The geologists were up at the crack of dawn. After a quick breakfast, they drove to the area south of Cerro de La Cruz and began their sampling in the arroyo. By noon, they had finished sampling most of the La Caja Formation. Miller could clearly see that the La Caja so far included four members: (1) a lower member, consisting of black shale with limestone concretions; (2) a thick member, consisting of thin bedded black radiolarian chert, thin beds of dark gray limestone, and dark gray shale with occasional limestone nodules; (3) a thin black shale member, with sparse limestone nodules; and (4) an upper member, consisting of dark gray siliceous shale, thin-bedded siltstone, and thin-bedded dark gray pelagic limestone. The chert, black shale, and limestone all contained abundant radiolarian microfossils. Many of the limestone samples contained well-preserved ammonites. The best exposures of the upper two members were at the cemetery and the hill to its north.
After sampling the upper part of the formation exposed at Puerto del Cielo, Miller drove the van to the hill to the north. He could see from a distance that the contact between the La Caja Formation and Chapulhuacan Limestone was exposed at the north end of the hill. As the van approached the north end of the hill, Miller was surprised to see that there were two scarecrow-like figures along the side of the hill. One figure appeared to be a man and the other a woman, each wearing a straw hat. The area that needed to be sampled was inside a fenced area that also included the scarecrow figures. The barbed wire gate to the fenced area had a doll head on each fence post.
Miller said, “This is getting a little spooky! I’m not sure what’s going on here. It sure looks like some sort of voodoo.”
It was almost dark; the sun was going down behind the hill. This made the place even scarier. Everyone was beginning to feel even more uncomfortable. They quickly collected their samples and retreated to the campsite. After a quick dinner with what food they had left, Arturo said, “We’d better turn in. Tomorrow we need to head for Torréon and get the AC fixed. We’re lucky we got this far without the damn belt slipping off again. There ought to be an AC repair place in Torréon where we can get the vehicle fixed. We’ll be lucky if they can get it fixed tomorrow afternoon. Say goodnight to your coyote friends!”
Gary said, “I already gave them the leftovers from dinner. They should be pretty happy.”
“I hope so. I don’t want to listen to them howl all night.”