"Sometimes, when crossing a pass in the mountains, one will see a pile of loose stones, even several piles. Foolish people have dug into them, thinking treasure is buried there. It is a stupid idea, to think a treasure would be marked so obviously. It is an old custom of these people to pick up a stone and toss it on the pile. Perhaps it is a symbolical lightening of the load they carry, perhaps a small offering to the gods of the trails. I never fail to toss a stone on the pile, Hannes. In my own way it is a small offering to those lonesome gods. A man once told me they do the same thing in Tibet, and some of our ancient people may have come from there, or near there. Regardless of that, I like to think those ancient gods are out there waiting, and that they are, because of my offerings, a little less lonely."
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Science fiction authors from the United StatesNovelists from the United StatesShort story writers from the United StatesPoets from the United StatesMemoirists from the United States
Original Language: English
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Ch. 8
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Louis_L'Amour
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Louis L'Amour
Louis Dearborn L'Amour /ˈluːi ləˈmʊr/ (22 March 1908 – 10 June 1988) was an American novelist and short story writer whose works consisted primarily of Western novels, which he called his "frontier stories", but who also wrote historical fiction, science fiction, nonfiction and poetry.
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