GROUND
XXXI WE MOUNT THE CLIFF
XXXII CHIEF PRIEST OF THE SUN
XXXIII PERE ANDRE LAFOSSIER
XXXIV THE TALE OF THE PRIEST
XXXV NIGHT AND THE SAVAGES
XXXVI THE INTERFERENCE OF THE JESUIT
XXXVII THE DEAD BURY THEIR DEAD

ILLUSTRATIONS

I could merely clasp the hands she gave so unreservedly into my
keeping, gaze into the depths of her dark eyes, and murmur a few broken
words of confidence and farewell. . . . _Frontispiece_

Had I ventured upon a smile at his predicament he would have popped
instantly forth again.

"I am the Daughter of the Sun. These are my children, given unto me by
the great Sun-god. . . . None of white blood may set foot in this
valley and live."

The woman stood gazing intently down, her red robe sweeping to her
feet; below the flaring torches in the hands of her barbaric followers
cast their light full upon her.

FOREWORD

The manuscript of this tale has been in my possession several years.
It reached me through natural lines of inheritance, but remained nearly
forgotten, until a chance reading revealed a certain historic basis;
then, making note of correspondences in minor details, I realized that
what I had cast aside as mere fiction might possess a substantial
foundation of fact. Impelled by this conviction, I now submit the
narrative to public inspection, that others, better fitted than I, may
judge as to the worth of this Geoffrey Benteen.

According to the earlier records of Louisiana Province, Geoffrey
Benteen was, during his later years, a resident of La Petite Rocher, a
man of note and character among his fellows. There he died in old age,
leaving no indication of the extent of his knowledge, other than what
is to be found in the yellowed pages of his manuscript; and these
afford no evidence that this "Gentleman Adventurer" possessed any
information derived from books regarding those relics of a prehistoric
people, which are widely scattered throughout the Middle and Southern
States of the Union and constitute the grounds on which our century has
applied to the race the term "Mound Builders."

Apparently in all simplicity and faithfulness he recorded merely what
he saw and heard. Later research, antedating his death, has seemingly
proven that in the extinct Natchez tribe was to be found the last
remnant of that mysterious and unfortunate race.

Who were the Mound Builders? No living man may answer. Their
history--strange, weird, mysterio