedding of blood, glory
to their shame; and the pageant of war be stripped of all its false
toggery revealing carnage and slaughter in their revolting nakedness.

I could not look back to know if that were the lad, but ran aimlessly
towards the scene of the Seven Oaks fray. As I approached, there was a
great flapping of wings. Up rose buzzards, scolding in angry discord at
my interruption. A pack of wolves skulked a few feet off and eyed me
impatiently, boldly waiting to return when I left. The impudence of the
brutes enraged me and I let go half a dozen charges, which sent them to
a more respectful distance. Here were more bodies like the first. I
counted eight within a stone's throw, and there were twice as many
between Seven Oaks and the fort. Where they lay, I could tell very well;
for hawks wheeled with harsh cries overhead and there was a vague
movement of wolfish shapes along the ground.

What possessed me to hover about that dreadful scene, I cannot imagine,
unless the fear of those creatures returning; but I did not carry a
thing with which I could bury the dead. Involuntarily, I sought out
Rogers and Governor Semple; for I had seen the death of each. It was
when seeking these, that I thought I distinguished the faintest motion
of one figure still clothed and lying apart from the others.

The sight riveted me to the spot.

Surely it was a mistake! The form could not have moved! It must have
been some error of vision, or trick of the shadowy starlight; but I
c