commanding had gone on through the wild hill country, and not until
nearly a month had elapsed was the scene of the tragedy revisited. The
officer who went thither with an escort, and Captain Devers and Corporal
Finucane and Troopers Boyd and Howard, had had pointed out to him the
scene of the massacre itself, then, far up the spur, the spot where
Mullen and Phillips were shot, and from thence the trail of Davies's
little squad as it marched away on its fatal errand toward the Springs,
and the trails of the various parties. Off to the southwest went Truman
in chase of the murderers,--off after Truman went Calvert and the
invalid corps,--off straight to the south--to the river--along the
westward side of the ridge, far to the east of the ravine and close
under the crest, went another; that, he was assured, was the trail made
by Captain Devers. Many of these trails, said the officer's report, were
now dim and nearly effaced, "but there can be no mistaking that of
Captain Devers along the spur,--it is quite sharp and clear. It isn't
more than five hundred yards from the point where Mr. Davies and
Sergeant McGrath had disappeared over the ridge to the nearest point on
the trail, where--while Captain Devers couldn't be sure--his troopers
are positive Mr. Davies had left to return to his men, and where they
are also positive the captain had again enjoined upon him the necessity
of vigilance, and reminded him that as it was growing dark he could no
longer see, and must therefore depend upon his lieutenant to keep him
informed of what was going on over on that side, as under his new orders
he, Captain Devers, must now go on and bury his dead. Mr. Davies and his
sergeant must have seen the attack just as soon as they got back across
the ridge, but what they did and why they had not instantly warned their
captain remains a mystery. At all events it would seem that Captain
Devers," so concluded the report, "had conscientiously carried out his
instructions, though he might perhaps, if unburdened with his dead, have
kept higher up towards the crest, and should perhaps have detached a
couple of flankers to keep communication, and so relied less on
Lieutenant Davies, who was at least inexperienced in frontier warfare."
The officer could not understand how it was that in broad daylight Major
Warren when searching had failed to see Devers's trail. It certainly was
there. And so the old, old story was told again. The absent it was who
had