Lucas, a Black man, tells the white salesman to wait as they draw near the commissary, but the salesman protests before abruptly stopping for no reason. The salesman leans against a lot fence while Lucas enters the commissary. Lucas tells Edmonds, the landlord, that the salesman wants $300 for his machine and that they need to find the money tonight to pay him back in the morning. Edmonds says there isn’t any money buried up here but Lucas tells him white people dig up money all the time. Edmonds tells Lucas he won’t lend him money and when Lucas returns to the salesman his son-in-law, George, is there and Lucas tells the salesman to stay away from the commissary. 

The salesman, who has traveled from St. Louis, says that he can’t return without a down payment. Lucas goes to look at the machine, an oblong metal box, in the man’s car. Lucas says he and his son-in-law will find the money tonight. Then, he asks if they could trade him a mule for the machine instead and the salesman asks to see it in person. 

Edmonds notices the mule is missing that evening, but he doesn’t even curse and merely grabs his flashlight and pistol and follows the mule’s tracks on horseback with two other Black men to the creekbed. He finds Lucas carrying the machine and realizes what has become of his mule. The white salesman appears beside Lucas and says he has a bill of sale for that mule. Edmonds interrupts him and tells Lucas that if he doesn’t have the mule by the next morning he’s calling the sheriff. The salesman tells Edmonds that if he doesn’t get the mule he will call the sheriff and Edmonds leaves Lucas and the salesman to discuss the matter. 

Lucas and George set out to look for buried money to fix the situation. In the morning, they beg the salesman for an extra day and he raises the price by $25. Lucas tells the salesman that they misread the paper that tells them where the money is buried and tells the man to drive him and George to the orchard. They use the machine to locate the spot and then dig up the coins. George and Lucas start to leave when the salesman refuses to take the money for the machine, but then asks them to take him to another spot and they can have half of the coins and the machine. The salesman says they can have it tomorrow and to take back the mule to Edmonds. Lucas returns the mule two days later and tells Edmonds he’s now renting the same machine he sold to the salesman while he searches for buried money but that last night the man never showed up. He tells Edmonds he showed the man to the wrong place on purpose and Edmonds tells him to go home and never come back.