Just now, the outsized, glaring white orb was low in the sky and the temperature was becoming tolerable. Before morning, in this dry air, it would probably drop far below freezing.
Stokely made Archer and the doctor walk ahead, at a difficult pace over the rough ground. They went willingly, however, since failure to find the jade in the next hour or so would mean spending the whole night in untrustworthy company.
The final fixing of the location was accomplished by aligning the tip of a rocky promontory resembling a human nose with a farther peak and walking directly away from it until a small ravine was encountered. The deposit was 75 yards farther on, according to the instructions, in a direction a little south of east. All four men paced it off with extended strides, ending up in a scattered configuration, with no two of them more than ten yards apart.
The men faced each other and looked about. It was a rock-strewn area similar to a dozen others they had passed through on the way here. But closer inspection revealed one difference. Here and there were piles of dry, gray bones of different sizes, some of them crumbled almost into dust.
"Looks something like an animal graveyard," said Dr. Grimwood. "But I rather imagine it's less purposeful than that, and most of them simply made the mistake of sleeping here."
"Well," said Stokely, his voice harsh and a trifle high-pitched, "where's the jade?"
He deliberately pointed his gun at the doctor, who regarded him dubiously.
"I'm sure it's here," said Dr. Grimwood, "but I really don't know much about its appearance in the natural state. They carefully avoided any mention of that on their map, you know. That map was intended for them alone." The doctor began to walk slowly among the rocks, studying them. "I seem to recall, though, hearing something about—"