Nogales international., 1934-03-24

not hear the bird at all. although
David, behind her on the boWlder said.
Hear itp', at regular intervals. The
sound seemed to come from the south
in narrow band. As though she were
following an invisible beam of light the
girl walked slowly toward the cliff.
1t was weird the voice OF the bird
grew only slightly louder-always, it
seemed but few feet before her face.
Ten yards from the cliff a bird flew
out OF a waist-high bush and darted up
the gulch. Ruth ran to the bush. 1t
was a very ordinary bush, rather
sparse, differing in no way from any
other bush. A foot or SO behind it rose
the wall Of sandstone. To left and
right, ran other bushes, growing as
close to the wall as they could find
earth, none OF them tall. Then Ruth
saw something which her eyes would
have missed six months beiore-in tEe
bush was dry stick about two feet
tall with a forked top. This stick dill
not belong to the bush; it had been
stuck into the sand like stake.
She stepped through an opening OH
the right and came between the bush
and the wall. Just behind the bush was
a smooth depression i'll the sandstone
about iouf feet across and perhaps a
! foot Or more in depth. 1t was as
though some one had pressed giant
basin into the wall when the rock WAS
soft. The lower third Of this basin
was beneath the surface of the sand
1t was a perfectly natural hollow such
as are to be found in great numbers,
secured out by wind and water, in the
! sandstone banks OF ravines. But Ruth
saw something else: a small fiat
topped rock like footstool lay on the
ground a little inside the basin, and
before this stone were the marks OF
boot heels. Some one had recently sat
upon this stone. She experimental and
found that when seated upon the stone
her head came opposite the deepest
point Of the basin behind her. She
called to David to go back to the
bowlder and climb on top.
When the boy was in position she
spoke in normal tone. Hello,
David"
Hello, Mama! !" His small voice
reached her across the intervening
distance.
Ruth lowered her voice to an ex-
cited whisper. Can you hear Mama
now?"
David did not reply.
| Then she saw that the forked stick
which she had already discovered was
so placed that by sitting straighter she
could just see the boy on the bowlder
through the notch. It was like gun
sight. Again she whispered, Come
here, David"
1t was uncanny; the boy slid from
the rock and plodded toward her
through the sand.
AS they returned to the house Ruth
thought over her discovery. The de-
pressio~ in the rock was a reflector,
and by ting on the stone and sight
ing through the forked stick, ones
mouth was placed at its focus. The
sound of the voice was then conserved
and directed in narrow beam to the
brown bowlder, as light is reflected
from a headlight That was the secret
of the old Indian medicine men. And
Snavely had learned of it. He had
seen Ruth, Kenneth and David that
first day-had watched them strug-
Cling along the road toward the ranch.
Then he had slipped into the gorge
by way of the assure and had spoken
to them. Afterward, he had gone to
the corral, told Ann that he would
finish milking and that she should go
and see who was coming through the
gulch.
She was tremendously thrilled over
her discovery. She told herself that