92 MIGHTY ANIMALS 



and farther from out the stone. A skull which, a 

 few years before, showed little more than the grinning 

 mouth with its ferocious-looking teeth, had, so this 

 Indian would say, made its way out of the stone 

 until much of the head was visible. Neither he nor 

 any of the Indians who heard his tale knew that it 

 was the wearing away of the rock that had caused 

 the skeleton to come into plainer view. They all 

 supposed that through some miracle the bones of 

 their gigantic ancestors were rising from their 

 tombs. 



So it is no wonder the Indians objected to any one 

 going into the desert to disturb these bones. They 

 were horrified when they saw the white men take up 

 great rocks containing skeletons and cart them away 

 to be shipped to museums. In the hope of saving 

 their forefathers from such an ignoble fate the 

 Indians fought valiantly with tomahawk and arrow. 

 So hostile were they that it was necessary at one 

 time for Professor Marsh to take an escort of United 

 States troops into the desert with him. Even to-day 

 the hunter for bones in this region is likely to come 

 upon a troublesome Indian; for many of the red 



