Page 17 of Riches Beyond Measure (Golden State Treasure #3)

Eleven

Tilda’s father and sister turned up later that same day. Annie hoped they had no plans to stay at the ranch. The house was full.

It turned out they were there to examine the latest find, hoping the artifacts could be added to the museum. Carl Cabril was a direct descendant of Captain Cabrillo, the Spanish ship captain who’d been among the first Europeans to explore the California coast.

It was believed that one of Cabrillo’s ships had been blown off course into the fog surrounding San Francisco and had sailed inland by way of a river, now vanished.

The explorers became stranded, lived out their lives in California, never to return to Mexico to be reunited with their fellow Spaniards who were busy rampaging through Mexico.

Annie liked to believe the explorers were happier not rampaging, but it was possible they’d just been stranded and died before they could go back south.

Tilda came out of the house. The whole ranch was much less regimented in the summer. The children, now playing, would need to be fed and cared for, but their lessons were halted this time of year.

With the school year ended, the three older children who wanted to be teachers were put in charge with only minor supervision.

Another of the older teen girls planned to marry one of the Hart cowhands, and there would be a cabin available for them soon.

Between rebuilding Harriet’s house, a guesthouse, and a new cabin for the young couple, Annie couldn’t help but wonder just how many houses they were going to have to build.

The list kept getting longer, it seemed.

Tilda rushed up to Maddie, and the two hugged. Tilda whispered something into Maddie’s ear. From Maddie’s squeal and sudden tears, Annie was quite certain it was the news that she was expecting a baby. Tears seemed to be the poor sensitive woman’s response to most things.

Despite the crying, Maddie had a big smile on her face when their father joined in with the chattering and crying. Annie was happy to see Tilda truly had a family beyond the Harts.

The threesome walked toward Michelle’s laboratory.

Annie, curious about the objects that had been found most recently, went along to hear what Professor Hardy had determined regarding them.

Annie followed close behind Tilda. Her father got the door for her. Hardy, Rombauer, and Cord were studying the steel pieces, with Lock and Thayne close by and listening to every word.

Professor Hardy lifted a small hoop. “This appears to be the remains of a barrel.”

Annie had wondered that exact thing.

“And this disk looks to be the lid to a kettle or a small pot. The Spaniards of this particular era liked to drink coffee, so perhaps it’s the lid to a coffeepot.

Of course, coffee was still rare in Europe at the time and not greatly consumed.

Coffee didn’t come to the Americas until the seventeen hundreds.

The conquistadors might have brought coffee beans along, but I’d say it’s more likely the lid to a teakettle. ”

A lid . She thought Lock looked unimpressed, but then he wanted everything to be either gold or some kind of weapon.

Professor Hardy lifted a small piece of metal that Josh had carried on the ride home. It was irregularly shaped, reminding Annie of a sheriff’s star. Yet she doubted that explained much as to what it really was.

“If you look close,” Hardy said, running his thumb over the strange object, “it is etched with a picture. It could be a decorative badge or button to honor the king of Spain or perhaps Cortés himself.” The professor’s eyes glowed with excitement.

“We’ll compare this to pictures of Charles I, who ruled Spain during the time of Cabrillo’s expedition.

If it’s not King Charles, it’s very likely Cortés.

We have pictures of Cortés in his later years, but none before his return to Spain. This could be a monumental find.”

Annie was having a hard time getting excited about it, but she tried to let the archeologist’s enthusiasm infect her.

Studying the object, Hardy continued, “The flat, curved steel reminds me of the protective shield worn around the wrist that we saw with the armor.” He turned toward the reassembled suit of armor, his eyes alight.

Lock and Thayne stepped to the far side of the room and started whispering together.

Annie thought that if a piece of armor was at the site by the well, it made sense for the dagger to be there.

Lock didn’t produce the dagger. He’d probably hidden it under his bed in his room over the doctor’s office.

Annie moved to stand beside them. “Is Ellie all right? Brody didn’t think she was in any danger when they stayed behind, but he wanted her resting instead of going on a hard ride for days.”

“She’s fine.” Thayne’s brow furrowed. “Brody is watching her close. He’s not here right now because he has a cowpoke with a nasty cut on his arm that needs stitching up.”

Professor Hardy took the curved steel to the laid-out suit of armor. He held it beside the wrist guard and compared the two pieces. Annie could see from where she was that they were the same.

“When can we go out there again, Aunt Annie?” Lock asked. “We’re ready to ride.”

“I was away from Caroline for three whole days. So I’m not ready to leave the ranch just yet.”

“Is she upset?” Thayne gave her a very mature, concerned look.

“She seemed fine this morning. Michelle and Zane took good care of her while I was away. I think I missed her more than she missed me. I do want to go treasure hunting again, boys, but not quite so soon.”

“It is not ‘treasure hunting,’ Mrs. Lane.” Dr. Scold had overheard her. “It is a very important archeological research trip. Artifacts like this one”—he held up the steel wrist guard—“are more valuable than gold.”

Annie couldn’t miss the extremely skeptical look she saw on Lock’s face.

“I don’t suppose it would do to bring my daughter along next time? Caroline would enjoy digging in the dirt.”

Dead silence filled the room. Even Professor Hardy looked up from the artifacts to stare at her.

With a shaky voice, Thayne said, “Honestly, Annie, if it hadn’t been for Lock falling off a cliff on our first treasure hunt, and Brody getting shot on the one after that—”

“It’d probably be all right,” Cord said, cutting Thayne off. “We’re at the end of my map now, so we won’t be riding through unknown wilderness with no trail, getting clawed at by brambles and scraggly pines. We found a much better route there.”

“And as far as we know,” Lock added, “no one’s trying to kill us and steal the treasure anymore.”

“No one is trying,” Thayne said, “except someone did steal that armor only a few days ago. Whoever did that may still be around.”

“Caroline is absolutely not allowed to go.” Sweet-natured Tilda seemed to have no trouble finding her voice. “The wilderness is no place for a child.”

Annie narrowed her eyes at her sister-in-law. Tilda had certainly gotten spunky since she’d married Josh. Or maybe she was simply right.

“I’ll be staying right here on the ranch, Annie.” Tilda cast a derisive look at the little hunks of steel they’d dug up on their last trip. “I’ll watch her. The only thing is...”

Annie braced herself. “What?”

Tilda gave a little shrug, “I don’t think Josh wants to go again. Not for another week at the very least. He didn’t like leaving me alone when I was feeling poorly. Can you all wait a week or two?”

“No, we cannot.” The professor plunked his hands on his hips.

“We’re not waiting that long,” Lock said firmly.

“We’ve got to finish this.” Thayne’s posture looked as immovable as a boulder.

Cord looked around the room until his eyes landed on Annie. “Do you think you can get us there?”

“I need a few more days to prepare, but, well...” Annie cleared her throat to force the words out.

They were no more than the truth, but were they wise words?

“Yes,” she finally said, “I can get us there.” Then her eyes landed on Hardy and his assistant, Rombauer.

Could she trust them? Were they honorable men?

That remained to be seen.

Once they got to the site and started digging, bringing up more artifacts, how could she be sure that Hardy and Rombauer wouldn’t just try to take the objects for themselves?

Surely he couldn’t make a reputation for himself, showing off three-hundred-year-old artifacts without talking about where they’d come from.

And if he stole them and displayed them and talked about where they’d come from, that was as good as a confession, wasn’t it?

Still, something about all of this didn’t sit right with Annie. Which probably wasn’t a good enough reason not to go. “We’ll leave next Monday morning,” she stated. “First light.”

“That’s half a week away,” Hardy growled. “It’s too long to wait.”

“You teach at the University of the Pacific, is that right, Professor Hardy?”

His thick white brows lowered to the level of his gold-rimmed glasses. “You know I do.”

“Go back there,” said Annie. “You and Mr. Rombauer are no longer welcome to stay on this ranch. I’m not listening to your complaints for one more minute. I don’t want to see you and your assistant again until Monday morning. Understood?”

That shut him up good. He glowered at her, the color rising in his cheeks, but he didn’t argue.

“You can travel to town with us, Professor Hardy,” Carl Cabril said with a welcoming tone.

Cabril had been a successful businessman back in New York City.

It was clear he knew how to handle difficult situations.

Carl went on. “Stay in the hotel and spend time in the museum. My daughter and I have been writing about what’s been found so far.

We’ve been living in the hotel while our new house is being built.

We’ve written about the history of Cortés and Cabrillo, my ancestor, and these Spanish artifacts discovered in the wilderness of California.

You would be a big help to us if you’d read what we’ve written and add your knowledge to ours. ”

Professor Hardy nodded at Carl, clearly appreciating someone who gave him such respect, even if everyone but Hardy knew Carl was just trying to get the man off the ranch before he was kicked off.

“Thank you, Mr. Cabril. I’d be interested in your opinion on this badge or button.

I’d like to take these few pieces into town with me.

” Hardy now spoke exclusively to Cabril, maybe because his pride was being stroked.

“Are you planning to add them to the museum collection? But first things first—this decorative badge needs to be researched.”

Annie spoke up quickly. “No decision has been made yet as to the artifacts’ permanent home.

They were found on land owned by the MacKenzies, land legally purchased by their grandfather and left to their father and now passed down to them.

So these artifacts are the MacKenzies’ property, and the decision about what happens to them will be theirs.

” She turned to Thayne and Lock. “What do you want to do?”

Lock looked a bit confused, as if the idea that he owned the objects had never occurred to him. But then his focus was mainly on gold, of which there seemed to be none since the doubloons they’d found early on.

Thayne spoke up. “We’ll need to talk to Brody first so he can see what all we have. He’s been busy all morning. If he approves, I suppose you can take the pieces to the museum—for now anyway.”

Annie nodded, then added, “I’d also like for Michelle to take a look at them before they leave the ranch.”

“Maybe she’d ride along to town with us,” Maddie suggested. “Tilda, would you want to come, too?”

Tilda gave her sister a one-armed hug. “I’d better not. My stomach isn’t that steady. But I’ll go find Michelle and tell her if she wants to see those objects, it’d better be now.”

Tilda left the laboratory with Maddie tagging along.

“Thayne and Lock, would you go talk to Brody and Ellie?” Annie asked. “Tell them everything we’ve discussed just now.”

“I’ll stay here,” said Cord. “I want a closer look at the new pieces, too.” He gave Annie a strange look that seemed to imply he didn’t want to leave Hardy and Rombauer alone with the artifacts.

That suspicion, which might only be in her head, sent a chill down her spine. She asked herself once again if she should lead this next expedition. If she did, she was definitely packing a gun just in case.