o deposit them in the
shallow grave. Only the fear that I would not have him with us longer
compelled his joining me. He was more frightened at the thought of
being left alone than of contact with the dead. In bearing Pete's body
from where it lay in the woods, we were compelled to pass by near where
Rene sat, but she kept her eyes averted, and I experienced no desire to
address her with empty words. Sam filled in the loose earth, rounding
it into form, and the two of us stood above the fresh mound, our bent
heads bared to the sunlight, while I endeavored to repeat brokenly a
few words of prayer. As I finally turned gladly away, it was to note
that the girl had risen to her feet and stood motionless, with face
toward us. Her attitude and expression is still in memory the one dear
remembrance of the scene. My inclination was to join her at once, but
I knew that the negro would never enter the cabin alone, and now our
first necessity was food. Of this I found a fair supply, and,
compelling him to assist me, we hastily prepared a warm meal over the
open fire. It was eaten without, no one of us desiring to remain in
the midst of that scene of death; and the very knowledge that the
dreaded burial was completed and that we were now free to depart,
brought to all of us a renewed courage.

The sun was high in the heavens by this time, the golden light
brightening the little clearing and dissipating the gloom of the
surrounding forest. All suspicion that the murderer, or murderers,
might still remain in the immediate neighborhood of their crime had
entirely deserted my mind. Where, and by what means, they had fled
could not be determined, but I felt assured they were no longer near
by, I had sought in vain for any other path than the one we had
followed from the mouth of the creek, while the suggestion which Rene
had advanced, that the steamer had tied up to the shore, permitting the
raiding party to land, grew more and more plausible to my mind. It
scarcely seemed probable that one man alone, or even two men, had
committed this crime, and the sole survivor disappear so completely
with the prisoners. I had turned each detail over and over in my
thought, while I worked, yet to but little purpose. The only present
solution of the problem seemed to be our return to that hidden basin
where our boat lay, and the remaining there in concealment until the
darkness of another night rendered it safe to once more venture upon