I have heard of poisonous emanations proceeding from the ground in these regions, but I never saw an instance of their effects before.

That skull that you say you found, Harvey, was probably that of a victim of the same cause.

But it is strange that Miriam, who must have remained some time in the very midst of it, should have escaped without a mark, or even any inconvenience." "Kamaiakan ascribed it to the magic of the Golden Fleece," said Freeman.
"Well," rejoined the other, "he may have been right; but, for my part, the only magic that I can find in it lies in the fact that it is made of pure wool, which undoubtedly possesses remarkable sanative properties; or maybe the fiery soul of Semitzin was powerful enough to repel all harmful influences.

The poor old fellow himself, being clad in cotton, and with no soul but his own, was destroyed.

Let us wrap him in his blanket, and bid him farewell--and with him, I hope, to all that is uncanny and abnormal in the lives of you young folks!" The last rites having been paid to the dead, the party mounted their horses and rode out of the gorge on to the long levels of the desert.
"Who come yonder ?" said Freeman.
"A couple of Mexicans, I think," said the general.
"One of them is a woman," said Meschines.
"They look very weary," remarked Freeman.
Miriam fixed her eyes on the approaching pair for a moment, and then said, "They are Senor de Mendoza and Grace Parsloe." And so, indeed, they were; and thus, in this lonely spot, all the dramatis personae of this history found themselves united.
In answer to the obvious question, how Grace and De Mendoza happened to be there, it transpired that, left to their own devices, they had undertaken no less an enterprise than to discover the hidden treasure.
Grace had communicated to the Mexican such bits of information as she had picked up and such surmises as she had formed, and he had been able to supplement her knowledge to an extent that seemed to justify them in attempting the adventure,--not to mention the fact that Don Miguel (such was the ardor of his sentiment for Grace) would, had she desired it, have gone with her into a fiery furnace or a den of lions.