That evening in the bar, he asked why the white stone was there. "It's been there for a very long time, since before any of us were born, in fact, " said Mr. Betts. "People used to say that it brought bad luck ... that it was unlucky for fishing, " said another man. " why?" Asked Thomson, but the people in the bar became silent and clearly didn't want to talk about the stone any more. Thomson was puzzled.