“One of the finest specimens of these defensive constructions is known as ‘Fort Ancient,’ and is near the Little Miami river, in Ohio. It is on the top of a steep hill, its stiff clay walls ranging from five to twenty-five feet in height. The wall crooks and turns and twists about, until it is several miles in length, yet it encloses only land enough for a common-sized farm.
“At Chillicothe there is the largest of this kind of mounds, embracing 145 acres. In connection with this old fortress there are several high mounds which may have been used for lookout stations.
“As a rule, the mounds in the valleys are not of the warlike shapes, but are laid off in squares or octagons, like the little “town” Dauphin has told us about on the other side of the river. These are usually called “sacred” mounds, though it would be difficult to give a good reason why, other than the Indians’ reverence for that which is mysterious and unexplained. Perhaps the best known example of this class of mounds are those at Newark, Ohio. There is an octagon of 50 acres, a square of 35 acres, and two circles, one of 29 and the other of 20 acres. They are all joined by avenues and surrounded by ditches.
“The temple mounds are fewer in number than those of the other classes, but may, in the future, prove to yield more interest as they are compared with similar pyramids found in Mexico and Central America. In this country, the best specimen of the temple mounds is at Cahokia, Ills. It is nearly an hundred feet high, and is more than 200 rods around the base.
“Perhaps the most curious of the work of the ancient people are the ‘animal’ mounds, fashioned after a crude representation of different beasts. One of these in the southern part of this state is a very fair reproduction of the outlines of an elephant.”
“But, father,” exclaimed Ed, “how could that be? Where could these people have seen an elephant? Did elephants live in America then? or did the people come from the land of elephants?”
“My boy, that is a part of the mystery of the past of this mysterious race. The fact is that the Grant county mound was clearly made to represent an elephant, and the rest we must guess at.
“However, the larger number of mounds that have been examined were used for burial places, undoubtedly first by the moundbuilders themselves, as well as later by the Indians.”
That night the boys could scarcely sleep for planning excavations in all three of the collections of mounds near them. Mr. Allen had hinted that some day some mound might be uncovered which would yield the long-looked-for key that would unlock the history of this past and forgotten people. Why might not it be they who would be the discoverers?
Ed was for making the first investigation at the hill fort. If there had been an assault upon those works, he argued, it must have been a fierce one, and no doubt there would be found many of the weapons of the attacking party buried in the soft earth beneath the steep walls. Rob contended that if the mounds between the rivers were, indeed, the site of one of their towns, more relics would be found there to show what manner of people they were in their everyday life. Especially would it be so, he argued, if they had been suddenly driven from their homes by an enemy.