e plains, where their horses feel at home."

"But there must have been a big tribe here."

"No, sir; not of Indians such as rove the plains. These must have been
a different kind of people--miners and builders. Your regular Red
Indian thinks of nothing but his horse, his hunting, and a fight with
his enemies so as to get plunder. The people who mined for gold were a
different kind of folk altogether."

"Well, we shall see to-morrow," said the doctor; "there are sure to be
some traces of them in their old homes."

"I don't care what they were or what they did," said Chris that night,
as they laid down to sleep in the dark bottom of the depression, gazing
up at the great lustrous stars; "but I don't want any more water got
like that. Ugh! It almost had a nasty taste when it was made into tea.
Didn't you notice it?" he said, after a pause; but there was no reply.
"I say, didn't you notice that the water seemed to taste nasty?" said
Chris, a little louder; but still there was no reply.

"Oh, what a fellow you are!" cried the boy impatiently. "Such a one as
you are for eating and noticing everything, I should have thought you'd
have had something to say about it. Asleep again! Why, I couldn't
sleep after what we've gone through to-day, even if I tried."

That was Chris's opinion, but he evidently could sleep without trying,
for the next minute he was breathing heavily, and without a single
troublous dream born of the perils of the day.

CHAPTER THIRTY FIVE.

IN THE STONE AGE.

The experiment was tried next day. A bucket, loaded with stones heavy
enough to sink it, was lowered down the black-looking pit, and was drawn
up again nearly full of water. This was given to the nearest grazing
animals, and the bucket sent down again, to catch against some
projecting block and tilt out the ballast, after which it refused to
sink, but made a jerk or two to escape, and then had to be drawn out.

Fresh stones were put in the bottom, and again were tilted out, but the
result of another trial from a little different spot resulted in the
vessel's coming up full.

More trying resulted in the adventurers finding that they could depend
upon obtaining about five bucketfuls out of a dozen trials, and with
this they were content.

An attempt to reach the first terrace was now made, and this did not
prove to be so difficult as it appeared from below, Chris finding a spot
where the rock-face was a good deal broken away a