After giving him time to study the problem out, I asked:
"Well, Tom, what do you make of it?"
"It's my guess," he replied deliberately, holding the skull up before him as though reading its history, "that this man was a wolf hunter, like ourselves, an' if so there'll be more of this affair to be discovered hereabouts. He had killed that buffalo for wolf bait, 'cause if he'd been after meat he'd 'a' killed a younger one, or a cow, for you say the bones showed it was a big bull. A man wouldn't be so far away from the Santa Fé road huntin' buffalo without he had a camp in this neighborhood. If he had a camp he's had a pardner or two, an' what must have become of them? Their camp must have been somewheres along the creek, not far from here. Have either of you seen any signs of such a layout in your rambles up or down the creek?"
"No," I answered, "but, then, neither of us has been more than about three miles up or down."
"Well, after this, when you go up or down the creek make your trips extend a little farther each time till you've covered at least ten or twelve miles each way; an' by keeping your eyes peeled you may be able to find some remains of a hunter's camp or some sign that'll give us something more about this. This man came to his death about as you an' Jack guessed it; that is, while getting ready to poison his buffalo for wolf bait the Injuns came onto him an' surrounded him."
"I think," I interrupted him to say, "that he had probably already poisoned the buffalo, for I noticed the bones of several wolves there, which would go to show that the wolves had died from eating the poisoned meat of the buffalo."
"Well, yes—likely," returned Tom. "He put up a good fight, though, from what you say, an' seems to have been a man that's had some previous experience in that line. Did you notice any bullet hole in his horse's skull?"
"No. I looked for that, but there was no sign that the horse had been shot in the head; but he might have been shot elsewhere."
"'Tain't likely," replied the old man thoughtfully, "for you say the horse's bones show that he died close to the buffalo, an' the man in between 'em, as his bones show an' the writing on the shoulder-blade says. He must have cut its throat. How far off from the man's bones was the bones of the Injun ponies that you found?"
"About three hundred yards," I replied.