Dr. Hillebrand is the foremost archaeologist in his university's department of anthropology, where he studies the southwestern United States. The younger professors, including the department director, are getting tired of his old ways and want to shape the department as he sees fit, but Dr. Hillebrand doesn't show any signs of retiring. They notice that it seems like the distinguished archaeologist has been stealing things from the museum where he works, and they hope that they can make a case against him to the board of trustees. The director decides to send Dr. Franklin on Dr. Hillebrand's summer expedition to watch for evidence that they could use against Dr. Hillebrand. Everything goes smoothly on the expedition. Dr. Franklin feels unnecessary since most of the grad student helpers are more experienced with this field of archaeology than he is, but he thinks that this is a good thing, allowing him to carry out observation of Dr. Hillebrand. One of the students there is Fleming, a promising doctoral candidate and Dr. Hillebrand's favorite student. A few weeks into the expedition, Dr. Hillebrand announces that he'll be leaving for four days, as per his usual custom. No one knows where he goes, but it is rumored that he travels back to his first dig site for inspiration. Usually after these excursions, he returns with ideas that lead to spectacular finds. While he leaves, he places Dr. Fleming in charge, meaning that Dr. Fleming cannot follow him and observe. Dr. Hillebrand indeed travels to his first dig site, T’iiz Hatsosi Canyon. There, he unpacks the things he had collected back at the university, including old beads, feathers, and corn pollen, and he performs a ritual. He then talks to a spirit as if it were an old friend. The spirit tells him that after giving offerings for so long, he is no longer required to make one, but can still commune any time. The spirit, who used to be a Native American called the Sun's Forehead, gave him advice about where to dig. Then they talked about their personal lives, and Dr. Hillebrand said that he was getting old and was about to be kicked out of his position. The spirit told him that he could become a spirit and leave his troubles behind, and they would be together since the spirit had been initiating the archaeologist into his community for forty years. The archaeologist agrees. His body is found six days later after he apparently died of heart failure. Because they move the professor's body to a cemetery, his is separated for a time from his spirit friend. The young Fleming eventually gets his PhD and gets a position at Harvard, but he still returns to his old mentor's grave and performs the communing ritual, thus inheriting Dr. Hillebrand's knack for making spectacular discoveries.