WE AWAKENED EARLY THE NEXT day and breakfasted on tasty tropical fruits.
Basil had decided to begin digging.
“We’ll put our time to good use while we are waiting for the mini cats to show themselves. What happened here on Kataarh, so long ago? To learn the answer, we excavate! Our shovels and spades will dig up ancient history. Come along, and make as much noise as you like, so the mini cats can hide if they fear us. I’ll walk ahead, like the Pied Piper, playing my flute.”
Carrying tools and small ladders, we followed our leader, who kept peering through a spyglass.
“I’m looking for mouse-made mounds, not natural ones,” he explained. “Under these mounds are the ruins of the past. After the grass grows, men and mice always build anew, over the ruins of the old.”
He peered through his spyglass. “Ah! I see a mound at the foot of the volcano that seems to be mouse-made. We’d best investigate.”
We hurried after him. The mound was low, with a growth of grass and ferns, and looked like a large round table with a slight rise at the center.
Basil studied the rise for several minutes.
Then he rose and said, “Here we dig!”
“What made you decide the mound was mouse-made?” asked Tillary Quinn.
“I noticed that the grass on the mound grows evenly and thickly everywhere but at the center. There it’s thin and patchy, which is not Mother Nature’s way. I deduced that the mound must be mouse-made. When we dig, we’ll learn what’s beneath the rise.”
He told each of us where to begin digging, and we went to work.
Two hours went by, then three. We kept at it. Our spades turned up nothing but black volcanic soil, even though the trench we had dug was now waist deep. Basil stood up above, directing us.
Suddenly my shovel scraped against a hard object.
“Basil!” I shouted. “I’ve struck something!”
He jumped into the trench and told us all to dig carefully at that spot, so as not to damage whatever lay beneath.
Gradually our shovels uncovered something which we soon saw was the top of a gigantic marble head. Excitedly we dug deeper. Next we beheld enormous eyes, a tilted nose, and smiling lips.
“It’s Elotana, Goddess of Goodness!” I cried.
We stood in the trench looking in awe and wonderment at the beautiful head sculpted in creamy marble. Elotana had always been the supreme god-figure in ancient Euphoria. Here was proof positive that Euphorian mice had come to Kataarh. Our work would fill many blank pages of mouse history, and I felt proud yet humble to be part of it all.
Basil echoed my thoughts. “My friends, exciting discoveries are waiting to be made! The world of mice will long remember what we do here. Look at this head—the perfectly formed lips, the lifelike appearance. It’s a work of art, of classic Euphorian design. Elyod maintained his own high artistic standards on this remote isle. I am certain he bettered the lot of the mini cats he found here, taught them to read and write and enriched their lives. How sad that a volcanic eruption destroyed everything!”
“Are you certain of this?” asked Julian Wolff.
“Yes. Yonder volcano, sleeping now, became a fearful thing that spewed forth the red-hot liquid rock called lava. Flowing down the slopes of the volcano, the lava dragged along with it earth and rocks and water. It poured down the mountain, covering everything in its path. Thus was Elyod’s city destroyed, buried under a river of lava and debris that crept on, filling fields, homes, the palace, until all was lost to view. When lava cools, it hardens and becomes solid, sealing off whatever is trapped underneath. Since that time other eruptions may have buried the city even more deeply. In Italy, where men excavate the buried cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum, more is learned about ancient times than ever was written in books. Here on Kataarh we mice shall dig down through the lava until a lost mouse city once more sees the light of day!”
Stirred by his dramatic words, we reached for our tools, but he put his paw to his lips for silence.
“We are not alone!” he whispered.
We turned around. Kneeling before the head of the mouse goddess were about thirty mini cats!