The rest of the story.

About 9 months ago, I wrote about an old man that showed up to my house. The old man was in his 90's and said that he lived on the ranch (that I now live on) when he was a boy. I took him for a ride through the 8000 Acre ranch, and I wrote about him showing me where a man was buried from a gun fight, where people panned successfully for gold, where bandits hung out, and a hidden mine. I left the story alone because, I felt that the claims needed further investigation. I mean the guy was 90 years old and he was telling me things that happened when he was 15. I left a lot out because there was something that seemed to validate the things that he told me. If the things that he told me were true, I could never tell anyone, at least until I secured a few things. I have secured a few things so, Here is the rest of the story.
When the old gentleman stopped by my house that evening, there was something strange about him, and he said something that really caught my attention. He told me in a low voice that there were secrets on the ranch, secrets that he had, and secrets that he felt he should divulge before he died. I didn't know what to think, so I offered to listen and take him for a tour of the ranch.
As we hopped into my pickup, the old man was visibly excited, and he had a look on his face that I can't really describe. It was a smile that carried, a little worry, and a little peace. It was strange. It kind of made me wonder what I was getting into. As we drove back into the hills he told me a story. He said that when he was a boy, about 14 years of age, he did a lot of messing around back in the hills. His parents didn't like him out there because it was rumored, that quite often under the cover of the thick Cedar trees and in the rough country there were bandits and shady characters that hung out there. He said that his father rarely ventured out there, only to gather stray cattle. He said that his father would tell a story of stumbling onto 3 men gathered around a wooden box, whom, after he surprised, all quickly raised guns at him. He said the story naturally awakened his young curiosity so he started snooping around. He said that in his snooping he found that back behind "the divide" there was an unusual amount of activity. So he snooped. He told me that he was going to show me a few things, a few things indeed...
As we drove into the hills, I looked over at my new friend and noticed that he was shaking. I started to ask if he was OK, when he cut me off and pointed across a flat and to five large rocks. I had never noticed it before but they were placed with one rock exactly to the north. Another to the south and another to the east, another to the west with one flat stone in the middle. Sort of a compass. The high grass almost hid everything. He told me to drive up to the rocks. I did, and we stopped and got out of the truck. The old man hobbled to the the flat stone in the center and stood on top of it. I looked down at the flat stone and there were two grooves that had been cut into the rock. The old man carefully aligned his feet with a groove that was facing about 10 degrees north of the east stone, and began to look into the rocky hills. As he did this I noticed a grin on his face. He stepped off the rock and with his crooked finger pointed to the stone. He looked at me with a grin and told me to stand on the center stone lining my right big toe and heel with the first groove. I stepped onto the rock and aligned myself. I jokingly asked if he would like me to dance. He didn't laugh and boldly said: "look straight forward!" As I stood there looking I kind of felt silly. Who was this guy? Thoughts began to race through my mind only to be cut off by what I saw. What was that?

To be continued...