The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1925-08-28
CHAPTER XvII-Continued

She did not talk to him as he fixed
the car, nor when. having looked back
along the slight cut of the old pre-
historic torrent bed now filed almost
TO its old banks with drifting sands,
he squatted over map, measuring
and consulting n pocket compass. His
anxiety was evident.
They went forward again. however,
under the full light of day into a
trackless waste where there was not
even a depression to guide them and
where Brena, holding the compass In
her hands, gave directions to him as
he moved the wheel. AT the end OF
twenty miles more Brena uttered an
exclamation.
what :. that on the desert?" she
asked. Peter, lookl There! TO the
left
A little point of light shone on the
sand as if diamond had caught the
sunlight and had extracted from it a
bit of its essence TO outshine the sun
himself. Peter, steering TOWARD 1t.
looked down over the edge of the car
cs one might look over the edge of a
boat at some piece of strange fiotsam
sighted in midocean This was strange
fiotsam indeed Peter having stopped
the car again TO picF ii up. showed 1t
TO Brena it was an empty vial OF
white glass.
Peter sprang out of the car. and,
walking about in widening circles,
searched the ground. He appeared
excited. fine and time again he
looked at the little glass vial.
Some one has been here" said
Brena. I'm just Irish enough TO say
that. Pete-.""
Hush" he said. "Pve seen more
than you have seen 1t means every
thing TO U."'
He bent over her as II he were go
ing TO take her in his arms. but he
tossed his head at some thought that
had restrained him, and took the
wheel once more.
At nine o'clock they came within
sight of great mound on the desert /;
II appeared as If ii were the fat round
back of some gigantic creature that
hud Jul iON ltoCiA IOi q SACCP Va NSheo
ries in sand wallow of vast area.
There it is!' exclaimed DeWolfe.
Look, Brena Look TO the west.
Somewhere up there Is the Llano Es-
tacado-the Staked plain-as the
Spanish explorers called it. And
there's the haze on the horizon-the
haze that the Jesuit missionaries told
I% ~ OF nf
the Mescalero ridgel"
'And 1t means that we have found
our way?"
Yes, found our way. There's ninety
miles more"
Where are we going?'
ITO the Oldest city, Brena. in Amer
lea. To city at the base of high
cliff, built of clay which crumbled CEN
turtles ago into dust. The wall Is left
perhaps as it was two centuries ago.
A dry well. A carving upon the rock.
A MINDLESS place occupied only by
horned toads and perhaps one other
misshapen thing.
At three o'clock they had stopped
again to eat; they were able to see in
the west the tops of distant mountains
marked by a deeper, duller blue than
the thin. cloudless rotunda of the sky
An hour later they came within sight
of the tableland upon which these
mountains were set like piles of food
upon giants doorstep. And this
step up-this mesa-with its precipi.
tous edge, marked the end Of the des.
ert
THE cliffs that rise to that table.
land are impossible" said Peter, with
his eyes alight and his voice filled
with excitement. THE city was built
below their protection around a great
well and walled In front with thick
Notifications. We shall see them
Brena J"
He looked at the opening in the higt
wall as if it were the nav of Destiny
opened to belch forth upon them sen
tence.
Tell me. Peter-are there danger:
there? Do you known"
81 only guess" he answered %
think there are none. think, Brena
that beyond that wall there is free
dom for us-life for us-a message fol
u.s."
Il must go with you"
He nodded.
AT the entrance he stopped, gain.
down at the ground-the film. the blan
ket of fine dust. He uttered an excla
nation
what do you see. PeterT
81 see a record in the sand"
what recordT
1--WE shall see MORE" he said grimly
Some"
Toward this memorial of tragedy, o
death, of decay. of the insignifcanc,
of time, of the inconsequence of al
age of man, Brena and Peter. like tws
creatures of moment of life, walked
with solemn. awed faces.
Look" said Peter suddenly. "Hav,
you your nerve? Looki'
He pointed to pile of charret
bones lying close to the we'll Anon.
them was piece of human skull
blackened as II by fire.
wait" Peter commanded.
He went forward. bent over tn,
CHASTITY pile. kicked the sand that sur
rounded II and stopping down. gath
cred a number of objects into the ,cul
OF his hand.
This was no prehistoric man." h
said solemnly. "See. The eyeIets an,
the nails of shoes. The leather lon,
ago vanished. Here are two mothe
Of pearl buttons. pocket knife