That night the Westward bound through Express on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad carried Mr. Rossmore, his family physician, and Will Raymond, the Boy Detective, and their destination was the North Platte river in Nebraska.
[CHAPTER XX.—The Grave on the Prairie.]
T was toward sunset, one pleasant afternoon, some ten days after the visit of the Boy Detective to the eastern shore of Maryland, that a party of horsemen were visible driving over a Nebraska prairie.
The party had left Fort McPherson on the Platte, whose commander had kindly sent an officer and soldiers, under a skilful guide, with Mr. Rossmore, as an escort.
Will had told the buckskin guide just what he had heard the Land Sharks say regarding the spot where they had buried Willie Rossmore, and the plainsman had expressed himself as acquainted with the Lone Tree, while he also said that there were fully a dozen graves about it.
Soon the tree, standing alone on the prairie, and upon the bank of a small stream, loomed up in the distance.
"There's the Lone Tree," said the guide, "and we'll reach thar jist about dark."
All eyes were turned upon the distant and solitary cottonwood tree, standing like a giant sentinel upon the prairie, and the horses were urged on at a more rapid pace.