We could see the covers had been taken off, and this was an ominous sort of circumstance to us, for we feared the depredations of the Indians in retaliation for the capture of their squashes.

They had shot our oxen before we left and they have slain them this time and the people too.
We surely left seven wagons.

Now we could see only four and nowhere the sign of an ox.

They must have gone ahead with a small train, and left these four standing, after dismantling them.
No signs of life were anywhere about, and the thought of our hard struggles between life and death to go out and return, with the fruitless results that now seemed apparent was almost more than human heart could bear.

When should we know their fate?
When should we find their remains, and how learn of their sad history if we ourselves should live to get back again to settlements and life?
If ever two men were troubled, Rogers and I surely passed through the furnace.
We kept as low and as much out of sight as possible, trusting very much to the little mule that was ahead, for we felt sure she would detect danger in the air sooner than we, and we watched her closely to see how she acted.