146 MARK TWAIN'S SKETCHES. 



Not a Tumble-Bug could be found on duty, so the Mound was excavated by a 

 working party of Ants. Nothing was discovered. This would have been a great 

 disappointment, had not the venerable Longlegs explained the matter. — He said: 



" It is now plain tci me that the mysterious and forgotten race of Mound Builders 

 did not always erect these edifices as mausoleums, else in this case as in all previous 

 cases, their skeletons would be found here, along with the rude implements which 

 the creatures used in life. Is not this manifest.'" 



"True! true!" from everybody. 



" Then we have made a discovery of peculiar value here ; a discovery which 

 greatly extends our knowledge of this creature in place of diminishing it ; a discov- 

 ery which will add lustre to the achievements of this expedition and win for us the 

 commendations of scholars everywhere. For the absence of the customary relics 

 here means nothing less than this : The Mound Builder, instead of being the igno- 

 rant, savage reptile we have been taught to consider him, was a creature of cultiva- 

 tion and high intelligence, capable of not only appreciating worthy achievements 

 of the great and noble of his species, but of commemorating them I Fellow- 

 scholars, this stately Mound is not a sepulchre, it is a monument!" 



A profound impression was produced by this. 



But it was interrupted by rude and derisive laughter — and the Tumble-Bug 

 appeared. 



" A monument !" quoth he. " A monument set up by a Mound Builder! Aye, 

 so it is ! So it is, indeed, to the shrewd keen eye of science ; but to an ignorant 

 poor devil who has never seen a college, it is not a Monument, strictly speaking, 

 but is yet a most rich and noble property ; and with your worships' good permission 

 I will proceed to manufacture it into spheres of exceeding grace and — " 



The Tumble-Bug was driven away with stripes, and the draughtsmen of the 

 expedition were set to making views of the Monument from different standpoints, 

 while Professor Woodlouse, in a frenzy of scientific zeal, traveled all over it and all 

 around it hoping to find an inscription. But if there had ever been one it had 

 decayed or been removed by some vandal as a relic. 



The views having been completed, it was now considered safe to load the 

 precious Monument itself upon the backs of four of the largest Tortoises and send 



