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the
tin mines of
“‘"It's neither ghosts nor
spirits," said
“‘At mention of the bullion he forgot his
terror, and we pushed on down the drift. As we went down, the noises grew
louder and louder, and the air became heavy with sulphuric and other gaseous
odors. When we had gone down about a thousand feet, we came to a side drift,
with its mouth almost closed from a fall of rock.
“‘A short distance down this drift we
stumbled over a pile of skeletons, at least a dozen lying close together. Had
the victims died of bad air or of starvation? Searching about, we found nothing
but broken Indian crockery. Pictographs on the wall may have been the story of
their death. In this drift we neither saw the flashes nor heard the moans, but
the poisonous air soon made us drowsy.
“‘Going-back to the pool, we examined the
ollas standing around it. All had lately been filled with sotol. The fresh
marks on the wall near-by may have been made for visiting Indians. We tasted
the soto, which is a good deal like mescal, though it is much stronger. It was
something like Scotch whisky with a strong, smoky flavor added to it.
“‘Outside we found everything as we had left
it. Cousin Jack helped me carry some boulders into the cave, which we piled up,
so I could examine the hand prints on the roof. The marks seemed to have been
burned in with a branding iron, or impressed there at a time when the sandstone
in the roof of the cave was