Snake Gulch 



Jones, standing under a cliff, with his neck craned to 

 a desperate angle. 



&quot;Now, what s that?&quot; demanded he, pointing 

 upward. 



High on the cliff wall appeared a small, round 

 protuberance. It was of the unmistakably red color 

 of the other tombs; and Wallace, more excited than 

 he had been in the cougar chase, said it was a sepul- 

 cher, and he believed it had never been opened. 



From an elevated point of rock, as high up as I 

 could well climb, I decided both questions with my 

 glass. The tomb resembled nothing so much as a 

 mud-wasp s nest, high on a barn wall. The fact 

 that it had never been broken open quite carried 

 Wallace away with enthusiasm. 



&quot; This is no mean discovery, let me tell you that,&quot; 

 he declared. &quot; I am familiar with the Aztec, Toltec 

 and Pueblo ruins, and here I find no similarity. Be 

 sides, we are out of their latitude. An ancient race 

 of people very ancient indeed lived in this canon. 

 How long ago, it is impossible to tell.&quot; 



* They must have been birds,&quot; said the practical 

 Jones. &quot;Now, how d that tomb ever get there? 

 Look at it, will you? &quot; 



As near as we could ascertain, it was three hundred 

 feet from the ground below, five hundred from the 

 rim wall above, and could not possibly have been 



135 



