, were perfect, however, and there was a silver
ring on the index finger. One hand grasped a large stone axe--the handle
being modern. The right hand rested across the chest, clasping a
necklace of silver wire.

"Interesting specimen, is it not?" said a voice at my side.

"Quite so," I replied. "But I doubt if it is really an Aztec mummy."

"What makes you think that?" asked the voice sharply.

"Because I don't believe the Aztecs buried their dead in Cliff
Dwellings. However, it is an interesting mummy, and in a wonderful state
of preservation."

I was so interested in examining the mummy that I had spoken without
turning my head. Now, however, I looked up and saw a tall, gaunt figure
of a man dressed in a suit of corduroy, and wearing a broad-brimmed hat,
or sombrero, such as is generally worn on the Western plains.

"Well," he remarked, "in my opinion, it is a pretty good mummy. I made
it myself, and ought to know."

"Excuse me, what did you say?" I asked, thinking I had not understood
him aright.

"I said that was one of my mummies."

"What do you mean by that, sir?" I asked.

"You will understand when I tell you I was a dealer in curiosities, and
during my time I furnished museums with a great many interesting and
valuable specimens; when trade was slow, I occasionally helped nature a
little, but that is all over now."

"Have you given up the business?" I asked.

"Had to; but perhaps you do not know that I am dead," answered my
companion. "Fell from a cliff last year and broke my neck."

"Did you, indeed?" I answered, trying to appear interested.

"That's what I did. But let me tell you about that mummy. There was a
scientific chap who came to our place and wanted to buy Aztec relics. Me
and my partner made a trade with him and sold him a lot of stuff; but
he was very anxious to be taken where he could dig some up for himself,
'to be sure of the authenticity and antiquity of the relics.' Well, me
and my pard figured up that it might be to our advantage to take him to
a good Cliff Dwelling, and we arranged that he should pay us so much for
everything he dug up. If he found a mummy we got one hundred dollars; if
stone hatchets and axes, two dollars each; arrow-heads, ten cents each;
for stone _matats_ and grinders, one dollar each, taking them as they
came; and whole pottery, five dollars."

"Where did you find the mummy? Did you know of the cave?" I asked.

"Well, we knew where there were lots of c