Their search, however, soon
grew to a close. Ere they had gone any great distance, they came upon the
half-demolished carcass of a dead horse. There was no mistaking the
proprietor of this unfortunate animal. Though some beast, or rather beasts
of prey, had fed plentifully on the body, which was still fresh and had
scarcely yet done bleeding, it was plain, by the remains of the torn
equipments, as well as by the color and size of the animal, that it was no
other than the hack ridden by the unknown and mysterious guest, who, after
sharing in the worship and in the evening meal of the family of the
Wish-Ton-Wish, had so strangely and so suddenly disappeared. The leathern
sack, the weapons which had so singularly riveted the gaze of old Mark,
and indeed all but the carcass and a ruined saddle, were gone; but what
was left, sufficiently served to identify the animal.
"Here has been the tooth of wolf," said Eben Dudley, stooping to
examine into the nature of a ragged wound in the neck; "and here, too,
has been cut of knife; but whether by the hand of a red skin, it
exceedeth my art to say.
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