Wylie made no answer.

With hurried steps, Mr. Eyre accompanied him towards the camp.  What a sight struck his eyes!  His friend Baxter, lying on the ground, weltering in his blood, and in the agonies of DEATH.

The two younger boys were not there, and the goods which had been covered by the oil-skin, lay scattered in confusion on the ground.  It was too clear that one of the boys had KILLED poor Baxter.  No doubt it was Neramberein who had done it!

It seems that the boys had attempted to steal some of the goods, and that while they were gathering them together, Baxter had awaked, and had come forth from his sleeping place, and that then one of the boys had shot him.

Mr. Eyre raised the dying man from the ground where he was lying prostrate, and he then found that a ball had entered his left breast, and that his life was fast departing.  In a few minutes he expired!

What were the feelings of the lonely traveller!  Here he was in the midst of a desert, with no companion but one young savage, and that young savage was not one whom he could trust; for he knew not what part Wylie had taken in the deeds of the night.  He suspected that he had intended to go away with the other boys, but that when Baxter was murdered, he had grown alarmed.  Wylie indeed denied that he had known anything of the robbery, but then he was not a boy whose word could be believed.

The remainder of that dreadful night was passed by Mr. Eyre, in watching the horses.  Anxiously he waited for the first streak of daylight.  He then drove the horses to the camp, and once more beheld the body of his fellow-traveller.  How suddenly had his soul been hurried into eternity, and into the presence of his God!

It was Wylie’s business to light the fire, and prepare the breakfast.  Meanwhile, Mr. Eyre examined the baggage to see how much had been stolen.  These were the chief articles he missed.  All the bread, consisting of five loaves, some mutton, tea and sugar, tobacco and pipes, a small keg of water, and two guns.  And what was left for the traveller?  A large quantity of flour, a large keg of water, some tea and sugar, a gun, and pistols.  But would these have been left, had the ungrateful boys been strong enough to carry them away?

Mr. Eyre desired before leaving the fatal spot to bury the body of his friend; but the rocks around were so hard, that it was impossible to dig a grave.  All he was able to do, was to wrap the corpse in a blanket before he abandoned it forever.

Slowly and silently he left the sorrowful spot, leading one horse, while Wylie drove the others after it.  During the heat of the day, they stopped to rest.  It was four in the afternoon, and they were soon going to set out again, when they perceived at a distance—­TWO WHITE FIGURES! two white figures! and soon knew them to be the two guilty boys, wrapped in their blankets.