Lust for Gold Page #3

---

Oro is the word for gold.

The sunburst means the mine is near.

Now, this means 50 yards away

in the direction the snake is pointing.

Now, the only trouble is, nobody

has ever been able to find anything...

by following those signs.

- Aren't they the real thing?

- Who knows?

Who put them there?

You suppose my grandfather?

No, they're Spanish signs.

Supposed to have been cut by the Peraltas.

Peraltas. Buckley had a Peralta map.

- Had the name "Manuel" on it.

- There were three of them.

Brothers. Manuel, Pedro, and Ramon.

They were the first to find gold in here

100 years ago.

There's an old Indian legend

about them and this mountain, eh, Walter?

They opened up several of the mines

and then left.

And then Pedro, the oldest brother,

came back with a big expedition.

Walter, here, who's an Apache himself,

has heard from his own people...

the story of what happened.

After many nuisance raids by the Indians...

Pedro Peralta decided to hide his gold.

He selected the richest

and most inaccessible mine of all...

as his storage place.

It was reached through a narrow, twisted,

and almost hidden canyon...

that finally opened onto a torturous runway.

This runway was the only entrance to

and the only exit from...

the fabulous mine, located

on the thin precipitous ledge below.

While armed men stood guard...

Pedro's miners led their animals

to the dangerous ledge...

where the rough ore was separated

from that which had been crushed...

and the pure gold nuggets

were hurriedly poured into sacks...

for storage in the hidden mine.

Pedro sat just inside his mine...

and noted that he possessed

some $20 million worth of gold.

But fate had decreed

a different kind of fortune for him.

Fate, and the Apaches.

Cochise, the greatest of all Apache chiefs...

watched the lightning-like attack.

And when every Spaniard

was finally killed...

he ordered his warriors to close the mine.

You see, the Spaniards

had defiled a holy place...

when they came into Superstition...

because to the Apaches it was the sacred

home of their Thunder Gods.

It wasn't enough to just kill Pedro

and his men.

All traces of them and their work

had to be erased.

So the mine was completely closed

and hidden.

With that accomplished,

Cochise and the Apaches...

felt their Thunder Gods

were avenged and appeased.

Every mine was closed...

so efficiently that they disappeared

from view as though they had never existed.

And Pedro's $20 million worth of gold...

was buried inside the sacred mountain

from which it had been taken.

That's the legend...

as the Apaches have told it

for over 100 years.

- The Apaches buried all that gold?

- Just like in Fort Knox.

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes