Page 22 of Riches Beyond Measure (Golden State Treasure #3)

Fifteen

This time Annie led the group of riders, and instead of bringing up the rear, Cord’s horse trotted along at her side.

Mr. Rombauer seemed willing and able to watch their flank.

And since Annie didn’t expect any trouble, she saw no harm in it.

Though the man rarely talked, he was strong and a good rider who seemed trail savvy.

They left the ranch by taking the shortcut through Cornerstone rather than following the trail they’d blazed past the green pool and the cave where the MacKenzies’ grandpa had met his end.

The professor rode behind Annie and Cord. Thayne and Lock came next, riding side by side unless the trail got too narrow. But it was a decent trail most of the way to Cornerstone, after which they’d start to head into the wilderness.

Annie’s feelings for Cord were so different from what she’d had when married to Todd.

Everything with Cord was new, exciting, and very sweet.

It seemed they could talk forever and never grow tired of it.

Along with her, he was now a one-fourth owner of the Two Harts.

They hadn’t really discussed where they’d end up and if he still wanted to buy a farm of their own.

That still needed to be settled, but after their romantic night together, she was well inclined to follow Cord anywhere.

In one long day, they made the trip to the site where they’d found Graham MacKenzie’s cabin.

There was enough light for the professor to see where they’d dug the last time they were here.

The men got busy setting up camp, with the professor mostly sitting and watching while everyone worked around him.

Everyone except for Mr. Rombauer, who’d gone off scouting or hunting maybe?

No one knew for certain because Rombauer didn’t say exactly. He was an overly quiet man.

Annie worked at readying a meal for the group.

Everyone was worn out and starving, and they weren’t about to wait for Rombauer to wander back to camp before they dug in.

For supper they had side pork, eggs, and biscuits, all cooked over an open fire.

They drank coffee as they ate, strong and searing hot.

When he’d finished eating, the professor went and took out a notebook and pencil from his saddlebag. He began writing feverishly, muttering about the well and the cabin. Annie thought of Graham MacKenzie and how he’d probably done the same thing many years ago.

The meal was a success, everyone talking about how delicious it’d tasted. Even the professor complimented her on it. Eventually, Mr. Rombauer sauntered back to the campsite, and Annie fixed him up a plate so the man wouldn’t go to bed hungry.

Before long, they were all resting under their blankets, with Annie tucked in warmly beside her newly rounded-up husband.

They were all asleep before full dark.

“I’ve found something!” Cord heard the scrape of his shovel against iron.

They’d risen early for the second day and had been digging carefully for hours, skimming an inch of ground away at a time.

This was in obedience to Professor Hardy’s overlong, condescending instructions earlier.

Hardy watched them all like a hawk as they dug, writing constantly in his little notebook.

The arrogant man did only a little bit of digging himself, mostly to correct the others, showing them how to use the tools and not damage any artifacts they might come across.

As they dug deeper, inch by inch, they brought Hardy the odd bits they unearthed.

He then recorded the finds with his pencil.

“Looks like it was a chest of some kind,” Cord said. “The wood’s mostly rotted away, but you can still see by the steel frame of a chest.”

Staring at the chest, Lock gasped loudly. “Is it a pirate’s chest? There could be gold coins near where you found it?” He was at Cord’s side almost instantly.

It was just as well because Cord needed help dragging the rickety thing to the surface. “No, I think it’s a chest that once held bottles, foodstuffs maybe. I can’t tell what it is, but it ain’t for storing gold.”

The others had stopped their digging, shifting their attention to Cord and the mysterious chest. He looked from Lock to Annie to Hardy and bit back the urge to roll his eyes. The word gold had a powerful effect on people.

Hardy observed intently as Cord, Lock, and Thayne lifted what was left of the fragile chest from the ground. They’d scooped out an area roughly two feet deep and ten feet square around the well. Everyone spread out around the old collapsed well to keep from whacking each other with their shovels.

Apparently, Mr. Rombauer hadn’t come along to dig for treasure.

Instead, he continued exploring the greater area, vanishing from the dig site for hours on end, then meandering his way back, always at mealtime.

Meanwhile, the rest of them had discovered dozens of pieces of steel and now the strange chest. But what Cord really wanted to discover was evidence of a long-lost ship.

“Tell us what you’re seeing here so far, Professor?” Annie asked. Her expression told Cord she was genuinely interested in knowing the man’s thoughts on the subject.

Hardy stopped scrawling in his notebook and looked up at her. “I’m not sure yet, but the chest may have held bottles of honey.” He lifted one of the bottles into the sunlight to illustrate his point, turning it slowly with his other hand.

Cord stepped closer to get a better look at it. “You know, even though the glass is dirty, I can see what you mean, Professor.”

Hardy went on to explain that there were a surprising number of things, even three hundred years ago, that could be preserved in bottles.

What was more interesting to Cord was that none of the bottles were broken.

They were still intact even after all these years.

“If the ship was involved in an earthquake, there would be a lot of shaking. And if the river suddenly dried up, the vessel would tip and probably end up on its side on muddy ground. Much of the cargo and the foodstuffs for the journey would be tossed around. If that’s what truly happened, wouldn’t these glass bottles have shattered? Why are they not broken?”

Annie took the bottle from Hardy and rubbed the dirt from its neck. “Does that mean you’re having second thoughts about the theory of the earthquake being behind the river drying up and stranding the Spanish ship?”

The professor gave them all the first real smile they’d seen from the man, at least that was Cord’s guess.

Hardy was beaming as he said, “That’s what is so very exhilarating about an expedition like this—searching for answers to questions about things and people lost to history.

And maybe, if we’re fortunate, finding some of those answers.

The past is fascinating that way.” Then the smile vanished, and he added, “Put the chest over there with the other artifacts. And be careful with it. Its remaining wood is fragile. Only the iron straps are holding it together, though not by much.”

Cord nodded, then very slowly, with Lock’s help, carried the chest the four or five paces to where they’d started the collection of iron pieces they’d dug up that day.

There wasn’t a speck of gold to be seen anywhere, much to Thayne and Lock’s disappointment.

Depending on how much was buried at this site, Cord could easily imagine the process of digging taking weeks, months, if not years.

He thought even the MacKenzies’ interest was starting to wane.

He looked over at the shield, still hanging there about fifty feet away from him.

Why had Grandpa MacKenzie hung it in that spot?

They’d dug around it some but found nothing.

They’d discovered the five graves under the other Spanish shield, so Cord couldn’t understand why this shield didn’t mark anything important.

He itched to start slinging dirt again from under the shield, this time enlarging the dig, wider and much deeper, but Hardy had insisted they go over everything at the site in a very orderly fashion. Carefully.

“Annie, come with me.”

She jerked awake. Lock knelt beside her and Cord, his back to the rest of the camp. She felt Cord stir and knew he was awake, too.

“Shhh.” Lock said nothing else, just walked away from the camp and the others who slept on, Thayne among them.

The night was pitch-dark, with clouds blocking the new moon and the stars. The woods surrounded them in all directions.

Cord stood, took her by the hand, and pulled her to her feet. As silently as they could, they followed Lock a good distance from the campsite.

Once they caught up with him, well out of earshot of the camp, he lifted a lantern and lit it. Then he pulled from his pants pocket five gold doubloons. The Spanish coins matched the ones they’d found in Graham MacKenzie’s cave.

Annie’s eyes grew wide. She tore her gaze from the coins to Lock, then to Cord, but no words were exchanged among them.

An owl hooted overhead. Its rush of wings and the high squeal of dying prey broke the silence.

Finally, into the silence, Lock whispered, “I found these today plus a dozen more in that small iron case I dug up. I pocketed the coins and gave the case to Professor Hardy. I don’t trust him to understand that this gold is rightfully ours.

Thayne already knows about my find, and now you do.

I don’t believe it’s stealing if we found them on our land, but. ..”

His voice faded. He didn’t have to say more.

They were dealing with a moral dilemma here.

Annie saw on Lock’s face how he was wrangling with doubts mixed with guilt and selfishness.

Or maybe it was just his suspicion that he wouldn’t be allowed to keep something he clearly thought should be his to do with however he saw fit.

Annie looked at Cord. Once more it all came down to trust. Did they trust the professor to tell him about this find of gold coins?

No doubt he’d declare them to be valuable artifacts and wouldn’t outright steal the gold.

But in the end, he’d want the coins locked away in the museum.

He’d tried that very thing with the other valuable coins they’d found.

But they’d thwarted him. It had helped that they’d shown him only one gold coin, and with watchful eyes they’d let him study the Spanish coin for as long as he wanted.

Now the situation was a bit murkier. Annie had heard the expression that possession was nine-tenths of the law. Those coins, right there in Lock’s hand, were surer of being his to keep.

Cord whispered, “I say we don’t discuss this until we get back to the ranch. We’ll figure out then what’s best to be done, if anything. We can always tell Hardy about the coins at a later time.”

Lock’s eyes lit up in the night. He nodded vigorously, obviously in full agreement with Cord’s wise suggestion.

“Go back to the camp now,” said Cord, “and keep that gold well hidden.”

Lock slid the coins back into his pocket and headed back.

Annie turned back to Cord, who shrugged and said quietly, “We’re in agreement at least, and now he’ll do the same with every gold coin he finds.”

She wondered what the old Spanish coins’ value were in the archeological sense?

Were they caught up in hiding an important discovery of the past that might hinder future generations’ understanding of history?

And what about Professor Hardy and his ambition to become a famous archeologist?

She’d noticed that he had entitled his notes The Hardy Expedition , and that grated on her something terrible.

Her trust in the learned professor was dwindling.

Annie sighed as she reached for Cord’s hand. Unsure whether they’d made the right decision about the gold find, she said, “C’mon, let’s go back to camp. I could use more sleep.”