Chapter 10
He looked at the two of them and smiled. "I'm sure Miss Morgana O'Hare will keep you two out of trouble."
Heyes smiled and nodded. "I'll bet you're right." He looked around. "Speaking of Morgan, where do you think she disappeared to?"
"Morgan?" She heard someone calling her name, but it sounded far away.
"Morgana?" the voice repeated, this time it seemed a little closer. It was louder this time and she turned in the direction of it.
"Maddy?" she asked with a smile. "What brings you here? I thought…
Her voice trailed off as she watched Maddy hand her back her father's small suede tobacco pouch, the one she left for Heyes and Curry to find. The one with all that…
"Apparently, the boys never found it," Maddy said. "It was in the exact same place where you left it."
Morgan shook her head and frowned. "Can't be. Heyes knew all about the silver. He told me about it before the meeting. It doesn't make sense, unless…."
Morgan turned the small bag on its side and shook out some of its contents. She examined the silver ore closely, and then put them back in the bag, pulling the strings tight. She handed the bag to Maddy.
"Do me a favor? Bring this up to my room and put it in the usual place. Don't tell anyone about this. I'll handle it when I get back. Now get going, they are all waiting for you."
"And what about you?" Maddy asked, "Heyes is going to come looking for you. Morgan, you have to tell him the truth."
Morgan smiled. "Yes, I agree. It's gone on much too long. I'll be there directly, I promise." she answered. "Now get."
Maddy smiled and nodded. "You know that the meeting is over. Heyes and Curry are no longer wanted men."
Morgan smiled. "Yes, I knew. Get going, shoo."
Maddy kissed her cheek. "See you soon, sis."
She watched as Maddy ran off, her gaze staying with her until she was well out of sight. She'd better stop all this daydreaming; it was getting her nowhere. Now that Hannibal Heyes didn't have a reward attached to his name, there was so much that she wanted to tell him. So much they could share with each other. She had to tell him the truth. There were all these plans and, well, if he ever spoke to her again after she divulged her little secret…
Wait, she thought, that bag. There was something about that bag, something different. She had to find Maddy and tell her. She had to
"Hold it right there, Morgana, and don't you move a muscle."
"Find anything?" Nate asked his brother as he poked around the entrance to the mine. .
"Not a thing," Ben answered from inside. "Could be we dropped it out there."
Nate shook his head. "Who ya callin' we," he said, his eyes scanning the ground. As he turned in the direction of the cave, he caught a glimpse of something that shone brightly in the sun. Not knowing what it was, he walked over to it; then bent to get a closer look.
"Ben, get out here, quick!" he yelled, his eyes narrowing in anger. "How much of this stuff did you drop?"
"One minute, Nathaniel," he whispered. "I think I found something." He bent down as he noticed something glinting in the light of his torch. It looked as though someone had dug there a long time ago and covered up the spot with some wood planking with a stone on top of it as if to mark off the area. It looked as if someone had gotten there before him, though, someone very recently as well. Intrigued, he tore up what was left of the rotted wood when he heard a tiny creaking sound and something that sounded like pebbles falling. He waited until it stopped before he tore away the rest. There, under all that wood, lay the biggest bunch of silver he had ever seen in his life before.
"Well, what have we here," he shouted. "We're rich, Nate, we're rich." He ran out of the mine with a small stone in his hand. "Look, brother, there's enough silver down there to last us for…."
He heard it before he saw it. The mine was starting to fill up with pebbles and rocks, putting pressure on the already stressed and rotted beams of the mine. It was only a matter of time before the whole thing came crashing down.