7A young father gets lost in the mountains and meets a mysterious stranger. Nostromo the Dwarf is a rough man with good manners, a bad temper, and the ability to talk to animals. He tells the young father the wondrous tale of his perilous trip to the mountains in the colonial past, of a ghost and storms and desert islands and abandoned riches and of creating a new life in the New World. But where is he from and why is he here? This fantastical tale--like its hero--is both adventurous and gentle, far-reaching and home-spun.