He halted in the ravine where he found the grave, and pointed out the spot to the old men. The ground was precisely as he had left it. Even the sharpened stick which he had used for digging lay where he had thrown it. He glanced at Dove-eye, and the half-scornful, half-amused expression of her countenance struck him as strangely out of place.
“Let the wise men dig there,” he said, “and they will find the body of the Big Medicine.”
Bull-tail was made to throw out the earth from the grave, and he soon uncovered the face and breast of a dead Indian. As he did so, he started back with a look of amazement. Wormley rushed forward, and saw at once that he had been discomfited.
“The Snake has lied to us,” said Black Horse. “There is a body here; but it is not that of the Big Medicine. The hair of this man is black, and he has no beard.”
Wormley again glanced at Dove-eye, who was smilingly triumphant.
“There has been foul-play here,” he said. “The body of the old man has been removed, and this has been put in its place. If the wise men will look, they may find the trail of those who took it away; for it has not been long since it was removed.”
Black Horse was incredulous; but he directed a search to be made. No trail could be found, as Jose had not left the slightest trace by which he could be followed.
“I have not lied to the wise men,” said Wormley. “Can they suppose that I would have spoken so positively, and that I would have brought them here to see the body of the Big Medicine, unless I had believed it to be here? It was here; but it has been cunningly taken away. I saw it lying in that grave, I can swear that I saw the long white hair and the white beard and the curious robe. Bull-tail, too, can swear that he saw them.”
The vagabond was about to speak, when Dove-eye turned upon him, with flashing eyes.