It was snowing a little and quite cold. We went into a second-story room, more than half full of dirt, and began digging down at the corner of the room. We struck the second floor at about five feet, and broke a hole through about two and one-half feet in diameter, but could see nothing but a black dungeon below. There was a prolonged debate about the depth of it, what might be at the bottom, and how a person could ever get back if he did go down there. Some thought it might be full of rats, skunks, bats, or rattlesnakes. We could imagine a hundred things. I believe the dread of ghosts was the worst. Howe evidently wanted to be the first one down but the teacher felt it would be better if one of the older boys went first; so one was selected and lowered on a rope. Naturally at the last moment the boy was a little hesitant about being lowered into a dark hole which, after being sealed airtight for centuries, had a “musty odor which was not at all pleasant.” Finally, however, having been teased by his friends, he dropped down into the room. Soon the rest of the boys were also getting down the best way they could. As Howe described it: [Illustration: Mummies of Aztec Ruins.] We were in a room—a clean room, with ceiling and walls, open doorways, all just as they had been left. We were walking on floors which had not been trodden by human feet for centuries. There was an open door leading into the next room to the northwest. It was also clean and in perfect condition. There was no trash on the floor, no ashes, nor even a scrap of pottery. Mr. Johnson seemed disappointed and puzzled. “Who were these people who built these large buildings and such splendid rooms? Did they not leave something behind that would give us some information? Could they not write, to give us some description of themselves or a bit of history?” Such thoughts and questions as these were racing through the mind of our teacher. He was thinking aloud, and making us do some thinking also. I felt very nervous and uncomfortable down in that dark, dismal place. Disappointed at not finding anything in these first two rooms, the teacher and his boys broke a hole through one of the walls into a third room next door. This room, too, had been sealed for many centuries, and the candles they had brought would not burn properly until enough fresh air had circulated through the hole in the wall. But this room held a surprise for the boys. Bit by bit, as their candles burned better the room became brighter, and then: