This suggestion left me unsatisfied. Of course, such stones might be of almost any shape, and yet the outline of those objects did not suggest the chance figure of loose stones.
Curiosity mastered me, but I was silent.
Returning to the village, the cancellation of the lease was soon effected. The very next day the pumping engine was hauled away, and the board shack which housed it was torn down and removed. A few pieces of its timber framing were left lying about—some of substantial cross-section, and some pieces of board.
This I noticed with satisfaction, for they would prove useful in carrying out my determination to explore the cave.
IV.
That night, while the village people slept, I walked to the cave. I was equipped with a hammer, some nails, and an electric flashlight.
From the refuse lumber of the pump-house I constructed a raft, and with a pole to propel it, easily crossed the pool of water, and stepped out into the muddy slime which covered the upward slope of the cave floor.
Although encrusted with mud, it was at once apparent that one of the objects I had come to examine was a human skeleton.
But, such a skeleton!
Short of stature it was, with a barrel-like chest of prodigious size. The arms reached well below the knees. The skull was of unusual thickness and abnormal shape.