Abruptly Old Stony dug a polished nugget from his pants pocket. Even in the poor lamplight, the color of gold was there.
“Wow!” War exclaimed, breathing heavily. “That makes my sample look like peanuts.”
“This nugget came from Headless Hollow?” Jack asked, relishing the old man’s tale.
Stony sucked at his pipe as he carefully replaced the metal in his wrinkled overalls.
Without answering, he resumed: “I was a young fellow in those days, strong as an ox. If it wasn’t for my bad heart and some other things, I’d go back there now and make my fortune.”
“Where is this valley of gold?”
“I can’t tell you, son. But there are men who would pay me well to know my secret.”
“If you found gold,” Jack asked, “why did you leave the valley?”
“Don’t ask me that question, son. My past is my own and, God willing, it will die with me.”
The old man turned suddenly in his rocking chair.