Cody

He'd been there already, I figured out later.

He knew exactly where it was.

The old homestead was about 200 feet into the woods from our previous cut line.

It was nothing much.

The stone foundation of a small house, maybe 20 feet by 20 feet, and part of a chimney still standing at one end.

The stones were covered in moss.

Birch trees were growing out of the foundation.

The chimney had collapsed at the top and the rubble was piled around the base.

It had been abandoned for a hundred years.

Easy.

maybe longer there was a root cellar or what had been a root cellar at one end the entrance was a collapsed hole in the ground mostly filled in with leaves and dirt you couldn't see into it the hole was maybe three feet across and angled down into the earth i stood near the chimney and looked at the root cellar hole

I had a feeling I didn't want to put words on.

I just didn't want to stand near it.

Bud was at the far corner of the foundation, looking at the stones.

He bent down and picked something up, held it in his hand for a second.

Then he put it back where he found it.

I walked over.

What'd you find?

Nothing.

Let me see.