"Immensely," said Roger. He paused diffidently, then went on, "I am on the Geological Survey, sir," he said, "and on my way to join a new party, but have a day or two to spare, as the Director has been so kind as to give me opportunities to visit different fields of work to gain experience for a trip to Alaska next year. You said you were going to visit Casa Grande, and—I hope you won't mind my saying this—I should like to go with you if I might, and learn something about a place of which I know so little."
The elder man held out his hand.
"Glad to have you," he said, heartily, shaking hands. Then, turning, he introduced him to his son, Phil, a young fellow about Roger's age, and but very few minutes elapsed before the train stopped.
"Of course you know," said Roger's new friend, when they were in the stage and bowling through the plain, "that this part of the country is just full of evidences of a civilization far earlier than the Indians and earlier even than the Aztecs or Toltecs."
"But, father," said Phil, "I supposed the Aztecs were the first people in the country!"
"So do many people, Phil," was the reply, "but they were not. They were a wandering tribe, as Indians might be, who conquered a people older than themselves called the Nahoas, about whom we know very little. But the Aztecs achieved a good deal of skill in working in stone, and the fact that their monuments are not perishable, makes their civilization enduring in fame."
"Then the Nahoas were the first?" queried Roger.
But his informant shook his head, smiling slightly.
"They may have been," he answered, "but it seems very doubtful. I think we have to go back a great deal further when we start to look for early Americans."
"Why?"