Brother Hahn, O.F.M.,
Sir, I am William Carter, late of Massachusetts, currently on sabbatical in the quaint township of Cahokia, Illinois, wherein I have taken an interest in the long extinct Indian culture that is this town’s namesake. As a result of my pursuit, it has come to my attention that you are the preeminent authority on the ancient Indian cultures of these Middle Western States, with a particular fondness for the Cahokia. I beg your indulgence.
(Also pray forgive my cheapjack penmanship. The hour is late and the lamp candle in my tent wavers uncertainly. Hypnos, that old Greek harpy, no long favors me with the blessing of Sleep. Nightmares run rampant through my thoughts, dragging restless haunts and shades behind them like so many stagecoaches.)
Enclosed find a charcoal rubbing bearing the likeness of what I believe to be a trio of Cahokian glyphs. They were inscribed into a fragment of stone obelisk found approximately one mile as the crow flies from the smallest of the Cahokia mounds, deep inside a dark and foreboding woods. Said fragment was partially unearthed within a dry creek bed, presumably pulled from its chthonian grave by the recent floods. As it was too heavy for me transport back to town on foot, I instead ripped a piece of parchment from the notebook that I always keep on my person and promptly measured a pencil rubbing of it.
Various residents of Cahokia, when pressed to explain the meaning of the glyphs, quickly bade me to contact you as their knowledge of the old Cahokian culture is charmingly limited. I also found it to be littered with superstitious inaccuracies and altogether unreliable.
Very sincerely your servant,
William Carter