Page 4

T hree

Josh led the way into the house to find supper ready and both MacKenzie boys at the table with their journal between them as well as a stack of the papers they’d found when they discovered their grandpa’s body.

The pair were looking at each other and whispering, clearly not interested in sharing what they were reading.

And since Josh wasn’t all that interested either, he let them go on whispering.

He pulled out a chair for Tilda in an act of good manners that surprised everyone.

Annie, carrying a bowl of what smelled like chicken and noodles to the table, noticed and arched one brow at him before smirking and getting back to serving.

Josh took the seat next to Tilda, across from Thayne and Lock. Michelle was beside Tilda, near Zane, while Annie took the other end of the table, with Caroline around the corner from her, beside Thayne.

“Is that the book you were talking about?” Michelle’s eyes were riveted on the old leather book as she set a plate of biscuits on the table before taking a bowl of mashed potatoes from Zane. This was his and Josh’s favorite meal, and it took a while to cook up the chickens and make the noodles.

Lock nodded, picked up the journal, and handed it to Michelle.

“It’s been torn. That’s how we found out there was a map glued under the paper on the inside cover of the book.

That map’s been hidden there all these years.

We followed about half of it before we located the cave where we found Grandpa’s body. ”

“You found your grandfather’s body in a cave?”

Lock nodded. “Brody recognized his hat and the blanket he had with the MacKenzie clan colors.” Lock reached for the bowl of chicken and noodles.

“Let’s say a blessing first.” Zane beat Josh to suggesting it.

Zane was quick about the prayer, including asking God for His blessing on Ellie’s new marriage.

“Were you boys upset about finding his body?” Zane asked.

Thayne and Lock exchanged glances. Thayne said, “I think Brody might’ve been a little. Grandpa was long gone for years before we were born. It was strange being in a cave with the skeleton, but it didn’t seem sad really. Not to us.”

Thayne looked at Tilda. “Is that bad, Miss Tilda? We should’ve spent a bit of time paying our respects, or at least given Brody time for that. Miss Ellie said—”

Lock elbowed him. “It’s Mrs. Mackenzie. In fact, she’s our sister now.

We should call her Ellie.” Lock looked around the table.

“You’re our family, too. It was mostly just Ma and Brody when we were growing up.

Pa was gone all the time. We got that journal sent to us from Grandpa thirty years ago.

Pa ran off hunting for the treasure. We think Grandpa mailed the book to us at the same time he mailed the other half of the map to Mayhew Westbrook.

” He nodded at the journal Michelle held.

She’d stopped studying it while Lock and Thayne spoke of their grandpa and having a new family.

“I’m Aunt Michelle now. Do you think we should bring your grandpa’s remains here to the ranch? We’ve got a family graveyard.”

She looked at Zane, who said, “That’s a good idea.”

Thayne nodded. “Brody talked of doing that, but we had to abandon Grandpa and our plans for treasure hunting after the shooting trouble. But we’ll go back someday. I agree we should bring Grandpa’s body home.”

“Except,” said Lock, “Brody still plans to move back to Boston.” He kept talking as he dished up his food. “I’m sure gonna miss him.”

“Ellie’s moving to Boston?” Zane sat up straight, frowning.

Josh still hoped Brody could be persuaded to stay, so he set aside that worry and concentrated on the chicken and noodles, which smelled mighty good. Josh dug in while Lock told his story.

“We found more papers with Grandpa.” He waved a few old, yellowed papers.

“Including the information that this is only half the map. He sent the other half to Mr. Westbrook, who most likely loaned him money. The map was hard to make sense of, and we weren’t to the end of it when we were attacked.

We ended up abandoning our search because Brody was hurt, and we had outlaws to take to Sheriff Stockwood. But we plan to go out there again.”

Now that Josh had eaten a few good bites of his meal, he felt ready to talk.

“Brody thinks his grandpa deliberately used confusing words and pictures, almost like a code, in case the journal fell into someone else’s hands.

He found some kind of treasure, and the journal looks like a part of it.

Ellie was sure it wasn’t like the normal paper you’d buy in a general store, so we suspected it might be part of his treasure.

He had a dozen or so of the gold doubloons, too.

It’s possible that was all the gold there was, but there must be something left, or why mail the journal off?

There was an old knife with Graham, too. ”

Michelle studied the book. “What’s this on the front, an X cut into the leather?”

“That’s a Cruz de Borgona ,” Tilda answered.

Every neck in the room swiveled to look at her.

“Cross of Burgundy? What is that?” Michelle always wanted to know more.

“The Cruz de Borgona is an old Spanish flag.”

Josh nodded. “I’ve seen it. Some Spanish ships still sail under it. How old is it?” He looked again at the barely visible X etched into the leather.

Tilda shrugged. “The exact date is hard to pin down, but the current flag of Spain was adopted close to one hundred years ago.”

“And Captain Cabrillo sailed up the Californian coast how long ago?” Michelle asked.

“Was it three hundred years? Spain would have been using the Cruz de Borgona as a national symbol at that time. Cortés, who stayed in Mexico while Cabrillo sailed the coast, would have done his exploring and conquering under that flag.”

A moment of silence descended on the table. Finally, Lock said, “You both need to study the journal, Miss Tilda and Uncle Josh.” He grinned when he said the second name. “And Aunt Michelle, there are other Spanish language phrases in there. You need to study it, too.”

Annie, who’d been eating and making sure Caroline finished her meal, looked up and down the table at Zane. “I guess we’re not going to get an assignment.”

Zane smiled. “I’ve got a ranch to run. I’m not interested in a treasure hunt.”

Annie tilted her head. “I wouldn’t mind treasure hunting. It’s more interesting than teaching school.” She sounded envious. “I suppose Caroline is a little young for treasure hunting, though.”

“Tilda, you’re meant to be a teacher,” Michelle said with urgency. “You know a lot of important history. The children would sense how much you love the subject, and they’d be drawn to want to know more.”

Tilda studied Michelle for a moment, then turned her gaze to the book.

“I think I’ll send a telegraph to Mrs. Worthington, the lady who runs the orphanage I worked for, and tell her I plan to stay out here.

If I find I have no skill for teaching, I can see if they need more help at the Child of God Mission where you found me, Michelle. ”

“Sister Agatha always needs more help. But I very much believe you’re going to fit right in at our school.”

“Since Beth Ellen got married—” Annie began.

“Who’s Beth Ellen?” Lock interrupted.

Annie slapped herself gently on the forehead.

“Sorry, that’s what we always called Ellie when she was young.

I still lapse into it sometimes. Before Ellie got married, she was helping Brody at the doctor’s office.

We really are shorthanded, Tilda. I teach, and Caroline is of school age, so I can be there all the time.

Several of our older students are interested in being teachers, but they’re too young still to take it over full time.

We’d appreciate the help. And you’ll earn a regular teacher’s salary, besides having a room and meals provided.

Oh, and the position includes seeing that things are in order in the girls’ rooms and helping with meals by being an adult presence in the dining room. ”

Tilda nodded. “How do I send a telegraph?”

“We can send a wire from right here on the ranch.” Josh spoke between bites. “We haven’t got an official telegraph office, but Michelle knows how to tap out the message.”

“Let’s send a wire, then. I can assure Mrs. Worthington that the boys are safe and have found a good situation and they’ve reunited with their older brother.

” Tilda’s eyes narrowed as she looked between Thayne and Lock.

“An older brother you never told us about, by the way. You claimed to be orphans.”

“We wanted to head west, and we figured we could ride along part of the way with the orphan train without having to buy our own tickets. We didn’t have any money.”

“I’ve just realized why you boys would act up every time we’d have adoptive parents come and meet you. You made very sure no one would want to take you. Two healthy, mostly grown boys should have been adopted right away.”

Thayne slugged Lock on the arm. “Lock whispered things to anyone who showed interest to scare them.”

“What kind of things?”

Lock snickered. Thayne closed his eyes and shook his head and fought to keep the smile off his face.

“Lock! What did you say?” Tilda’s voice rose a notch.

“I might’ve, um, told one of the potential fathers I could make whiskey. He could help me set up a still, and we’d make a fortune.”

Tilda dropped her face into both hands.

“And you asked one very sweet lady how much money she thought they had in the bank and if the man who owned the bank carried a gun with him to work.” Thayne slugged him again. “He told another man that he’d run off from his girl back east, so he wouldn’t have to—”

“Don’t tell her every single thing.” Lock hit him back, and his cheeks pinked until Josh had to wonder just what the kid had said. He was only fourteen.