The group of miners, now a bit larger as the enthusiastic mood of the few spread far and wide. All the time spent indoors together, made a close pact and off they headed with tools in hand to venture into a new day.Back in the canoe, Black Hat Jack and the Goldsmith moved up stream to a creek bed they had discovered before the rains. The familiar blue black slates and schists through the creek...

The rain poured for several weeks, an unusual amount, the locals said. All the anticipation and cooped up feelings were talked over daily at Mammy's café. Goldsmith found the time began to change his outlook on these local people. What once he found to be curt, rude detachment, he began to understand as discouragement and hardships.  He thought of his own comfortable childhood, his complaints...