It was toward sunset, one pleasant afternoon, some ten days after the
visit of the Boy Detective to the eastern shore of Maryland, that a
party of horsemen were visible driving over a Nebraska prairie.
The party had left Fort McPherson on the Platte, whose commander had
kindly sent an officer and soldiers, under a skilful guide, with Mr.
Rossmore, as an escort.
Will had told the buckskin guide just what he had heard the Land Sharks
say regarding the spot where they had buried Willie Rossmore, and the
plainsman had expressed himself as acquainted with the Lone Tree, while
he also said that there were fully a dozen graves about it.
Soon the tree, standing alone on the prairie, and upon the bank of a
small stream, loomed up in the distance.
"There's the Lone Tree," said the guide, "and we'll reach thar jist
about dark."
All eyes were turned upon the distant and solitary cottonwood tree,
standing like a giant sentinel upon the prairie, and the horses were
urged on at a more rapid pace.
But the shadows of night fell before the tree was reached, and it was
decided to go into camp and make a search in the morning.
One of the pack-horses carried some pine-knots, and a fire was soon
kindled, while another carried some canvas flies which were stretched as
a shelter.
There were ample provisions with them, with plenty of game shot during
the day's ride, and soon a most tempting supper was spread out before
the hungry party.
As for Will Raymond, it was to him a most enjoyable expedition, for he
had often read of a wild life upon the plains, and with the
buckskin-clad guide, the soldier escort, and the knowledge that there
was danger of an attack by Indians, he was charmed.
After the supper was dispatched, sentinels were placed out upon the
prairie, at some distance, the horses were staked out within the circle
formed by the four guards, and the rest of the party sought the shelter
of the tent flies to sleep. No, not all, for Mr. Rossmore was too deeply
moved by the belief that he was near the grave of his long-lost child,
and he paced to and fro, beneath the solitary tree, his thoughts busy
with his grief.
Then there was another that did not care to sleep, and that was Will
Raymond.
The surroundings, the wildness of the scene, the prairie, the soldiers,
all impressed him, and he strolled about the camp, while as the moon
arose he walked out to a sentinel on duty and had a long talk with him.
At last, as midnight came, and the sentinels were relieved by others, he
went to the shelter, wrapped himself in his blanket, and soon sank to
sleep.
The sun was rising when he awoke, and Mr. Rossmore, who lay near him,
had just got up from his blanket couch. The guide already had breakfast
ready, and when it was over, the search for the grave began.
As the guide had said there were a number of graves in the vicinity of
the tree for several trails led by it, and many a dear one, dying upon
the plains had been laid to rest there, where the solitary cottonwood
would serve as a monument to their memory.
"Now give me the particulars, boy pard, the time he was buried, his age
when he was put here, and I guess I kin pick out his restin' place,"
said the guide.
Will gave the full particulars, as he knew them, and the guide set to
work.
Grave after grave he went to, and left, making some remark at each one.
"This one looks to be about the age you say, boy pard, and it were made
as though in a hurry, and with a don't care feelin', and not as them
builds a dirt house over them they loves.
"Sergeant, bring yer utensils and dig earth here," said the guide, and
he stood over a small grave that indeed did look as though it had been
hastily dug and filled in, for others, even those smaller, and evidently
with the remains of children in them, were made as though the heart of
the diggers had been in the work.
Two soldiers now stepped forward with spades and the work was begun of
turning the earth from the grave.
It was not a very long task, and soon the end was reached, the moldering
bones of a body were found. Tenderly they were taken out having been
wrapped in a blanket, and from a felt hat that had been upon the head, a
mass of dark-brown curls were taken.
Mr. Rossmore took the hat and its precious burden tenderly, and asked:
"Doctor, this looks like Willie's hair."
"Yes, exactly the shade," was the reply, and the doctor bent over the
bones, while all present removed their hats with reverent awe, Will
Raymond having unconsciously set the example.
In deathlike silence all stood while the doctor placed the bones
together, and said: "This was the body of a child about Willie's age, at
the time that our young friend here says they killed him, and it was a
boy--yes, here is the left arm, and--_it has been broken_!"
"Heaven have mercy! it is the body of my poor boy," groaned Mr.
Rossmore.
"Yes, Rossmore, it is, and I can swear to it, for here is the broken
arm, the fracture being just below the elbow, as was Willie's, while you
remember the tooth I took out for him one day?"
"Yes, he would not go to a dentist, but wished you to take it out, so I
sent for you."
"He had no other tooth missing, and none here are, you see; but great
Heaven!" and the doctor arose to his feet, holding the skull in his
hands.
All pressed about him, while he continued, pointing to the skull: "Do
you see that fracture?
"_It tells the story that he was murdered!_"
It was too true, the fractured skull showed where a death-blow had been
given the poor boy, but whether by accident or design, who could tell?
As all crowded about the doctor, gazing at the skull, Will Raymond
sprang down into the grave and picked up something that had caught his
eye in the loose dirt.
"See here!" he called out, and he held up a gold watch and upon the
inside case was engraved the name:
"ED ELLIS."
"Mr. Rossmore, that is the name of the man who was with Night Hawk
Jerry, whom I shot, and he was one of the kidnappers, and here with your
son, for this watch proves it, and it fell out of his pocket when he was
burying him," said Will.
"Boy pard, you've got a long head, for the man who laid this boy's
remains in thet grave, dropped thet watch," remarked the guide.
"Then it will be a fatal evidence against him, and I will leave nothing
undone to hang him," sternly said Mr. Rossmore.
Then the bones were gathered together, and being placed upon one of the
pack-animals, the party started on the return to the fort.
Arriving there, the bones were placed in a coffin, and Mr. Rossmore, the
doctor and Will Raymond started upon their return East, the
grief-stricken father having given the guide and the soldiers a most
generous gift as an appreciation of their services.