But there was the impregnable earthwork;
the family must be in that. I dashed swiftly forward, eagerly followed
by my men. The earthwork was destroyed, nothing but a circular pit
remaining, in the bottom of which glowed the embers of the fallen
roof-timbers.
A search for the slain was at once begun, and continued for a long
time. Every square rod of the valley for a mile was hunted over
without result, and we all gathered once more about the two cellars,
in which the coals still glowed.
"It was in the cellar of the house that Sergeant Henry said the body
of Mrs. Arnold was laid, was it not?" asked Dr. Coues.
"Yes," I replied.
"Then if all were killed after he left--shot from time to time--would
not their remains be likely to be beside hers?"
"Not beside hers, I think. The last stand must have been made in the
fort."
"Then the bodies, or what is left of them, must lie under that
circular bed of coals, Duncan, if they died here."
"Probably, doctor. It's an uncanny thing to do, but we must stir the
coals and see.
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