And yet it did not entirely satisfy him, so superior is the absolutely unknown to the most elaborate theory.
His attention had been once or twice drawn towards the crumbling wall of outcrop, which during the conflagration must have felt the full force of the fiery blast that had swept through the hollow and spent its fury upon it.

It bore evidence of the intense heat in cracked fissures and the crumbling debris that lay at its feet.

Key picked up some of the still warm fragments, and was not surprised that they easily broke in a gritty, grayish powder in his hands.

In spite of his preoccupation with the human interest, the instinct of the prospector was still strong upon him, and he almost mechanically put some of the pieces in his pockets.

Then after another careful survey of the locality for any further record of its vanished tenants, he returned to his horse.