We don't know how much distance was covered between the dropped bone and the mines appearing on the horizon. Presumably it wasn't within sight, or they wouldn't have given up hope entirely at that point. Some spare, misplaced bone falling out of the otherwise unloaded train on its return journey to the mines makes sense, but the Muds couldn't have known it was unloaded. Why didn't they assume it was filled with bones and reason that it was travelling away from the mines? Answer: Muds are stupid.
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