| "I'm getting a reading on this thing, Roy. Must be somethin' big. C'mere. Maybe we've got us some Spanish armor like Vernon found in these parts about thirty years ago." "Don't know...get the shovels. Hey, Johnny, look! This is an old Indian midden." "C'mon Roy, talk English. What's a midden? Remember, I never worked in the university museum." |
| "Trash pile, Johnny. See these bits of broken pottery. Here's some shell, too. These're left by what're called 'pre-history Indians.' These Indians used shells as spoons and scoops and ploughs along with sticks and stone tools. They drilled holes in the shells and inserted sticks to use as handles. The shape of the shell determined what the tool could be used for. These middens are about the only evidence that give us any clues to their lives. They ate fish and shellfish, and animals...we can tell that from the bones left in these piles. Didn't have any written language. There's some artifacts up in the museum...otherwise, we don't know much about them--their language, what they believed in, how they lived and got along with other tribes...anything." |
| "What's metal doing here, then, if they were so primitive--you tell me that!" "I don't know...sure is deep. We must be three feet down already--Johnny, I think I hit something hard! Here, hold the shovel. I'll try to get it with my hands." "Sure. What is it, Roy? Can you tell yet?" "No--it's round! Maybe a ball from one of those Spanish cannons. Get me the rope and we'll get it up." "Here, Roy." "Thanks. I'll just tie it around like this...now, you pull, and I'll help boost it." "How much does this thing weigh, anyway? Roy! Push a little harder, will you!" "There. Well, Johnny, we got it out. What do you think it is? It sure reacted with the metal detector." |
| "It's shaped kinda funny for a cannonball. Look here, Roy, it's got some kind of yellowy crust on it. Looks more like smeared cornbread than rust." "You know what I think we got here, Johnny? I think we've got ourselves a genuine hunk of meteorite like the little ones back in the museum, except that this one must weigh almost thirty pounds. Wonder what it was doing buried in the middle of an Indian trash pile...." |
 |
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