asked, "why would anyone hide a trunk in a cave?" "Might depend
on what was in it," the Texan replied promptly.

"Well, these were--"

Anse took up the top book. His finger traced each word as he read. "_The
Three Mus--Musketeers._ Whatever kinda critter is that?"

"A soldier. They used to have them over in France a long time ago."

"Army manual, eh? Maybe so the trunk was an army cache--"

Drew shook his head. "No, this is just a story. A good one with lots of
prime fightin' in it. This one's a story, too. I've heard about it ...
never got a chance to read it though." He set _The Count of Monte Cristo_
upright on the table. Anse took the third volume.

"... _Con--Conquest of Mexico_. Hey, conquest means winnin' th' country,
don't it? This about the Mex War which our pa's fought?" He flicked open
the pages eagerly.

"No, the earlier one--when the Spanish came in under Cortes and broke up
the Aztec empire ... back in the 1500's."

"Kinda stiff readin' ... looks interestin' though." Anse gave his verdict.
"We had us two books. Pa learned us to read outta them. One was th' Bible
Ma brought long when she was married. T'other--that sure was kinda queer
how we got that. Pa was in th' Rangers, an' he had this run-in with some
Comanches--" Anse's eyes were suddenly bleak, and Drew remembered the few
stark sentences the Texan had once spoken to explain his reason for being
in the army--a return to a frontier ranch to find nothing left, nothing he
wanted to remember, after the Comanches had swept across the countryside.

"Well," Anse broke that short pause, "Pa shot him one big buck as was
ridin' straight into th' Ranger line, wantin' to count one o' them coups
by whangin' some white man personal with his lance, or some such
foolishness. This buck had him a war shield an' Pa picked it up when all
th' smoke blew away. What'd' you think that there shield was packed with?
Well, this one had a book all tore apart an' stuffed in between th' front
an' back layers of hide. Th' boys in th' company, they got right
interested in sortin' out all them pages an' puttin' 'em in order agin,
kinda like a game, Pa said. Pa, he never had much schoolin', but he could
read good an' write an' figger. He sure liked to read, so he claimed that
there book when it was all tied up together agin--'cause he shot th' buck
as was carryin' th' shield. So he made a buckskin case and kept all th'
pages together. That was 'bout soldiers of th' old time, t