“I would order them burned,” said Mr. Graham.
So Onrai told some of the men to throw together a pile of wood and lay the bodies on it; this was soon done and the torch was then applied. As the flames shot into the air, licking the reeking flesh off the bodies, our friends again mounted and moved on.
“What do you think of this, Mr. Bruce?” asked Mr. Graham.
“I can only say what I have already said to Onrai,” answered Mr. Bruce. “The force of the storm must have blown this woman and her child over the cliff and thus far into the heart of the land.”
“Do you not think that another explanation might be made of their appearance?” asked Mr. Graham.
“There may be many explanations made,” answered Mr. Bruce, “but if this country is impregnable, how else could this woman and her child reach here?”
“I think myself that the storm has played a great part in this woman’s appearance in this part of the country, but I cannot help but think that she was this side of the cliffs before the storm,” answered Mr. Graham.
“If that be so, then these people have lived in ignorance of this tribe’s having taken up a residence in this country,” said Mr. Bruce.
“Yes,” said Mr. Graham, “but these Onians very seldom visit the northwestern part of this country, as Onrai has said, and this tribe might have found an entrance and settled in a fertile part near the cliffs, and may now be living there in total ignorance of their having entered a country which has for ages been shut in from the rest of the world?”
“This may all be so,” said Mr. Bruce, “but I would rather cling to my theory.”