The kiva was impressive despite the fact that its roof had collapsed and the chamber was filled with rubble. Longarm could see the remains of what had once been a ladder. It was now rotted and broken, but still recognizable. A few minutes later, he climbed up to the pinnacle of a ruined tower, where he had a good view in all directions. Through the trees, he could see more ruins, and that made him realize that this mesa-top had probably served as the home for hundreds, perhaps even thousands of Anasazi.
Why, an archaeologist could spend his entire career up here discovering and excavating these ancient ruins, most of which must be hidden in these pinyon pine forests and buried just under the surface.
They spent more than an hour poking around in the ruins, and could easily have spent days. Miranda was especially excited when she found two very distinct petroglyphs where an ancient storyteller had once etched images of hunters and their quarry onto the surface of rocks.
“We’d better push on,” Longarm suggested. “I’ve a feeling that there are dozens of sites like this to be explored. However, I really would like to see a cliff dwelling before it gets too dark.”
“All right,” Miranda said. “I wonder where our mysterious archaeologists are camped.”
“I don’t know,” Longarm said. “From what I’ve learned, there are several mesas up here, all divided by deep, tree-choked canyons. It’s in those canyons that we will find the cliff dwellings. I’d guess that’s also where we’re most likely to find the Harvard archaeologists.”
“It’s too bad that we didn’t have time to get that telegram from Billy Vail that would tell us if they are legitimate.”
“I’m sure Billy’s telegram will be waiting for us when we return to Cortez. In the meantime, I think we’ll be able to figure out if Barker and Lucking are pretenders or not.”
They rode, seeing, and even passing close by, many crumbling ruins. Despite Miranda’s protestations that they linger to explore the mesa-top for a while, Longarm insisted that they keep moving until they came upon the cliff dwellings.
“They’ll be time enough to poke around up here once we find Cliff Palace and some of the other cliff dwellings,” he assured her.
“There had better be,” Miranda fussed, “or I’m going to be pretty upset-“
“Well, I can’t help that,” Longarm said with asperity. “You know that I’m up here on official business.”
“I know,” Miranda replied. “But-“
“There!” Longarm said, pointing. “I’ll bet anything that’s the canyon where we’ll see many of the cliff dwellings.”
It was a deep canyon, perhaps a quarter mile across and filled with oaks, brush, and pines. Longarm could see a riverbed snaking along the bottom. It was dry now, but probably filled with water every spring after the snows melted. The sand-, copper-, and crimson-colored walls of this wild and majestic canyon were almost vertical.
“There is a trail over here,” Miranda said. “It follows the rim south.”
“Then let’s keep our eyes peeled,” Longarm told her. “We ought to reach the camp pretty soon.”
A short time later, they intersected another trail, this one worn deeply by the hooves of pack animals, which Longarm figured were regularly supplying the archaeologists.
“I have a feeling that their base camp isn’t far now,” he told Miranda.
Sure enough, they came upon a spartan camp less than a half mile farther down the trail. There was a large tent, a crude table, two chairs, and a pile of wooden boxes and crates, but no scientists.
“Invited or not, we’ll spend the night here,” Longarm decided. “I expect that the Harvard people will return about sundown. In the meantime, I’ll check out their camp.”
“Are you just going to enter their tent and begin to snoop around?”
“Of course,” Longarm told her. “Why don’t you station yourself over there where that footpath leads to the edge of the cliff. I expect that’s the head of the trail that leads down to Cliff Palace or some other cliff dwelling that these men are excavating.”
“Do you think that-“
“Miranda,” he said, “please just do as I ask. I’d like to be warned before they just pop into view while I’m rifling their belongings searching for incriminating evidence.”
“All right,” Miranda said. “But what do I do if they suddenly appear?”
“Holler out a greeting and block their progress just long enough for me to get back out in the open,” Longarm instructed her. “That shouldn’t be so difficult.”
“Easy for you to say.”
“Just tie our horses up and follow that trail to the rim. It shouldn’t take me long to find out if these fellows are pirating artifacts or not.”
“I’ll bet the artifacts are going to Harvard University where they’re supposed to go.”
“I’ll take that bet,” Longarm answered, handing his reins to Miranda and hurrying off to search inside the tent.
In less than ten minutes, Longarm knew that Barker and Lucking were indeed members of the grave-robbing gang. Every crate was packed with skeletons and Anasazi artifacts, and there wasn’t a scrap of paper or a single shred of evidence that linked these two men with Harvard University. Instead, he found several notes and letters that left little doubt that everything being packed off this mesa was headed for wealthy private collectors. There were even several letters from wealthy collectors in Europe stating exactly what kind of Anasazi treasures they desired and the prices that they could pay for goods upon delivery to their countries.
Longarm was examining a collection of bows, arrows, and spearheads when he heard Miranda call, “Why, hello there!”
