The occupants of the cabin were nowhere to be seen. The face of Howard Lawrence turned pale as he followed the trail where some heavy objects had been dragged. A walk of a few hundred yards brought him to a thicket of small timber upon the river bank, and there he beheld two new-made graves side by side. “My God, Alfred Carter and all his family gone! No, there are but two graves, and they numbered four. If Rose has been killed, her death has saved me a world of trouble, for I do not wish two women as rivals in the same settlement.” Something like a smile came to his lips. “Well, it cannot be helped, and now I am free to marry Sibyl Conrad, if that accursed scout does not interfere. If he does, I must crush him.” With a hard look upon his handsome face, Howard Lawrence returned to the cabin, glanced carefully around among the rubbish for a while, and then mounting his horse, rode rapidly away. After making a wide circuit upon the prairie, he overtook the wagon train just as it went into camp for the night, on the edge of the peninsula. Buffalo Bill, accompanied by both Sibyl and Ruth, had also ridden on ahead, and after a time came upon the deserted and desolate cabin home of Alfred Carter. With a cry of alarm, Buffalo Bill sprang from his horse and entered the little hut. “All, all gone!” he exclaimed. “In God’s name, who has done this foul deed? By the blue heavens above us, I swear that they shall rue this accursed act!” Never before had the cousins seen Buffalo Bill in any way moved by excitement; but now the look upon his face was terrible, and they almost feared him. But controlling himself instantly, he said quietly: “Miss Conrad, it is due to both yourself and Miss Whitfield that I make known to you the deed done here. This cabin was the home of Alfred Carter, his wife, his daughter Rose--a beautiful girl--and his son. They had not an enemy in the world that I knew of; but, see here what a hellish deed has been committed!” Following the same trail that Howard Lawrence had, Buffalo Bill soon came to the graves. After examining most carefully the tracks and trails around, as well as he could in the dying light of the day, he returned with the girls to the encampment, where he held a long conversation with Major Conrad and Captain la Clyde. “Major Conrad, this is the point I have deemed most favorable for your settlement,” said Buffalo Bill, at the conclusion of his talk regarding the massacre of the Carter family. “Here you will have every advantage, and be protected by the river, as you will see in the morning. I would advise that you at once set about building a stockade fort and wall across this end of the point, and the river, being wide and deep, will protect you upon the three other sides. “I am going away, but in a few days I will return and aid you all in my power. As soon as the moon rises, I intend to take the trail of the hell hounds who have brought ruin upon the peaceful family who dwelt here.”