Hortons Bend

heavy object that was wrapped in an old cloth. After unwrapping, he saw it was a grooved stone axe. Ronnie raised his eyebrows and told them “This is nice…..I’ve never found one of these.” Ladge’s face wrinkled some and mumbled “I woulda found that but I went to take a piss…………yeah guess what he had found when I came back?” Jarvis smiled and told Ladge “Finders keepers buddy.” Ladge looked disappointed but looked at Jarvis “You oughta show him the other.” Jarvis cut his eyes quickly and sternly told him “Yeah, you want to tell him our favorite fishin’ hole too!” Ronnie looked puzzled and waited to say something during the uncomfortable silence that followed. Finally Jarvis looked at Ronnie and said “You know how to keep a secret boy?” Ronnie held his hands up.“Who am I gonna tell a secret to? I don’t even know nobody here in Cedartown.” Jarvis looked at Ladge and walked over to a closet in the corner. He opened the closet door and took out a cigar box from a top shelf. Walking over to a table in the middle of the room, he carefully set the box in the middle of the table. “This is what I wanted to find out about.” Jarvis opened the box and using two hands carefully lifted a padding of cotton that was lightly wrapped in gauze. As he unwrapped it, Ronnie’s eyes got a little wide. There on the cotton padding was a shell gorget which had an inscribed rattlesnake design engraved into it. “What you think of that, huh?” Ronnie just stared at the shell pendent but did not dare touch it. “Where did you get this? I ain’t never seen one except in books and they was displayed in a museum.” Jarvis smiled at this.“What do you know about it?” Jarvis asked. Ronnie stepped back and looked at them. “Not a whole lot but that they were usually found on an Indian who had a lot of power back then….like a chief or someone special.” Still staring at it Ronnie had to ask “Did ya’ll find this in a field?” “Now don’t you worry ‘bout where it came from…..why? Is it illegal to have one?” Ronnie looked at Jarvis and said “No…no I don’t think it’s against the law but it’s gotta be worth something.” Ladge chimed in“You bet yer ass beaudreaux, pronouncing it “boooo-drawww”. “Don’t you tell anybody about this now” Jarvis was quick to point out. Ronnie held his hands up and assured him “Naw man it’s yours…you don’t have to worry about me.” “Good….good. Here….let’s drink another beer and then me and Ladge got to head out to Easom Hill.” He smiled, “We got us a coupla gals who are waitin’ on us.”
    Ronnie continued working with the boys and they continued to talk a little about the different artifacts they had found. Jarvis and Ladge were alright boys but he had decided against showing them much of his collection. He just brought in a simple point or a worked flake from time to time and that seemed to keep them satisfied. During one week of work, both Jarvis and Ladge said very little to Ronnie which made him wonder whether he had offended them. When Friday’s quitting time arrived, Ronnie found them both at the bed of his truck waiting on him. “What’s going on Ronnie?” Jarvis asked. “Not much….glad it’s the weekend.” “Listen Bud…..me and Ladge are going out on a special hunt Saturday night and wondered if you might want to join us.” Ronnie looked a little puzzled and said “Jarvis, ain’t nothin’ in season right now.” “Yeah but the moon is full and we got a little diggin’ to do.” Ronnie realized what they were talking about and agreed to meet them at their cabin later that night to talk it over. He wanted to go by his Mama’s to eat dinner and then come on down.
    Ronnie pulled into the cabin driveway around 7pm and saw some oil lanterns lit. He had brought a six pack to be social about it all. The boys came out each holding a beer. They sat on the porch and Jarvis told Ronnie about a place down on Big Cedar Creek that might be a good place to hunt points. “I don’t know Jarvis…won’t they see us in the middle of the day…lotta farming going on right now.” Ladge grinned and said, ”We ain’t going during the day….we gonna go probing round midnight tomorrow night.” Ronnie looked puzzled again. Jarvis began to explain. “Ronnie what we do is take us a lantern and these metal probes out to the creek side and run them into the ground. When we hit a soft spot and the probe