“It’s just this way, as near as I could make out,” Donald presently continued. “Every little while the old medicine man disappears from the sight of his people, and always after conducting a series of cracker-jack ceremonies. They say he’s gone into the mountain to talk with Manitou; and from time to time queer sounds are heard that set the Indians almost wild—strains of sweet music come out of cracks in the rocks, and then a strange voice like the rumbling of thunder follows. And at such times every Zuni will be sure to flatten himself, face downward, on the ground, listening with all his might, but not daring to look, for fear he might see too much, and be struck blind; because that’s what the Witch Doctor has warned them might happen if they got too curious.” Billie was listening with open mouth, and eyes that were round with wonder. “Oh, my country!” he said, slowly yet with apparent exultation; “then there’s a real mystery for us to unravel, ain’t there, Donald? What d’ye suppose makes that music; and who does the shouting now?” “Ask me something easy,” remarked the other, shaking his head as though he did not attempt to solve the problem. “That old fellow has them all locoed, is my opinion, and they believe whatever he tells them. Some people call it hypnotism; but I just reckon that they’re a lot of fanatics, and ready to sneeze when the medicine man takes snuff. But there’s another part of the thing that was a heap more interesting to Si Ketcham and Corse Tibbals.” “What was that?” asked Adrian. “Why, it seems that on several occasions, when the old rascal has wanted something or other that the whites possessed, and it needed the ready cash to buy it, he’s gone into his sacred teepee and come out again with a handful of crude gold. Why, being a miner, and experienced in those lines, Corse says that it looked like he’d just knocked a hunk off a ledge that must have been virgin gold!” “Tell me that, will you?” gasped Billie. “No wonder, then, so many palefaces wander off this way to watch the Zunis carry on when the time comes along for their rattlesnake dance, and all that fuss and feathers. Say, chances are that the old chap knows of the richest deposit of precious metal ever discovered. And when he disappears inside the mountain to talk with the Great Spirit, why, that’s the time he does his chipping of gold. Gee! now you’ve got me some excited, Donald.”