I felt myself over from head to foot and from head to foot I was
clothed, though when I fell unconscious at the little doorway I had
been naked. Before me was a small patch of moonlit sky which showed
through a ragged aperture.
As my hands passed over my body they came in contact with pockets
and in one of these a small parcel of matches wrapped in oiled
paper. One of these matches I struck, and its dim flame lighted
up what appeared to be a huge cave, toward the back of which I
discovered a strange, still figure huddled over a tiny bench. As
I approached it I saw that it was the dead and mummified remains
of a little old woman with long black hair, and the thing it
leaned over was a small charcoal burner upon which rested a round
copper vessel containing a small quantity of greenish powder.
Behind her, depending from the roof upon rawhide thongs, and
stretching entirely across the cave, was a row of human skeletons.
From the thong which held them stretched another to the dead hand
of the little old woman; as I touched the cord the skeletons swung
to the motion with a noise as of the rustling of dry leaves.
It was a most grotesque and horrid tableau and I hastened out
into the fresh air; glad to escape from so gruesome a place.
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