Читать книгу A West Point Treasure; Or, Mark Mallory's Strange Find онлайн

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The six were staring at the cliff in open-mouthed interest.

“In the post-tertiary periods,” continued the lecturer, “this Hudson Valley was an inland sea. By that line of colored rock, denoting the top of the strata, I can tell what was the level of that body of water. The storms of that period did great havoc among the rocks. This cliff may have been torn and burrowed; I know of some that had great caves and passageways worn in them.”

The six were still staring.

“We find many wonderful fossils in such rock. The seas then were inhabitated by many gigantic animals, whose skeletons we find, completely buried in stone. I have the foot of a Megatherium, the foot being about as broad as my arm is long, found in some shistose quartz of this period. If you will excuse me for but a few moments I should like to examine the fragments at the bottom of the cliff and see——”

“I think I see a foot there!” cried Mark, excitedly.

“Where?” demanded the Parson, no less so, his eyes flashing with professional zeal.