"That's right, son," said Hugh; "you're the leader of this party. Go
right in, and we'll follow you. Only I don't want you to go too fast,
or too far ahead. I've seen these caves sometimes where there's a big
drop off in the bottom, and I'd hate almightily to be following you
and see you fall off into a big hole. You go ahead, but go mighty
slow, and we'll be right close behind you. You two might leave your
guns out here, I don't reckon there's nothing to hurt anybody
inside. I don't see no signs where anybody has been in this cave this
season, except where son walked the other day."
Mr. Sturgis and Jack left their guns here, but Hugh retained his.
Then the three went into the cave, Jack a little in advance. They
had made only two or three steps into it when Jack again heard the
queer whirring noise, and saw Hugh suddenly strike at something with
his hand, and then heard a faint, squeaking cry, and a sound as of
something soft striking the ground.
"There's what hit you," said Hugh.
"Oh, what is it?" said Jack.
"Bats," said Hugh. "I suspicioned it was them, from what you said,
but I wan't certain. They can't do no harm, but look here!" and Hugh
stooped and picked up two or three feathers, and one of the slender
sticks that Jack had noticed the day before, and said: "This has been
a sacred place for the Indians. See these presents? These are eagle
feathers, and here are a lot of arrows that have been given, maybe,
to the Sun."
"But those look pretty old, Hugh," said Mr. Sturgis.
"Yes," was the reply, "these were left here a long time ago. Don't ye
see they've got stone points? This here arrow looks like a Cheyenne
arrow, but it's old."
"There, Uncle Will!" said Jack, interrupting, "There's that white
thing. Let's see what that is."
They moved forward a little, very slowly, and in a moment saw that
the cave was a small one, not more than forty feet long. On a bed of
stones, raised above the floor lay a whitish bundle, about three feet
long and two wide, tied up with leather thongs.
"Ha!" said Hugh.
"What is it, Hugh?" said Jack.
"Why don't you see?" said Hugh. "This here cave is a grave and that's
the body of a person that was buried here."
"It must have been a little bit of a child, then," said Jack.
"Not so," Hugh answered, "that's a grown person, either a man or a
woman. That's the way they tie 'em up in bundles when they bury 'em.
I expect that Indian was put here a long time ago." Hugh put down his
lantern, bent forward and took hold of the bundle by either end, and
lifted it from the ground. It seemed to weigh very little, and as he
replaced it on its bed of stones, he repeated, "A long time ago. Why,
that bundle don't weigh nothing. There can't be nothing in it except
just the very driest kind of bones, and that hide that it's wrapped
in is just like paper; when I lifted it, my fingers went right
through it."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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