Page 34 of Riches Beyond Measure (Golden State Treasure #3)

Twenty-Five

They’d come prepared for just about anything, Cord figured as he rode toward the old shipwreck.

They’d left the ranch in the hands of the Two Harts foreman, Shad, and they’d brought along the whole family, including Tilda’s family and Cord’s Grandpa Westbrook.

They had two wagons, which they’d drive as close to the fissure as possible, and a chuck wagon.

Cord had noticed that the trail they’d traveled after leaving Cornerstone was reasonably wide most of the way to the shipwreck site.

Neb, the bunkhouse cook, had come along as well.

He and another member of the crew would spend time widening the trail to get the chuck wagon close to the site.

Until then, Neb would cook the meals, and they’d all ride to the chuck wagon to eat.

With the cowhands along to help and to provide protection, they were a solid brigade.

When they reached the ship, as the sun was setting, everyone moved to the edge of that rupture in the earth to stare down at the awesome sight. Cord reminded them all of Annie falling through the deck and warned them to be vigilant about possible earthquake tremors.

It was close enough to bedtime that they decided to wait until sunrise the next morning to begin their search of the shipwreck.

They’d brought plenty of rope and had a good-sized crew down in the ship before midmorning.

They hauled everything of value to the surface except the skeletons.

Tilda, with help from her pa, Maddie, and Mayhew, busily wrote down every detail of what they found and where they found it, doing their best to keep a thorough record. Ellie, meanwhile, kept watch of the young’uns.

While Cord took his turn helping to investigate and gather up finds, he noticed that Annie had stayed on the surface. Maybe she’d had enough of sunken ships. She spent the time note-taking with Tilda, then chasing after Caroline and Leah because Michelle wanted to be in the thick of things.

By nightfall, Cord figured they’d emptied the ancient ship. They’d gone through what was left of the ship and brought up the kinds of puzzling things that Cord thought an archeologist might find interesting.

Lock held out a small oval object that Cord found familiar.

“That’s like that badge Hardy found,” Cord said. “He said it was possibly a portrait of a young Cortés and that no such picture of him existed—that he knew of anyway. So if Hardy found it valuable, a piece of history, well, now we have another.”

Lock nodded. “And I found another dagger, which looks a lot like the one we have.”

Lock studied the knife intensely, and Cord could tell there was something else on the boy’s mind, although he didn’t say more.

“There’s no sign of a lower level then?” Tilda asked.

Josh, being the nautical one, answered, “Ships change over so many years, of course, but I recognize the general style. It has a very shallow draft.”

“Draft?” Annie prompted.

“That means it doesn’t need deep water to sail around, which would’ve made navigating the river easier.

I’m almost sure the level Annie fell to is the bottom or the hull.

This type of vessel was likely included in the expedition deliberately.

They were looking for bays, mapping out water routes into the mainland.

They may have sailed up a few rivers, but they didn’t find San Francisco Bay.

This one ship, though, probably lost its way in the fog that often enshrouds the bay, and they came upon the river by accident.

We may find what happened written out in the logbooks, including information about the earthquake and the wreck that stranded them here. ”

“That information could be in those logs you already took to the ranch,” Michelle said. “It’s going to take time to translate it all, but I’ll get it done. Maybe then we’ll have the whole story of this ship.”

As the sun dipped down, Neb rolled into the camp with the chuck wagon.

He’d carved out a path all the way to the shipwreck site.

The two other wagons they’d brought came up behind him, as well as the carriage for Mayhew and Carl.

The older men had walked to the site when their carriage couldn’t go any farther.

Now they could load all the strange artifacts they’d hoisted to the surface into the wagons and prepare to leave. Cord had thought they might be there for several days, but now it looked as though they’d be able to head for home tomorrow.

Josh, the last one down in the ship still, stood there looking around. The deck had collapsed to some degree, but not entirely. He walked toward one end of the boat until he was no longer visible.

“Josh, come on back where we can see you,” Cord called down.

Tilda came up beside Cord, peering down, searching for Josh.

“I’m fine, Cord, but send down a rope. I want to walk to the front of the ship, and a rope might be a good precaution.”

They’d begun their search with everyone roped, but as the ship stayed steady, they’d left off the safety measure. The ropes were all coiled neatly right at hand.

Just seconds later, Cord lowered the rope. Josh reemerged from under what was left of the deck and tied himself off. He looked up. Cord realized most of their crew had heard Josh ask for a rope and had come to watch.

“You want anyone else down there?” Cord asked. “I can come.”

“Good idea. I see something down here ... like part of the ship maybe collapsed at some point and was buried. This ship might be bigger than we thought.”

Cord tied the rope around his waist, and a couple of cowhands took Josh’s rope while two more took Cord’s.

Just before going down, Cord noticed Zane was busy unharnessing the wagon horses and getting them picketed out to graze. He turned back to the ship, letting himself be lowered into the fissure. Once on the ship, he walked over to Josh.

“You’re right, Josh. Looks like the front of the ship caved in and got buried.”

“You can tell by the curve that there should be more of it. I know it’s getting late, but we still have the light for a few more minutes. Let’s do some digging.”

Josh went straight to a wall of dirt that seemed to mark the extent of the ship. As he clawed away at the solidly packed dirt, a chunk of it fell away, and Cord saw ... something. Possibly more of the same type of thing they’d been finding all day.

“If there was an earthquake big enough to dry up a river, and a crack opened to swallow the entire ship, that’s powerful enough to send tons of dirt down on part of it and crush the bow.”

“Bow?” Cord said.

“Yes, the front of the ship. There should be a steering wheel, maybe one trimmed in bronze or copper. That would survive, especially as the bow was buried rather than left exposed like the rest of the deck.

“And this could be one of the handles of a steering wheel.” Josh quit digging when he saw a skeletal hand.

“We really haven’t found too many skeletons,” Cord said. “And we know at least some members of the crew survived. The ones we found wearing armor.”

“It must’ve happened fast,” said Josh. “The earthquake, the ground cracking and swallowing the ship, the front of it collapsing. This wheel would have been on the main deck, so when the world started shaking and cracking, and an avalanche of earth crushed and buried the front, it pushed the wheel down to this lower level. I’d say this poor sailor died while he was still steering the ship. ”

Cord sighed. “We’re going to have to dig all this out, aren’t we? I knew it was all too easy. One day searching, pack everything up, head home.”

“It’s likely not a large portion of the ship got buried. We may only have a few feet to dig through to find the rest of it.”

Cord saw something gleam out of the corner of his eye, lying on the hull nearby. Was it...?

He slowly moved to the spot and crouched down.

Ten gold doubloons.

He scooped them up and turned toward Josh. Based on how the coins were stacked just below the skeletal fingers, the sailor might have had them clutched in his hand the instant he was crushed beneath an avalanche of dirt. Three hundred years ago.

Staring at the gold in Cord’s hand, Josh gave a low whistle.

“I’ll add these to Lock’s collection. Wait ... what’s this?” He held up a thin black coin possibly, so tarnished it was impossible to make out, though Cord thought it might be silver. “I wonder if this is a coin, too. It’s about the right size.”

Josh moved closer. “And these bits of iron or bronze—I think they’re buttons.

Very elaborately carved. We may be looking at the captain of the ship.

No doubt the ten doubloons were his own.

If he died at the beginning of the trouble, and there were other coins, the other sailors might have divided the coins among themselves.

Maybe that’s why we keep finding a few here and there.

” Josh gathered up several of what might be buttons.

Cord said, “For now, let’s not mention this to anyone. Finding gold like this could get people stirred up.”

Josh nodded. “Ten more coins. A strange black circle that might be silver. And the buttons...”

“Cord, Josh, are you all right?” Annie called down. She sounded worried.

“We can send down help if you need it,” Tilda said. Her voice sounded just as concerned as Annie’s.

Cord was quick to call back, “No, we’re fine,” wanting to put his wife’s mind at ease. “We’re coming up. We found a bit more down here and may need to dig for a while tomorrow.”