Untitled Chapter

He brought the lamp close and narrowed his eyes. Behind the crack lay another face of stone. It was not gray. It was dark yellow. Like a sun covered in dirt. Jack tapped it with the point of the pick. A fist-sized piece fell free. It was heavy. Too heavy for common stone. He held it in both hands. In the lamplight, gold grains crowded the vein and glittered like trapped sparks. Not a line. A vein. The real vein. Jack's breathing slowed. He did not shout. He did not kneel. He did not thank God. He only placed the ore in his saddlebag and said quietly, "I found it, Pa." For the next two days, Jack worked like a silent animal.