Was the hermit's father really a water bearer to the dying at the Civil War battle of Cold Harbor a hundred years before? Does the smithy really perform miracles, or are they just figments of Sonny's imagination?

"Ain't no answers in the past. It don't exist," the old man announces. With such sayings, the smithy baffles Sonny and challenges him to question how he thinks and acts.

"I declare, you're a caution, Sonny!" the game warden tells him at the end, having no idea the wonders Sonny has witnessed.