11. A Surprise
It had been another wonderful day at my little dig. I came back to my camp in time for lunch and spent the hottest part of the day working on the artifacts in the shade of my work tent. They're wonderful. Not only are the pot shards in good condition, but they are large pieces that I can easily reconstruct. I'm sure I have several pots and bowls that just need reassembling. There are also indicators of an underground chamber. It could be a cave, a tomb, or even a kiva for religious ceremonies.
It was beginning to cool down again so I packed my gear and got ready to head out. But before I left the camp I took my food scraps and went to the trash bag tree. I'd begun hanging it from the highest branch of an old Mesquite tree. The first night I'd done it, the creature had done a little dance in the sand under the bag. Then the next night there had been prints all around the trunk of the tree. I still haven't figured out what was doing it; it was a small animal by the size of its dainty little feet. But an opossum or a raccoon would have merely climbed the tree. Maybe it WAS a Chupacabra like Juan had said.
I finished securing the scraps and trash then I put my tool kit on my shoulder and hiked back up the trail I'd created the past week going back and forth to my dig.
When I got to the pit I'd started, I stopped in amazement. There right next to the bush I'd sat under just a few hours ago laid a dead rattlesnake. I had probably been working within five feet of it all morning but now it lay splayed out across the soft dirt like a limp hose. Something had killed it by tearing through its neck.
I looked around my immediate area and all I can find is a lot of marks caused by the snake's struggles and some of those tiny little footprints again. Now I am confused. Certainly none of the usual suspects would have come out of their own burrows in the middle of the day to kill a poisonous snake and leave it there.
I take my shovel and move the body away from my work area, then cut the head off and bury it. Its poison would be dangerous for several days. I leave the rest of the carcass in plain sight. It is after all meat and I may have just frightened my unknowing benefactor into running away and leaving its meal for the day behind. I certainly didn't want to deny it, whatever it is, a good dinner.
Taking my shovel in hand I start back to my digging. Tomorrow I'll bring out the stakes and string and mark this site off properly. I may really have something here. My little dig is turning out to be exciting.
Several hours later I realize that it's getting too dark to properly see what I'm doing. I don't want to run into the mate of the deceased rattler, much less any babies they may have.
I load my tools and new finds into my knapsack and head down the trail to my campsite. I need to start the fire and get the lanterns lit. I don't want to be the unwary victim of my unknown champion or to keep him away from his hard earned meal of snake meat.