For three days, the strangely-matched pair roved and explored the recesses of the cave, covering about the same territory now open to visitors who take the guided tours. For Jim White and the Kid, however, there was not the comfortable element of bright lights—certainty—and sure-footed guides along well-established paths. Their three-day exploration was an unbroken chain of hazards and thrills, findings and fears, adventures which sound exaggerated even when evidence lends them support! [Illustration: _Towering Stalagmites from Floor of the Big Room, the Tallest one aptly called the Totem Pole_] If you could ask Jim White about his biggest thrill during that unbelievable three-day experience, he would say: “During the last day, I was over in one corner of what we later called ‘The Big Room’, crawling along a ledge of rock. I sat down to rest and just looked around as I sat there. Over on the other side of the ledge, what do you suppose I saw? Staring right back at me was the skull of a man! Fast as I could I brought my torch about, and there was the whole skeleton intact. If I thought some giant could have been living in this cave along with the giant formations, right there seemed to be my proof! Those thigh-bones looked to me like the biggest kind of beef-shanks! I tried to pick up one of the leg-bones and it crumbled in my fingers. Just about that time a drop of water fell on my hand. Only the Good Lord knows how long that skeleton had been lying under that drip, but it must have been long enough for the mineral water to soften the bones. It took just a touch to crumble the thigh, but the skull was not under the drip, so it was perfect. When I picked it up, the Kid backed away. I suggested that we’d take it back to camp with us, or the boys would never believe we found a skeleton in the cave.” Jim White’s proposal brought a hesitant question from the Kid. “How we take it?” “Oh, we’ll put it in the bag with the grub”, Jim replied. The groceries had been the Kid’s responsibility, till then. Firmly, immediately he told Jim White: “Then you carry it!” Jim did. Sometime later a doctor in Carlsbad borrowed the skull to examine it. Someone borrowed it from him, and that one in turn loaned it to someone else, until eventually all trace of it was lost ... a most unfortunate eventuality, since the skull would have been among the most treasured of the cave-souvenirs in Jim White’s collection.