human
Colonel Berry, said Hinpoha during one of the pauses in his speech,
gpt
Ask anything you want?
human
Did the Indians ever bury anything under stones?
gpt
Did the Indians ever bury anything under stones? repeated the colonel.
human
You mean the bodies of their dead? Customs varied as to that. Some tribes buried their dead in the ground, some left them on mountain tops unburied, and some wrapped the bodies and placed them in trees.
gpt
I don't know whether I mean people or not,
human
It is barely possible that something is buried there, said the colonel,
gpt
It seemed such a good place to hide something, said Sahwah shrewdly.
human
The ravine itself was dark and hard to get into, but it was easy to find your way back to it if you had been there once, because all you had to do was keep on going until you had passed seven big cedar trees. If we picked our way through the woods by that trail, other people probably have done the same thing. Maybe the Indians buried something there they intended to come back after, and marked the rock they put it under.
gpt
Possibly, said the colonel doubtfully.
human
A great many Indian relics have been dug up around the shores of these lakes; arrow heads, pieces of pottery and ornaments of various kinds. Such things might have been buried before a hasty flight and never recovered.
gpt
Wouldn't it be wonderful if there _was_ something buried under that rock, and we should go there and dig it up!
human
Mind, I'm not saying there _is_ anything buried there, said the Colonel hastily.
gpt
I only said it was remotely possible. The Indians have been gone from this region for so long that it is not safe to speculate upon anything they might have left. I only know that from time to time things _have_ been found accidentally.
human
Do you think we'd better dig?
gpt
Well, there wouldn't be any harm in it, said the colonel quizzically.
human
You might find something of interest, and if you don't--digging is good exercise.
gpt
Tell us a real Indian story, begged Gladys of the colonel.
human
A story of the old Indians.