"Indians?"
"Could be."
"Shucks!"
"What's the matter?"
"Why couldn't they have waited until we came along?"
"Don't talk foolish!" Joe ordered sternly. "Besides, if it was Indians, they'd have taken the wagon too."
"Unless," Tad pointed out, "they were driven away by people shooting from other wagons."
"That could be too, and maybe some fool driver just drove his oxen to death. Anyhow, we'd better be moving."
"My guess is sick or poisoned oxen," he explained to Emma when he got back on the seat and took the reins. "There aren't any bullet holes in the wagon cover."
"Oh, I do hope that whoever was in there is all right!"