more closely.

They found several old iron picks, such as are used by natives
in cultivating their fields, some very filthy skins, a number of
earthenware pots, a few knives, and an axe; but nothing more.

The floor of the cave was of clay, and at one spot it appeared to have
been recently disturbed. Here Langley began to dig with a pick, which,
just below the surface, struck against some hard substance. This, when
uncovered, proved to be a bone. He threw it to one side and dug deeper,
uncovering more bones--some old, and others comparatively fresh, but
emitting a horrible smell. He stooped and picked one up, but dropped it
immediately, as if it burned him. It was the lower jawbone of a human
being.

"Great God!" he gasped. "What is the meaning of this?"

"It means," said Whitson, "that we are in a nest of bloody cannibals!"

Langley dropped like a stone, in a dead faint; so Whitson dragged him
outside, and, leaving him to recover in the open air, returned to the
cave. He then seized the pick and began digging, unearthing some new
horror at every stroke. A glittering object caught his eye; he picked
this up and found it to be the steel buckle of a woman's belt. He
glanced toward the cleft in the rock where the lumps of flesh were
hanging, and caught his breath short. Going outside he made another
torch, which he lit; and then he returned and carefully examined the
loosened surface. Another glittering object caught his eye. This, when
examined, proved to be an old silver watch, the appearance of which
seemed familiar. He forced open the case, and saw, roughly scratched
on the inside, the letter D. He now recognised it; he remembered having
once fixed a glass in this very watch for Dollond, about a month before
the latter's disappearance. Continuing his search Whitson found the iron
heel-plate of a boot, and a small bunch of keys.

Whitson drew his revolver, and picking up the torch went into the
terminal chamber. Four shots, fired in quick succession, reverberated
immediately afterward through the cavern.

Whitson then went outside to Langley, whom he found sitting down near
the fire, looking if possible, more ghastly than before. The presence of
Whitson seemed, however, to act on him as a kind of tonic, and he soon
pulled himself together sufficiently to assist in piling a quantity of
fuel upon the already sinking fire, which soon blazed brightly, lighting
up the mouth of the cavern and the space in front of it.