ontemptuously. "At any rate, you come suddenly into my
habitation here, where I have spent many happy months in solitude,
wrapped up in my studies of the people of the cliffs, who spent their
lives in this very place, and who have left many traces of their customs
behind. My work is almost finished, and in another week I expected
leaving here for civilization, with a masterly book on the subject that
has mystified the world for a century."

"Come to the point, Professor," broke in the man with the drawl; "and
keep all this about your studies for those of your kind, who may
appreciate them. We are concerned only about one thing; and that is a
certain paper which you will presently take from its hiding-place, sign
over to me, and then finish your labors here in peace. Understand that?"

"By good luck I was forewarned," the sharp voice went on; "and hence I
made sure not to carry that document on my person. You have taken the
liberty of searching every inch of these cliff houses since you arrived
here, but without success. And allow me to inform you, sir, that you
might hunt until the day of doom without the slightest chance of finding
that paper. It will never be yours!"

"Oh! I am not worrying in the least, Professor," Eugene remarked,
coolly. "You will see a great light presently, I imagine."

"I have already done so, sir," came the snappy reply. "I am awakening to
the fact that too long have I been neglecting my daughter; and that
since this investment of mine has turned out so happily, it must become
her property."

"Very nice and thoughtful of you, Professor," sneered Eugene; "and while
I dislike to spoil such delightful plans, I fear I must do so. It is my
nature to persist in anything I undertake. And I have made up my mind to
possess that document; or make you pay dearly for my disappointment."

"Now you begin to descend to low threats, sir," cried the scientist, who
did not seem to be a particle afraid; which proved the truth of the old
saying that courage does not necessarily need a big tenement.

"We have hunted high and low through this series of ratholes, and
without any success," observed Eugene, beginning to bite off his words,
as though unable to much longer keep up the pretense of being calm.
"What have you done with that old Moqui who came up here ahead of us?"

"Ah! you saw him enter the hidden stairway, then, and that was how you
learned the way to reach these cliff dwellings?" exclaimed the oth