“The dwellings were not then occupied, were they?” asked Anne.
“Oh, no,” responded the general. “They were in ruins as you see them now, so you can form some idea of the antiquity of the dwellings.”
“Do you know whether or not the Cliff Dwellers were here ahead of the Indians, sir?” asked Grace.
“It is supposed that they were, for the Indians of the present day do not even know of them in legend. The dwellers must have had enemies, man or beast, for you see they built their castles in out-of-reach spots. They builded them well, too, high under leaning walls of rock, of blocked stone, set with strong adobe mortar. They were architects, and they were builders, were those ancients,” declared the general.
“A peculiar feature of their homes is that each community lived in a community house, said to have included sixty to seventy rooms. The three dwellings that are accessible do not show what the inner arrangements were, but a fourth one, that has never been explored, is believed to be in a better state of preservation.”
“That is the one I propose to have a look at,” declared Grace.
“I suspected as much,” nodded the general. “Don’t try it, is my advice. You don’t know what kind of a precipice one would have to pass over to get there.”
“I know the precipice, for I have examined it through my glasses, but I am not convinced that there is no other entrance to the place.”
“What makes you think that?”
“The formation of the sheer wall that falls away from their front dooryard shows that it has been in that same condition for perhaps thousands of years, and probably was in the same condition in the days of the Cliff Dwellers. Suppose we have our luncheon here and then have a look at the top of this unknown cliff home.”