the sky is filled with stars. one suddenly catches fire and shoots across the heavens.
three boys otter, worm and their leader smiles a lot, are riding to the fort.
the three boys are shrieking as they race across the prairie with their prize. otter has cisco by a lead line. smiles a lot gallops alongside.
smiles a lot pulls his pony up next to otter and peers down at the fallen boy.
dunbar and cisco are running flat out in the moonlight.
the buffalo scouts, dunbar included, are galloping back to the temporary camp. it looms ahead of them, the hide-covered lodges glowing like candles in the last light of day. a big fire is blazing in the center of camp.
cisco has been hobbled nearby, and with the temporary camp glowing on the plains a half-mile away, dunbar spreads his blanket on the open plain.
rain is pouring now. thunder is still booming. a great fork of lightning illuminates the ruins of the old fort. and nearby, it reveals two riders out in the grass.
frenzied hands claw away mud and sod. something wooden is uncovered; the lid of a rifle crate.