Yesterday evening, about 5:00 PM, the Devil said to his minions, "Hey, do you all feel a cold draft in here? Somebody go up topside and check on Randy!".
Wylie Bill, Randy and I sneaked out for half a day this weekend to our latest spot - Camp Big Pile. I have to confess, a couple of weeks ago, Bill walloped me pretty badly in there. I'd dig a nail, he'd dig a bullet... I'd dig a shotgun shell, he'd dig two bullets ... I'd walk away from a clump of trees to go bottom-feed his diggings, he'd swing in behind me and dig a large cent right where I was digging nails and shotgun shells!
It was not pretty, but this kind of thing happens every now and then. But it's still no fun getting beat that badly. 24 to 11 if you must know - and he dug a button, and a large cent, and who knows what else. It was simply all about Bill that day.
Well, yesterday, it was all about Randy. Yeah, I know what you are saying right now - "No way!" ... "Randy?" ... "What the %#@*???"... "Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together... mass hysteria!"
Yes, Randy put a hurtin' on Bill and I. If I had not been there to experience every painful moment of it, I would not have believed it myself. He was like a relic-digging machine - wielding his brand new 1/2-full D-handle shovel with diamond treads (he explained to us that "This is what all of the Relic Hunters in Virginia are using now.", while scoffing at our Army-surplus trenching tools). The amazing thing is that he barely moved 10 feet the whole time I saw him - it was like magic, or something. I'll tell you all, you send a fellow to digging school up in Virginia for a week and he comes back Mr. Relic Hunter, himself. I dunno, I'm speachless (well kind of).
If you must know, I dug 12 bullets - which I thought was pretty good, (mind you, this was only a 1/2-day hunt). But Randy dug 23 bullets! Pretty amazing... it kind of makes me proud in a way ... it wasn't all that long ago that Bill and I took him to Bennettsville, NC on his first relic hunt, and watched him wander around aimlessly in farm fields, digging old coins right and left and wondering why we were finding bullets and he wasn't. I think he mannaged one fired minie ball that day, I'll grant him that. And now, it's like the Grasshopper has snatched a pebble right from my hand (I'm getting tears in my eyes, here).
And the beauty of it is that, as bad as he whipped me, he royally spanked Bill, who dug a paltry 7 bullets. 
Dig-it!