Lust for Gold Page #2

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And if you look in the record book...

you'll find out 20 men have died

in this mountain since 1880.

Well, I'm through. Let's get back

to Apache Junction and some cold beer.

I was just thinking,

this all adds up to something.

- Like what?

- Four guys murdered, all in the same area...

all by a 30-30,

all in the shadow of Weaver's Needle.

So?

The killer thinks he knows

where the gold is.

When it looked like the others might find it

before he did...

when they got too close,

he knocked them off.

So the jackpot must be somewhere close.

Near that peak.

Buckley, I bet he found it.

- Found what? The mine?

- No, the marker.

He said he knew where the marker was

and how to use it.

Come on. I'll show you something.

There's your marker.

- This is what Buckley meant?

- It's the only marker in this mountain.

The rocks hammered in that old

saguaro cactus indicate three directions...

but only the one pointing north

leads anywhere, though...

to some signs carved

in those rocks up there.

It's quite a climb. Come on.

There they are.

What do they mean?

Oro is the word for gold.

The sunburst means the mine is near.

Now, this means 50 yards away

in the direction the snake is pointing.

Now, the only trouble is, nobody

has ever been able to find anything...

by following those signs.

- Aren't they the real thing?

- Who knows?

Who put them there?

You suppose my grandfather?

No, they're Spanish signs.

Supposed to have been cut by the Peraltas.

Peraltas. Buckley had a Peralta map.

- Had the name "Manuel" on it.

- There were three of them.

Brothers. Manuel, Pedro, and Ramon.

They were the first to find gold in here

100 years ago.

There's an old Indian legend

about them and this mountain, eh, Walter?

They opened up several of the mines

and then left.

And then Pedro, the oldest brother,

came back with a big expedition.

Walter, here, who's an Apache himself,

has heard from his own people...

the story of what happened.

After many nuisance raids by the Indians...

Pedro Peralta decided to hide his gold.

He selected the richest

and most inaccessible mine of all...

as his storage place.

It was reached through a narrow, twisted,

and almost hidden canyon...

that finally opened onto a torturous runway.

This runway was the only entrance to

and the only exit from...

the fabulous mine, located

on the thin precipitous ledge below.

While armed men stood guard...

Pedro's miners led their animals

to the dangerous ledge...

where the rough ore was separated

from that which had been crushed...

and the pure gold nuggets

were hurriedly poured into sacks...

for storage in the hidden mine.

Pedro sat just inside his mine...

and noted that he possessed

some $20 million worth of gold.

But fate had decreed

a different kind of fortune for him.

Fate, and the Apaches.

Cochise, the greatest of all Apache chiefs...

watched the lightning-like attack.

And when every Spaniard

was finally killed...

he ordered his warriors to close the mine.

You see, the Spaniards

had defiled a holy place...

when they came into Superstition...

because to the Apaches it was the sacred

home of their Thunder Gods.

It wasn't enough to just kill Pedro

and his men.

All traces of them and their work

had to be erased.

So the mine was completely closed

and hidden.

With that accomplished,

Cochise and the Apaches...

felt their Thunder Gods

were avenged and appeased.

Every mine was closed...

so efficiently that they disappeared

from view as though they had never existed.

And Pedro's $20 million worth of gold...

was buried inside the sacred mountain

from which it had been taken.

That's the legend...

as the Apaches have told it

for over 100 years.

- The Apaches buried all that gold?

- Just like in Fort Knox.

Didn't the other brothers, Ramon or Manuel,

ever come back?

Well, they say Ramon came back,

but who knows?

You know, I generally charge tourists $10

for telling that yarn.

The mine, where the gold is buried,

that's the one my grandfather rediscovered?

So they say. Let's push it along.

- Ray, wait a minute.

- Yeah?

Do I have to go out with you?

I'd like to stay in here a while longer.

Getting you, too? Gold-happy.

You know every tourist I tell that yarn to

has to stay in a little while longer.

- All trying to figure out them signs.

- I'm something more than a tourist.

I've got a family interest in that mine.

Well, it's all right with me.

I'll leave you some grub.

But, remember, there's a killer loose in

here. I'd hate to see you end up like Buckley.

Covin's reminder about Buckley...

took some of the excitement out of me,

but only for a minute.

The Deputy could think I was a fool

if he wanted to...

but I was determined to try my luck

at putting the golden jigsaw together.

For the next five days

I beat my brains out...

trying to make the Spanish treasure signs

pay off.

Fifty yards, they said.

I went 50 yards in every direction

but straight up.

If I'd had wings, I'd have tried that.

I began to realise

that this was no ordinary puzzle.

I finally thought that maybe

if I went over every foot of the area...

where the four men had been murdered,

I might find something.

How close I came

I didn't learn till a lot later.

I didn't know I was being stalked...

that for a moment I was a bull's eye,

a sitting duck.

Number five on the list.

I just kept going,

dreaming about being a millionaire.

The only thing I learnt was that the guy

who'd murdered Buckley...

wasn't the only killer loose in Superstition.

You don't relax right away.

You sort of coast to a stop

after a shock like that.

I was almost afraid to look at my leg.

I was sure he'd gotten me.

He hadn't, but he came awful close.

I finally started to breathe again

and shook off the shroud of fear...

the rattler had thrown over me.

I picked up my pack and started to get up.

That's when I found it buried in the ground.

When I pulled rocks loose

to throw at the snake...

I'd uncovered a part of a rifle.

Excitedly, I dug the rest of it

out of the gravel.

I didn't have any idea what kind it was,

but as I held it in my hands...

I wanted to believe

it had been my grandfather's.

Because if it was, it could mean

I was close to the lost mine.

To the gold.

Call it fate, luck, it doesn't matter.

But a rattlesnake that had tried to kill me

had led me to this old weapon.

At that moment it seemed I could

actually feel the presence of Jacob Walz...

in the unfriendly canyon.

Suddenly it was more important

to find out about this gun...

than to keep on searching for the mine.

So I decided to leave the mountain

and bring the gun to you.

- Would you know what kind it is?

- Looks like a Sharps.

- But we're interested in a 30-30.

- Yeah.

But if it is old enough, it could have been

my grandfather's, couldn't it?

- I told you he had the bug.

- Let me see it.

I think I got a Sharps here.

A Sharps. A breech-loader.

Forty-five-ninety calibre. Lots of 'em

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