Perhaps a hundred yards further along lay two dead ponies.

Keith examined them closely--both had been ridden with saddles, the marks of the cinches plainly visible.

Evidently one of the wagon mules had also dropped in the traces here, and had been dragged along by his mates.

Just beyond came a sudden depression in the prairie down which the wagons had plunged so heavily as to break one of the axles; the wheel lay a few yards away, and, somewhat to the right, there lay the wreck of the wagon itself, two dead mules still in the traces, the vehicle stripped of contents and charred by fire.

A hundred feet farther along was the other wagon, its tongue broken, the canvas top ripped open, while between the two were scattered odds and ends of wearing apparel and provisions, with a pile of boxes smoking grimly.