d been but a mildly interested
onlooker. She was seated, with the other States, just behind the row of
prominent citizens, listening less to the exercises than to the buzz
about her, and refraining from talking only when the band rendered a
number. The colonel's son was down in front and facing her, so she
divided her time, when she was silent, between him and her mother. In
the excitement of the hour she had totally forgotten the professor.

But now, with him at the speaker's table, she suddenly recalled the
evening before, her sleepless night, and her worry. And she quaked as
she leaned forward to hear what he was saying, and bent her looks in
fear upon the colonel's son.

The professor, having bowed to all sides and cleared his throat,
launched into the subject of his discovery, prefacing it with a
reference to the carnelian bluff.

"It shows by the deposit on its summit," he said, "that at one time,
centuries ago, a boundless sea, that roared when the winds swept by or
lapped and slept in a calm, covered the bosom of this prairie. Beneath
the arrowheads and hatchets that mark it as a natural watch-tower of the
redmen, lies, deep-hidden, a layer of sea-shells, proof that this plain
was once an ocean bed."

He paused a moment at this point to allow the full significance of his
words to impress itself upon the assemblage before him. Then he
continued.

"But I have discovered the proof of a far greater marvel concerning this
prairie-land of yours. A sea tumbled over it, as I have said; yes, but,
more wonderful still, in ages past--I cannot say how many--a race,
intellectually superior to the Indian, dwelt here. As borne out by the
inerasable markings I have discovered, this race was undoubtedly a
branch or part of a people that we have hitherto believed never visited
the continent until Columbus's time."

The teacher, the poet, and the minister opened their eyes with interest
as his statement fell upon their ears. But no thrill of surprise swept
the crowd, and the professor, after a pause, coughed and went on.

"I intend to submit my discovery to the scientific world. As proof of it
I have two drawings which I shall show you. They consist of copies of
inscriptions found by me on the Vermillion. This is one of them."

He displayed the larger pasteboard square and a titter ran through the
crowd. To her alarm, the little girl noticed that the colonel's son did
not laugh. Instead, he opened his mouth and stared wil