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85 wasn't any grain in it. Couldn't break it—it'd flex a little. I couldn't whittle it with my pocket knife. The "string," I couldn't break it. The only reason I noticed the tinfoil (I'm gonna call it tinfoil), I picked this stuff up and put it in my chaps pocket. Might be two or three days or a week before I took it out and put it in a cigar box. I happened to notice when I put that piece of foil in that box, and the damn thing just started unfolding and just flattened out! Then I got to playin' with it. I'd fold it, crease it, lay it down and it'd unfold. It's kinda weird. I couldn't tear it. The color was in between tinfoil and lead foil, about the [thickness] of lead foil. I was in Corona, in the bar, the pool hall—sort of the meeting place—domino parlor. . .. That's where everybody got together. Everybody was askin’... they'd seen the papers (this was about a month after the crash) and I said, "Oh, I picked up a few little bits and pieces and fragments." So, what are they? "I dunno." Then, lo and behold, here comes the military (out to the ranch, a day or two later). I'm almost positive that the officer in charge, his name was Armstrong, a real nice guy. He had a [black] ser- geant with him that was real nice. I think there was two other enlisted men. They said, "We understand your father found this weather balloon." I said, "Well, yeah!" 'And we understand you found some bits and pieces." I said, "Yeah, I've got a cigar box that's got a few of 'em in there, down at the saddle shed." And this (I think he was a captain), and he said, "Well, we would like to take it with us." I said, "Well..." And he smiled and he said, "Your father turned the rest of it over to us, and you know he's under an oath not to tell. Well," he said, "we came after those bits and pieces." And I kind of smiled and said, "OK, you can have the stuff, I have no use for it at all." He said, "Well, have you examined it?" And I said, "Well, enough to know that I don't know what the hell it is!" And he said, "We would rather you didn't talk very much about it." Once again, the military's behavior contradicted its claims that nothing of consequence happened at the sheep ranch. Once again, the military's preoccupation with security suc- ceeded in attracting attention to something that might other- wise have gone unnoticed. CIVILIANS FIND THE WRECKAGE