Page 15 of Riches Beyond Measure (Golden State Treasure #3)

Ten

They rode out the next morning with Josh leading, Lock and Thayne begrudgingly following. Just as before, Annie with Cord brought up the rear, each carrying an artifact. Though it was a small treasure find, it came with the tantalizing prospect that there was likely more to be found.

“As soon as we get home,” said Annie, “we’ll send for the archeologists. Professor Hardy is sure to hop on the next train and head straight to the Two Harts.”

“Last time Hardy visited, he ate us out of house and home, and that assistant of his was worse than him,” Josh said as he lifted the iron disk he’d found. He turned it back and forth in one hand while guiding his horse with the other.

A plate maybe? Annie found herself as curious about the strange disk in his hand as she’d been when studying the armor.

“What was the assistant’s name? He’s an odd duck.

” Cord remembered he was a big man—not fat, but solid.

He seemed too old to still be someone’s assistant, probably in his forties or fifties.

The man wasn’t a professor himself. It appeared that mostly he was there to carry things for Professor Hardy.

“It was ‘Rumbum’ something or other, I think.” Cord had had a tough time deciphering the man’s heavy accent. “He spoke to Gretel in German, remember? She might remember his name.”

“Professor Hardy isn’t going to be happy with us,” Annie said.

Josh chuckled. “I’m not looking forward to being scolded again, especially by a man I wouldn’t trust to watch my cows.” He held up an oddly shaped bit of steel, the artifact he’d dug up, staring at the thing as if trying to make sense of it.

“Josh, are you leading us down a different trail than the one we rode in on?” Cord asked. Much as he disliked admitting it, he felt as though they’d somehow gotten turned around in the woods.

“Yep, we’re riding straight to Cornerstone, where Ellie, Brody, and your grandpa Mayhew found the paperwork for Graham’s land claim.

It took a little time finding this trail from the direction we came, but once I found it, I realized we were closer to town this way.

We’ll get home fast now that we’re on a better trail.

My guess is, Graham rode into the area from this same direction.

He must’ve found something along the way that led him to those graves.

Remember the words etched on the back of that first shield we found?

Anyway, we’re gonna cut a full day off our trip home. ”

“Do you think if we dug deep enough, we might find what remains of that ship?” Lock asked, looking back longingly.

“Dunno. But don’t worry, Lock—we’ll go back there as soon as we can.” With that, Josh picked up the pace, guiding them along the narrow trail.

A trail Cord could hardly make out.

“What we found back there is just the beginning of a job that could take years,” Annie said.

“If there is a ship down there, we’ll have to dig for a long time to reach it.

And to do it right is a painstaking business.

Best to leave it to the archeologists. It’s about more than just finding artifacts.

Hardy wants to study the people who first came here, to learn more about them and the time they lived in. ”

Cord looked at Annie, then at Josh. “Remember how the chuck wagon fell into that crack when the earthquake rocked us?”

They both nodded.

“Did you try to haul the wagon back up, Josh? Have you gotten a good look at the crack?”

“No, I haven’t,” Josh replied.

“I wonder how far down it fell. Is the wagon visible? Is the crack still open, or did the ground swallow the chuck wagon whole and then close up? Because maybe the ground did the same to that ship.”

“I’ve had the same thought myself.” Annie looked over her shoulder and smiled at him.

“If that’s the case, who knows how far down into the earth the ship might’ve fallen?” Cord sighed. “Hunting treasure is an adventure, but I can’t give years of my life to this. None of us can.”

Annie nodded. “It’s clear that people who know what they’re doing should be the ones to dig up that site ... and that’s not us.”

Josh urged his horse along a little faster. “If I’m gonna work this hard, I’d as soon be branding calves back on the ranch.”

They’d arrived home from a different direction.

They usually rode to the ranch from the east, but they’d ridden so far north and west, they’d ended up passing through Dorada Rio.

It turned out the Cornerstone trail was easy to follow, the going smooth enough that Josh had decided to stick to it.

That cut a full day off their painstaking trek through the wilderness.

“Uh-oh, looks like Professor Hardy is already here and waiting for us.” The professor’s shiny buggy sat unhitched outside the barn. Annie resisted the urge to act like a naughty schoolgirl and hide somewhere. “We probably shouldn’t have done any digging.”

“Michelle must have mentioned in a wire to him that we were out searching for treasure. Or maybe she told him about the suit of armor that was stolen.”

Cord added, “I’ll bet anything he plays with the dagger and swords, too.”

Annie narrowed her eyes at the cranky old coot. “He’d die before he’d admit it, though.”

They rode into the ranch yard just as the sun dipped toward the horizon. She doubted they’d planned on having extra mouths to feed, but they’d come up with something.

“Aunt Annie”—Lock tended to use kinship words like Aunt and Uncle when he was trying to get his way or dodge trouble—“you know we were only guessing about the well. We had to do some digging before we were ready to come back for help. We all talked it over, remember? And we quit digging a whole lot earlier than I wanted to.”

“It was a good guess, wasn’t it?” Annie straightened her spine.

Yes, they’d needed to be sure. True enough, they discussed it, and she agreed to what they’d decided together.

And now she’d stand up and face whatever scolding came her way.

She wasn’t in the mood for this. It’d been a long day, one spent on horseback.

She was exhausted with little patience left. She might just scold back this time.

“Why is he here?” Lock sounded annoyed, as if he might just do some scolding of his own.

“He’s been around the ranch plenty lately.” Josh led the way toward the barn.

“I’m hiding the dagger inside my shirt.” Lock looked around. “We lost the other one; we need to be careful about flashing this one around.”

“Good idea,” Josh said. “We’ve got a few other objects we found to show Professor Hardy. He doesn’t need to see everything.”

They all dismounted and saw to their own horses. Annie noted that Thayne and Lock did their fair share. Those two were growing up.

Josh clapped Lock on the back. “Come to the house for supper. Brody and Ellie are probably asleep by now. No sense waking them.”

As they headed for the house, Josh muttered, “Hardy is going to want to turn right around and head back to the site of the treasure. Which means I’ll have to lead another treasure hunt. None of you could find that spot.”

“I could.” Annie locked eyes with Josh. “I’m sure now that I could ride straight to it.”

He nodded, then said, “I wonder how Tilda is feeling?” He hadn’t liked leaving her before. Now he seemed to be considering letting Annie be the trail guide.

She was a little bit sorry she’d offered. It flickered through Annie’s mind that Josh was tougher than anyone else in their group. She didn’t like the idea of riding into the wilderness without him.

“I hope she’s resting. I shouldn’t have left her for so long.” Josh strode toward Professor Hardy, who was pacing outside the back door.

The man had rather thick white hair. He wasn’t a big man, but he looked like he was in decent shape.

He had on a white shirt with its sleeves rolled up to his elbows.

He wore round glasses with gold rims, and he had his arms crossed.

Suddenly the professor stopped his pacing to focus on what they all carried.

Each of them had an artifact in hand, all except Lock who’d hidden his dagger.

“I told you not to dig. I told you—”

Josh walked right past Hardy and through the back door, intent on finding Tilda.

The finicky professor sputtered, then turned his eyes on Lock. “I could have learned a lot from—”

“Stop scolding us like we’re your students who need a good grade, Professor,” Cord snapped. “It’s our treasure, the MacKenzie family, and we handled it as we saw fit.”

Lock and Thayne walked on past the man, who had his jaw clamped shut now.

Annie couldn’t hold back a grin. “We found the way to the end of the Westbrook half of the map. We didn’t know if we would find anything there, but we dug very carefully just in case.

After we found a couple of things, we stopped digging and rode back home to get your assistance.

So are you gonna stand there and fuss like a mama hen whose chicks won’t stay put, or are you gonna stay calm and let us tell you about it? ”

Professor Hardy got a rueful look on his face. “I much prefer dealing with students who do what I ask in exchange for a good grade. It’s entirely possible I treat all people like that.”

It was the closest to humble he was likely to get.

“We’re starving, Professor. Come on inside and we’ll scrounge up a meal while we tell you about what we found.” Cord patted Hardy on the shoulder by way of turning him toward the back door of the house.

They spent the next half hour eating and telling their story of the treasure hunt. Much to Hardy’s disapproval, Josh didn’t share much of anything. Instead, he’d scarfed down his food, and then he and Tilda got up and went to their room in the house.

“I want to head back out to the dig site early tomorrow morning.” The professor fidgeted at the table, tapping his fingers, his knee bouncing. “There’s more to be unearthed in that spot, I’m sure of it.”