The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1902-07-29
A Mystery Story Of the
Southwest. : . By a F norrrv
By a. F. BoNNEy.

Wele resting, duu the most OF indU
party could stand a real lot of rest
without hurting them. Presently we
heard him again. 30. boys, wud We
moind the two cute little kitten cats
DIV found And pretty soon he came
into view holding in each hand
the groping. splitting cubs OF noun
tain lion
Knowing the danger Pat was ia if
the mother cat showed up Just then.
We sprung to our feet, grasping our
rifles, and yelled to "Dropthe kittens.
"Oi'll not. said he, Dim going to
kape them and raise 'em fer pets ;"
Drop them yelled. they re lions.
"oi'll net, he yelled back, "but if
yer % tratd Ct EN- oil take EN-
back 10 where Vi got EN-.
Not being Willing for him to run
into further danger. we let him come
in ard two OF US went to where we
could watch the mouth OF Pats cute
little cave 10 await the mother lion 5
return. 1t was not long before | saw
her coming, sneaking like tie shadow
OF ghost. put a bullet into her brain
and put her to sleep
We dragged the body in by the fire
aud when Pas saw the size to which
mis- kitten cats would grow, il al
lowed to I've, he changed his mind
about raising en- fer pets, and re-
marked as he quietly knocked their
heads against rock, "Oill not kape
them. Sure they'd be TOO big fer We to
move around wnen they got growed
up
But these were not the class OF caves
used by the cliff jewellers for their
houses though one saw on Bonita
creek, in Arizona. was but little
larger than the caves at Ash Spring
have just written Of 1thad been made
a little more roomy by a wall of rocks
thrown across the front. Evidently a
young couple had just gone to house
keeping and did notrequire much room
| will tell you the story of the larger
caves, the strange. lost race that oc-
cupied them, and something of their
decendents and the wierd country they
occupy.
In the year 1898, near the ancient
city OF Rosetta, Egypt. was found a
large, black stone upon which was sew
eral lines of inscription IN Egyptian
hieroglyphics and ancient Hebrew,
which when translated, proved to be
the key to the innumerable inscriptions
with which the rocks, tombs. temples,
and monuments of Egypt were covered
There has never been found Rosetta
stone in the Americas, and there never
will be. But from evidences left upon
the rocks in the desert, upon the
mountain cliffs and in the cliff dwell
ings we know that contemporaneously
with the Pharaoh of Egypt there ex-
listed Cultivation in the southwest
portion of the United States which
population, with a vast number of peo
/ pie all that vast country which. when
| was a boy, going to school, was put
down upon the maps as the Great
American desert. 1t occupied the en-
tire southwest portion of the United
States and Tapped over into Sonora
Mexico. and was supposed to be popu.
lated, if at all, by wild beasts and saw.
age Indians.
1t seems strange that so many hun.
dreds of generations of human beings
could live, die, and be so utterly forgot
ton as is their lost race But they
we're surrounded on all sides by hun
dreds Of miles of burning desert which
shut them off from other people who
had they known of their existence
| might have left some record of then
they were hidden away in the noun
tains where little spring dripped from
the face of cliff, or stream dashine
down the side of the mountains only tt
be swallowed up in the burning sands o
the desert below. Here they raised
their stores of corn, tobacco, pumpkins
cotton, and purhaps some succulent,
roots, lived a few thousand years ant
passed away and are now almost as ut
terly forgotten as are the lost Tel
Tribes of Israel, say almost: for
few years ago we began finding thei
deserted houaes in the mountains.
| | have found number of thos
houses and explored them to their ut
termost resources. have set me dow
by fire that went out before A brahan
was born, and held in my hand tn
tleshless skull of one so long dead ant
thought ''If these grinning jaws coult
but wag what would they not tell me of
people who passed away while Mothe
Earth was yet young?" have delvet
in the cave mould that lay centurie
deep on the flour of those deserted
houses, deserted and never entered
until passed their portals, and Their