Two hundred yards downslope the man laid his detector on the rocks and sat for a rest.
He waved to his wife watching over the fence from the parking area.
"Gonna twist an ankle in this stuff" , he thought.
Looking down to adjust his hat brim for the setting sun he caught a shine.
Could be worth something he thought turning the case and wondering if it was plated or not.
The fob looked rough, the chain too , but maybe after a clean up.....
Back at their room in the lodge,rented as a break from the motor home and with his reading glasses and a gentle cleaning he found detail in the lid missed before.
" Take a look hon,".
"Map?". Ya .Reckon so".
"Them triangles match the brochure of these peaks. Not as sharp as the watch shows...".
That squiggle might be the creek too..and it shows a big house and a little house with an eye in the little house.
They pulled up the locale on their laptop.
" This line on the map cuts across the point of land where the creek bends here on google earth. See that row of trees that follow the line?
This symbol , a rectangle with an arrow up and down on the north end at the creek looks like a door that goes up and down?
What door goes up and down? Must mean something else , and look here , a pair of wing dividers on the cover."
Let's see how close we can get to those houses tomorrow ,you
think?"
She smiled. "Since you ask. What do we have for roads?".
The following morning after breakfast and settling up their bill they headed out.
Twenty minutes later they stopped at a singlewide trailer with a man along side a tractor who stood when they pulled in.
" Good morning. Trying to get to the houses by the creek" the watch holder announced.
" Morning, trying to cultivate the weeds" said the man at the tractor. " Won't stay runnin".
" Dad had a 48 " said the watch holder ," first time I ever heard him cuss."
The man at the tractor laughed appreciably. " It will inspire that alright".
Battery's dead from trying and my charger is kaput".
"Got a crank?" "Ya, right here " and he pulled it from it's clip on the operating stations floor.
" You mind?" Asked the watch holder. " Be my guest".
" Hmmmm, les see here ...as he shook the shifter...neutral , kill switch on",and as he moved about ..throttle at half, choke.." say how long since you cranked it?"
"Bout an hour ago."
" Alright, I'll hit the switch off..." Then the man gave it a full crank,being careful to not wrap his thumb over the crank in case it kicked back ,then pulled the switch to on and gave it a half crank upward pull.
After it sputtered he reached to the carburetor and opened the choke halfway , then another half pull brought a sputter and catch then run then stall.
Looking at the throttle he had opened he waved the owner over.
" You're throttle is wanderin" he said reaching around behind the carb , holding the front piece of throttle plate on outer through rod and moving the choke lever itself freely to demonstrate.
" Durn it! " the owner said ," we been there before".
He pulled a screwdriver out of the little tool box on the platform, eyed the outside position of the throttle plate,moved the choke rod and tightened it down.
" Ready?" said the watch holder. " Have at it". This time the sputter held and the owner climbed into the seat.
" Follow the creek up, you'll see the ol chimbly an the springhouse. I'll make a few turns on this side of the forty an charge it up some ,then catch up wid ya's."
The watch holder turned and smiling to his wife said " grab your pack and our map we drew".
