Lust for Gold Page #7

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I came on a wide ledge.

Gradually, it dawned on me that here...

the trail was in sight

but that a mine couldn't be seen from below.

And then I found the map,

the strange map carved in a stone.

This was something I hadn't expected.

I got as excited as a poker player

filling an inside straight flush.

They looked like old Spanish markings.

A sort of master map of the region.

But the doodles didn't make any sense,

because I didn't know how to read them.

Then I found that hole...

and realized it had been drilled into

the rock for some reason.

I didn't have any idea

what the reason could be...

but I picked up a stick

and began probing to try and find out.

I peered along the stick...

but its direction pointed out nothing

I hadn't seen before.

Then I discovered...

though it looked like just a single hole

on the outside...

there were actually several on the inside.

My second look didn't lead anyplace either.

But the third started bells ringing

in my head.

It pointed my eyes

at a strange kind of peak...

a startling rock formation with a window

in its top.

I felt as if Santa Claus

had just climbed down my chimney.

I began making tracks for that peak.

As I clawed and climbed my way towards

the window above...

one thought kept repeating itself.

Nobody, not Ray Covin, the Sheriff,

Bill Bates...

nobody had ever mentioned the weird map

cut in the rocks...

or this peak that had been pointed out

by the stick in the hole.

I'd discovered these things all by myself.

What I knew was top secret,

private knowledge for Barry Storm.

I felt sure that at last, finally...

I was on the express road

to the Lost Dutchman...

and my grandfather's fabulous mine...

where I'd find lumps of gold

piled up like rubble.

I was so dreamy, I figured all I had to do

was crawl through that window...

and the mine was on the other side.

But there wasn't any mine,

there was nothing.

I figured I'd crawled behind

another eight-ball.

Then I realized this arch was man-made.

It did add up to something.

And when I saw my shadow

on the valley floor...

I knew this window was the key to the gold.

My whole future was

in that square of light below.

I raced back to the wall map

to fix its location in my mind...

then got started on that last lap

to fame and fortune.

But something had changed.

It wasn't like I'd left it.

Looking for this?

Ray, what are you doing here?

- Looking for you.

- What for? Ray, I got it.

I found the window cut in the rock.

It's a sort of a light sign.

It casts a shadow that points to a spot

where the gold may be buried.

- And the spot is...

- Go on.

Of course, it may not mean anything at all.

- What did you come back for?

- Another murder.

Drop your gun belt.

You shut up fast when you thought

you'd found something.

You don't want a partner and neither do I.

You killed Buckley.

I've been looking for

that gold for 20 years, Storm.

If anybody's going to get it,

it's going to be me.

You're right about that light sign.

And some night it's going to show me

where the gold is.

Turn around.

Start walking.

We'll send a posse in after you

in a couple of weeks.

No murder here.

Your bones will show you just died

of a bad fall.

Keep walking. Right to the end.

Covin makes victim number 21.

Good thing Walter trailed you,

or you'd still be explaining this.

Too bad he didn't get up in time

to help you.

But why were you having me tailed?

I wasn't. I was after Ray.

It wasn't any accident

I sent Walter with you the first time.

Ray had a funny habit

of being out of the office...

whenever these murders happened.

And he was always so fast

locating the bodies.

I stayed behind that first time

after Covin told me to go back.

When I saw him raise his gun about to

shoot you, I knew he was the killer.

Then you've been using me

for a clay pigeon.

Kind of.

I couldn't arrest my own deputy

just on knowing.

I had to prove Covin was the murderer.

That's why I was waiting for you

to go in again.

I knew if you got too close,

he'd have to make a pass at you.

Well, let's get going.

I want to be out of here before dark.

I'm not going with you.

I got a date up there tonight.

Mind a little company?

Ought to be kind of interesting...

watching a man just dig up $20 million.

All I'm waiting for is that full moon.

When it comes through that window...

it'll light up the patch of ground

where I'm to dig.

That's all I'll need.

Look at it.

I'm standing right in the centre of it.

Right here.

This is where I dig.

My grandfather's gold.

$20 million worth.

It's moved.

It was here, that square

light. Now it's there.

You hadn't figured on that, Storm?

You forgot the moon

and earth keep moving.

At this rate, you'll have to dig up

the whole mountain.

Need a bulldozer.

That earthquake changed things, too.

That's why Ray Covin never found the mine.

That's why you'll never find it.

That's right.

If it is the moon that'll point out

that gold, it'll only do it once a year.

On the anniversary of the night

the Peraltas made that sign.

That's the catch.

When was that sign made?

What night, what hour, what moment?

If I could figure that

out, I'd hit the jackpot.

And if you did,

this county would need a new sheriff...

because I'd be right there digging with you.

Come on, let's go.

Well, that's the story

as far as I'm concerned.

The whole biography of

Superstition Mountain won't be finished...

till somebody takes that gold away from her.

The treasure signs, the marker...

the light sign, they're all genuine.

Maybe you can figure out

that strange map carved in the stone.

I've got a hunch

it holds the key to the fortune.

Anyway, everything's all there

in the mountain.

And if you're interested...

you might like to know that any citizen

of the United States...

has the legal right to search for gold.

And you don't have to pay anybody

for the privilege.

If you should find Superstition's treasure,

the State of Arizona...

and the Government of the United States

will recognise your claim to it.

Like I said at the beginning...

if you'd like to pick up $20 million,

I'll show you where to look.

Well, I've shown you.

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