Page 46 of A Sea Captain and A Stowaway (Gentleman Scholars #7)
“It’s believed to represent a celestial alignment,” he explained, his voice taking on the quality of a scholar rather than a captain. “Specific stars that form a particular pattern when viewed from a precise location at a certain time of year.”
“Like an astronomical key,” Docila suggested, the concept resonating with her memories of the medallion and her father’s cryptic description of it.
“Exactly so,” Sidney confirmed. “We’ve seen this pattern before — celestial alignments revealing hidden locations.
In Oxford, Jasper and Faith were led to the next clue was hidden when the shadows at a specific time of day lined up exactly so.
The same phenomenon occurred in Dorset when I followed Meredith’s geographical coordinates. ”
Docila leaned forward, intrigued. “What exactly did you find in Dorset?”
“Roman ruins, just as Meredith’s calculations indicated,” Sidney explained, his excitement evident as he pulled another chart closer.
“But it wasn’t the treasure itself — it was another cache of documents, hidden for years, maybe centuries.
That’s where I discovered the truth about El Dorado, about Alvarado and his astronomical methods of concealment. ”
“So, the treasure you’re seeking now isn’t the same one your scholarly friends were pursuing,” Docila realized.
“No,” Sidney confirmed. “The original clues led us through a progression — each discovery revealed the location of the next set of documents. Oxford led to Dorset, and Dorset revealed the existence of El Dorado. But Alvarado was even more clever than our original treasure concealer. He used the same principle of celestial alignment, but on a much grander scale.”
Sidney traced his finger along the coastline on the chart.
“The historical accounts suggest he concealed the treasure’s location using celestial markers that would only be visible under specific conditions.
But unlike the simple shadow alignments we found before, this requires precise astronomical knowledge to interpret. ”
Docila’s excitement grew as the pieces began to align in her mind.
“And the medallion would guide the observer to the correct viewing position,” she added, the realization bringing clarity to memories that had seemed merely curious before. “The markings around its edge — they weren’t decorative at all. They were coordinates.”
Sidney nodded, his own enthusiasm becoming evident.
“That’s what we’ve suspected, but without knowing the exact markings...” He trailed off, then looked up at her with sudden intensity. “
“Could you recreate them? The patterns you remember from the medallion’s edge?”
Docila’s hand moved instinctively to the small leather pouch she wore beneath her dress, hidden against her ribs — one of the few possessions she had managed to save when fleeing her uncle’s house in the dark of night.
“I...” she began, then stopped, her cheeks flushing with a mixture of embarrassment and something that might have been shame. “Sidney, I need to show you something. Something I should have revealed the moment I saw that symbol on your chart.”
His expression grew wary. “What do you mean?”
Instead of answering immediately, Docila reached beneath the neckline of her dress and withdrew the small leather pouch, her fingers trembling slightly as she loosened its drawstring.
“When my father died, I managed to save a few of his most precious possessions before my uncle could inventory and sell everything. I thought... I thought they were just keepsakes, items of sentimental value only.”
She upended the pouch over the desk, and several small objects tumbled out — a compass, a few coins, and finally, with a soft metallic sound, a heavy disc that caught the lamplight and threw it back in golden gleams.
Sidney’s breath caught audibly. The medallion lay before them, larger than a crown coin, its surface worn smooth by years of handling.
And in its center, engraved with precise clarity, was the exact symbol from his charts — the three concentric circles with their intersecting line and careful markings.
“You’ve had it,” he said quietly, his voice carefully controlled though she could see the storm of emotions in his eyes — excitement, exasperation, wonder, and perhaps a touch of hurt. “This entire time, you’ve had the actual medallion.”
“Yes,” Docila whispered, unable to meet his gaze.
“I’m so sorry, Sidney. I wore it hidden, thinking it was just..
. just something to remember him by. Father never told me it was connected to anything like this.
When he showed it to me as a child, he called it his ‘key to the future,’ but I thought he meant it metaphorically — a symbol of the security he hoped to provide for me through his work. ”
Sidney reached for the medallion with reverent fingers, lifting it to examine both sides.
The metal was warm from her body heat, just as she remembered it being when her father had worn it.
Around the edge, precisely as he had theorized, were the markings they needed — notches and lines at specific intervals, each one carefully positioned to indicate degrees and minutes of celestial observation.
“The actual coordinates,” he breathed, turning the medallion to catch the light better. “Not approximations or guesses, but the precise measurements Alvarado used to establish his observation point.”
“I wanted to tell you,” Docila said in a rush, the words tumbling over each other in her haste to explain. “When you first showed me the charts, when I recognized the symbol — I should have said something then. But I was afraid...”
“Afraid of what?”
She forced herself to meet his eyes, to speak the truth she had been avoiding even in her own thoughts.
“Afraid that you would only value me for what I possessed rather than who I was. Afraid that you would see me as just another treasure hunter seeking personal gain. I wanted to earn your respect through my own actions, my own contributions, not through my father’s legacy. ”
Sidney set the medallion down carefully, as if it were made of spun glass rather than solid metal.
“And afraid that I might be connected to your enemies,” Docila continued, her voice growing smaller.
“When I learned about Blackwell, about the competition for this treasure — I didn’t know which side my father had been on, or whether revealing the medallion might somehow aid your rivals instead of helping you. ”
For a long moment, Sidney said nothing, his gaze moving between the medallion and Docila’s anxious face. When he finally spoke, his voice was thoughtful rather than accusatory.
“I understand the fear,” he said slowly.
“In your position, with the uncertainties you faced, discretion might indeed have seemed the wiser course.” He picked up the medallion again, his thumb tracing the edge markings.
“But Docila, this changes everything. With these coordinates, we can pinpoint the exact observation point. We won’t be guessing or making approximations — we’ll know precisely where Alvarado intended the celestial alignment to be observed. ”
“Then you’re not angry?” she asked hesitantly.
Sidney considered this, his expression complex.
“I’m... many things. Frustrated that we could have had this information weeks ago.
Amazed that you’ve been carrying the key to our quest against your heart this entire time.
Grateful that you’re sharing it now.” He looked up at her directly.
“But mostly, I’m hopeful. Because this —” he held up the medallion “— this is what we’ve been missing. ”
Docila felt the tension in her shoulders begin to ease. “This is what I meant about earning your trust through honesty rather than just words. I should have shown you this the moment I recognized the symbol. I should have trusted you with the truth from the beginning.”
“Yes,” Sidney agreed, but his tone was gentle rather than harsh. “You should have. But I understand why you didn’t. And what matters now is that you’re trusting me with it at last.”
He moved to spread out the coastal charts, placing the medallion beside them. “Now, let’s see what your father’s ‘key to the future’ can tell us about the precise location of El Dorado’s treasure.”
“This,” he said finally, his voice hushed with a combination of excitement and disbelief. “This could be exactly what we’ve been missing.”
He pulled another chart toward them, one marked with coastline and depth soundings rather than celestial notations.
“These markings — if they indicate degrees of latitude and longitude as I suspect — would place the observation point here.” He tapped a spot along the coast, a small promontory jutting into the sea not far from their current position.
“And from there,” Docila continued, following his reasoning, “an observer would see the stars align in the pattern shown by the central symbol.”
“When the conditions are right,” Sidney agreed. “The astronomical calculations suggest the alignment occurs only twice a year — at the spring and autumn equinoxes. We’re approaching the autumn equinox now, within days if my reckoning is correct.”
The coincidence seemed too perfect to be mere chance — that they should be in these waters, with this knowledge, at precisely the time when the celestial key might be used.
Yet Docila’s excitement was tempered by a sudden realization, a discrepancy that threatened the neat alignment of their discoveries.
“But Sidney,” she said slowly, her finger moving from the point he had identified to another location marked on the chart some distance away. “Your previous calculations placed the observation point here, nearly twenty miles south of where the medallion’s markings would indicate.”
Sidney’s brow furrowed as he compared the two locations, the discrepancy now glaringly obvious.