He came out two mornings later in a faded khaki shirt, with old plates, a GPS unit, reconnaissance flags and a metal detector that looked older than the two of us. Caleb also came, especially since he was still sleeping in my free room and needed something to do besides feeling like a failure.
Harold walked the fence first.
He didn’t rush. He read the earth the way some men read the Scriptures, slowly and with the assumption that every detail mattered. He found an old half-iron pin buried near the western corner, exactly where reference was made to the 1904 survey. He found piles of stone in two turning points. He compared the fence line to the old platform. He took the course. He took notes in a small book. Caleb and I follow him as students expecting grades.
Finally, Harold stopped near the highest point of the ridge, took off his glasses and looked at the lake.
