an to whine and sniff the ground. As Sam
and Mark approached, he turned on them, barking furiously.

The man and boy exchanged glances. "He's acting just like he did in the
beginning," said Mark.

"There's something in the ground," said Sam. "I'm going to find out what
it is." And he drew his gun.

"You're not going to kill him, Pop!"

"I'll just put him to sleep. An anaesthetic pellet of the kind I use for
trapping ought to do the trick."

But one pellet turned out to be not enough. It required the bursting of
three pellets before the animal finally trembled, came to a halt, and
with eyes glazed, fell over on the ground.

When they approached closer, Sam caught sight of half a dozen stones,
roughly piled together. He said, "Better get back, Mark. This may not be
pleasant."

"You think--you think somebody's buried here?"

"Very likely. I'm going to see."

* * * * *

Using a flat rock with a sharp edge as an improvised spade, he began to
dig. The ground was hard, and the rock was not the best of tools. It
took him half an hour to reach the first bone, and another half-hour to
uncover the rest.

Mark had come up behind him and was watching with no sign of revulsion.
He said, "I--I was afraid there might be a body, Pop."

"So was I. It looks as if the man died so long ago that everything else
has rotted away, except for a few metal clasps. No other sign of shoes
or clothes. And no indication of how this happened."

"You think he was the dog's master?"

"Evidently."

They both stared at the sleeping animal. Then Sam shrugged, and began to
fill the shallow grave again. Mark helped him push in the dirt and stamp
it down into place. Finally they moved the stones back.

They were about to leave when Mark cried out, "Look at that rock!"

Staring where his son pointed, Sam saw a gray column about four feet
high, with four smooth lateral sides. Rectangular prisms of this size
were rare in nature. This was obviously the work of human hands, and of
a blasting rod as well, to judge by the sides, which showed evidence of
having been fused before weathering had cut into them. At first he had
thought the column was a gravestone. But there was no inscription upon
it. There was nothing but a thin deep groove that ran horizontally
around the four sides, several inches from the top.

"What does it mean, Pop?"

"Let's find out. It's obviously been put here as some sort of memorial.
As f