Page "adventure" Paragraph 334

On her bureau lay a small, brass ornament of simple design and faded engraving -- an object which, Pamela believed now, had been the property of her great-grandfather, Major Hiram Munroe Culver.

He had belonged to this land and, perhaps, had desecrated it -- and this was the only material symbol that remained of him.

If she, Pamela, were being held responsible for his crimes, then hers must be the final act of expiation.

She would return this symbol to the mountain, as one pours seed back into the soil every Spring or as ancient fertility cults demand annual human sacrifice.