The Moonlit Road - Chief Sawnee's Gold

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For hours it seemed, Tom drove Bill's truck up the curvy, two-lane road that led up into the highest elevations in North Georgia. The lights from town disappeared, and soon they were enveloped in darkness, alone on the road, with only the intensely bright stars above keeping them company. In fact, Tom had never seen stars so beautiful and bright. Or perhaps he was always too busy to notice them. Maybe those Cherokees back then didn't have it so bad after all, he thought to himself.

"There it is!" Bill suddenly screamed. Tom slammed on the brakes and looked where Bill was pointing. On the side of the road stood a wooden, unoccupied lean-to with a big black pot inside. A crudely painted sign nailed to a tree above it read BOILED P-NUTS $1.00. Tom rolled his eyes - these tourist traps were a dime a dozen up in the hills, especially in the fall when the leaf watchers drove up in their shiny SUVs from Atlanta. Tom looked at the map scrawled on Bill's napkin. Indeed, the Chief had drawn the peanut stand with a long dotted line behind it, indicating a dirt road.

Tom turned onto the dirt road behind the peanut stand and plunged deep into the dark forest. For several miles, the dirt road was in surprisingly good shape. But then it suddenly worsened, with Tom's truck rocking violently in the deep ruts. Thick clouds of dust blanketed Toms' headlights, obscuring what little of the road he could see. It was obvious that no one had been down this old hunting road in years. Tom was just about to turn around when the road suddenly dead-ended into a thick, impenetrable wall of old-growth trees. Bill looked at the map clutched in his sweaty hands, grinned and said, "We're here!"

Where's "here," Tom thought to himself as they exited the truck. The woods surrounding them were pitch black and silent, save the loud crickets that seemed to be everywhere. Tom followed Bill as he plunged into the old growth forest, the trees wider and taller than anything he had seen before. The ground rose up steeply before them, and all the beer Tom had consumed that night quickly perspired from his body. He was now totally sober, wondering what in the world they were doing out there.

Panting and exhausted, Tom rested against a tree. After a few minutes passed, he noticed that Bill's flashlight beam had disappeared. He called out Bill's name, but only the crickets answered him. "Bill?" he called out again, but there was still no answer. Now worried, Tom cried out as loud as he could, "Bill!!"

Bill's faint voice drifted back from somewhere in the darkness. "Hey, man! I'm over here! Look over..."

"YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!! "

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