"The signs disprove your first proposition, Jack," I answered, "but confirm the second. If it had been an accident from a wounded bull there would be some such remains as the metallic parts of his gun or pistol, or buttons, spurs, buckles, and so forth; but you see there's not a thing of that kind to be seen. If he was killed by Indians they would have carried off all his and his horse's equipments; and I think that is what happened."
"I guess you're right," admitted Jack. "It must have been the work of Injuns."
Just then he stopped and picked up an old bleached buffalo shoulder-blade that seemed to have been carefully placed, flat side down, on top of the weather-whitened skull of the older set of bones. "Halloo! what's this?" he exclaimed excitedly as he began scanning the bone. "Here it is, Peck. This'll tell us something about it if we can only make out the writing. See if you can make it out."
On the flat side of the shoulder-blade was dimly pencilled a partially obliterated and nervously written inscription. It was without date, and yet enough of the wording was legible to enable us to make out the following message from the dead man:
[Illustration: Cut off and surrounded by Injens Woonded--laying between ded hors and ded buffalow standing them off. Catriges nearly all gon God hep me
The name seemed to be something like Kelton, Kelsey, or Kelley, and several of the other words were so imperfectly written that I had to guess them out. We guessed the name of the town to be Granby, Missouri.
As I finished rendering my interpretation of the inscription Jack said, as he devoutly crossed himself:
"'God help me!' the poor fellow said, an' no doubt the Good Man took pity on him an' let him in at the gate, for the good Book do tell us that he never was known to go back on such a prayer as that. Well, he must have hurted some of them Injuns in the row. It would be a satisfaction to find some sign that he got away with some of 'em; so let's mount an' take a circuit 'round over the prairie for two or three hundred yards out an' see if we can find anything."
[Illustration: "It must have been the work of Injuns."]
We did so and were rewarded by finding the bones of two small horses, probably Indian ponies that the man had shot in defending his position.