With yet unhealed wounds from recent combat in SE Asia, John Moore undertook an unexpected walking tour in the rugged Scottish highlands. With the approach of a season of freezing rainstorms he took shelter in a remote monastery-a chance encounter that would change his future. The dangers he encountered among the lost men in that dangerous other world, secretive men who sought permanent anonymity in the perils of work deep underground-a brutal kind of monasticism itself-challenged both his endurance and his sense of humanity. With sensitivity and delightful good humor, Moore explores the surprising lessons learned in these strangely rich fraternities of forgotten men-a brotherhood housed in crumbling medieval masonry, and one shared in the unforgiving depths of the gold mine.