familiar sound from the edge of the trowel striking a rock. Though a

bit flat, it had a definite metallic ring to it.

She straightened and stretched her back. Strands of her dark red hair,

long and thick, shining under the glare from the Coleman lantern, fell

from under her heavy woolen cap. Her blue-green eyes mirrored skeptical

curiosity as she gazed at the tiny speck protruding from the

charcoal-black earth.

A prehistoric people lived here, she pondered. They never knew iron or

bronze.

Lily tried to stay calm, but a feeling of astonishment crept over her.

Then excitement, followed by urgency. She missed the archaeologist's

fussbudget passion for prudence. She scraped and dug furiously at the

hard-crusted soil. Every few minutes she stopped and painstakingly

brushed away the loose dirt with a small painter's brush.

At last the artifact lay fully exposed. She leaned over for a closer

look, staring in awe as it glimmered yellow under the bright white from

the Coleman lantern.

Lily had excavated a gold coin.

A very old one, by the look of the worn edges. There was a tiny hole

and a piece of rotted leather thong on one side, suggesting that it had

once been worn as a pendant or personal amulet She sat back and took a

deep breath, almost wanting to reach down and touch it.

Five minutes later, Lily was still crouched there on her knees, her mind

trying to create a solution, when abruptly the shelter's door opened and

a large-bellied man with a blackwhiskered, kindly-looking face stepped

in from the cold, accompanied by a swirl of snow. He exhaled clouds of

steam as he breathed. His eyebrows and beard were matted with ice,

which made him look like some frozen monster from a science-fiction

movie until he broke into a great toothy smile.

it was Dr. Hiram Gronquist, the chief archaeologist of the four-person

dig.

"Sorry to interrupt, Lily," he said in his soft, deep voice, "but you've

been pushing too hard. Take a break. Come back to the hut, warm up and

let me pour you a good stiff brandy."

"Hiram," said Lily, doing her best to stifle the excitement in her

voice, "I want you to see something."

Gronquist moved closer and knelt down beside her. "What have you

found?"

"See for yourself."

Gronquist fumbled for his reading glasses inside his parka and slid them

over his red nose. He bent over the coin until his face was only inches

away and studied it from every angle. After several moments, he looked

up at Lily, an amused twinkle in his eyes.

"You putting me on, lady?"

Lily looked at him sternly, then relaxed and laughed. "Oh, my God, you

think I salted it?"

"You've got to admit, it's like finding a virgin in a bor dello."

"Cute."

He gave her a friendly pat on one knee. "Congratulations, this is a

rare discovery."

"How do you suppose it got here?"

"There isn't a workable gold deposit within a thousand miles, and it