National Treasure 3
Chapter 1
Two strangely dressed men, who are sweating and covered with soil, step out from behind a large rock which obscures the cave opening behind them. They scoop some water from the shallow pool at their feet, and drink, looking out at the river racing past. It is wide and deep, and cold, but they are breathing hard and sweating. The taller man points at the cave, and speaks in an unknown language. Returning to their task, the continue to move large stones to cover the cave entrance, many stones taking their combined strength to move. When they look at their completed task, they begin to scoop dirt with their cupped hands, to further obscure the opening. Replacing their heavy cloaks, the leader adds a headdress with feathers and small gemstones on it.
Riley Poole enters, or tries to enter FBI Agent Sadusky's office. Hooking first one of his back packs, then the other, on the door frame, he finally forces his way in, nearly falling on his face.
"Thank you for coming, Mr. Poole, as I said over the phone, I tried to contact Ben and Abigail, but they are apparently on their honeymoon." Sitting back in his chair, calmly waiting while Riley tries to stack his gear against a wall. After the third time the stack falls over, Riley kicks the pile, and finds a chair "How did you know? You weren't invited."
"I know, but this is Mrs. Essie Parsley, who has a story to tell, a bit outside the normal cases we get here."
"Hello. I am the last of my family, and something told me that I needed to share my story. Neither of my children had families, and I have outlived both of them."
"What is it you have to show me?" said Riley, pointing at her clutched hands.
Essie Parsley opened her small bag, and pulled out a very old tin can shaped like a cigarette pack. She pushed the top off the slightly rusted can, and removed a small hand made notebook, with a tin type photograph dating back to just after the Civil War. Turning the can over, a small gold beetle, a scarab, tumbled onto the desk top, glittering in the room light
Sadusky picked the item up, then replaced it without comment.
Essie continued, "These notes were mostly written by Granny Abby while William Wright, my grand sire, lay on his death bed. The picture was taken after his return from the west, sometime around 1880's, no one knows for sure. The story he told her, she wrote as best she could, was about a fabulous treasure he and his two friends found somewhere along the banks of the Colorado river. This treasure was hidden in a cave, that they uncovered, and would rewrite history. They built a barge to float it down river, to the first docks they found. Of course, there was was much hoopla, but they were told that government men were coming to take care of it, and they had to wait. They gave away a few pieces of treasure to pay their expenses. The government fellers, loaded it up into two large crates and had it hauled off to the East Coast. The government men threatened them with lifetime imprisonment, or even death, if they told anyone about the whole experience. When they arrived some time later to collect whatever reward was due, the crates were found to contain worthless artifacts, spears, headdresses, and pots. When asked their names, his friends gave the government men the phony names of S. H. Jordan, and G. E. Kinkaid. The only thing Grandpa Wright had left was the gold beetle, and he never showed to anyone but family. He spent his life trying to find what he had lost. He never saw his old partner again, neither, name of Joseph Statz. I don't know the third man's name or what happened to him, William and he were separated before they returned east."
Sadusky paused for a few moments while Essie calmed herself, then said, "There is some writing on the front of the booklet also."
"William wrote that with his final breath."
Sadusky read it aloud, "There are three circles in the Wivver, start at the middle, in the stone house. Paddle until you see the rye." The last few words were shakily written, and the word 'rye' was pressed deeply into the paper.
When Riley picked up the book, a slip of paper fluttered out, it said, 'Crates labeled CR-102, CR-103'. He slipped it back into the book.
After Essie had calmed down, she was escorted out of the office and driven home.
Sadusky and Riley decided to go to the Smithsonian together to check on the crate numbers listed, mostly to verify some small part of the story. As they entered, Sadusky tapped a young man on the shoulder, and held out his badge. "We need to check some evidence in your storage area."
The young man started to say he needed to get clearance from someone, but Sadusky gave him the eye and said "Right now!" The man hemmed and hawed for a moment, then grabbed some keys and took them to the elevator. A couple floors down they were admitted to a locked storage room, and found the crates only a few minutes later. Riley opened one crate while Sadusky pried the top off the other. American Indian headdresses, spears and pottery were all the crates contained. In a low tone, Sadusky said, "Why two large crates for this little pile of junk? Let's get out of here." Riley mumbled something with his head down in the crate, and came up with two shards of pottery. He smiled as he stuffed them in a pocket.
After leaving the building, Riley opened his mouth to ask a question, but Sadusky held up one hand and said, "No, I can't officially do what I just did, but it saved hours of paperwork, and perhaps a delay of a week or more with red tape. Something I learned from Ben, when he crawled under a certain desk."
"So, you believe the story she told us?"
The federal agent stopped and turned toward Riley, "I believe she believes it. The crates tell my nose that something smells here. Let's take the weekend, and fly down to Phoenix, and visit Ben."
"But you weren't supposed to know about that..." his voice trailed off. "Well look at that, these fell into my pocket!" Producing the shards of pottery, he said, "We will have to ask Ben where these shards come from."
Sadusky just smiled.
Back at the federal building, as he and Riley parted, Sadusky said, "I will take care of the tickets, yours will be an open ended round trip to Phoenix; I have other business to attend to out there, most of which is best done on a golf course."
Somewhere in Arizona
Ben stopped the car and looked around at the buildings around them. "I think we are lost, Abigail."
"Really, I couldn't tell, Ben."
"Can you give me your map so I can try to figure out where we are?"
"Sure, dear...but if you get us lost again...I will get out of the car and walk to the Hot Springs."
"Yes, Abigail." Ben looks at the map twisting and turning it about trying to figure out where they were and how to get to the Hot Springs. As Ben was looking over the map, "Aha! I have figured it out!"
Ben started up the car and turned it around. As they got to the intersection where they had turned wrong, he drove straight. "We had turned left instead of right."
"Thank you dear for figuring out where we needed to go."
"No problem, Abigail."
After touchdown, Riley retrieved a large amount of luggage from the carousel, and had to promise the cabbie extra because of all the gear.
Across town, Abigail was standing at a window looking at the hot springs area. Ben was behind her, saying, "You really smell nice..."
"I am glad you finally noticed." They embraced and Ben kisses Abigail's forehead. She smiles and leans her head onto Ben's chest. After a bit Abigail says "Ben, now that we're married..." as she glances down at her ring and wiggles her fingers.
Ben raises an eyebrow "Yes?"
"Don't you want a child, Ben?"
"With the kind of life we lead?"
"Well, we could try to settle down for a bit."
Ben shakes his head and says "Don't you want to explore more of the world? See what is truly out there? Find treasure that has been lost for ages? This is what I love doing! I love this life just as much as I love you, Abigail."
"I love you too, Ben. But the Gates line ends with you."
Ben gapes at Abigail and slowly blinks. He then stutters "Bu...bu...bu...Are you pregnant?"
Abigail shakes her head "No, but I wouldn't mind a child in the future."
Ben smiles and replies "That sounds great." Just then, Ben looked out to see Riley tripping over the curb, while trying to move a huge pile of luggage. They sat down at a table in the spacious entry area, decorated with a great many plants, and a large central pool. Riley entered, and began to stack all of his gear and luggage against the wall. Twice it toppled over, with Ben and Abigail trying their best not to break out laughing. The third time, he waved both hands at the pile, and joined them at a table. He was holding an orange he had plucked off a tree just outside the door.
"I am sure you have a good reason for interrupting our honeymoon, Riley. At least you gave us six days together before crashing the party. By the way, don't eat that orange." Before an answer could be given, another sat down at the table.
"Sadusky, whatever are you doing here?"
Riley started spitting, and threw the inedible orange into a waste basket.
"Sorry to mess up your party, as long as you were down here anyway, doing nothing..."
"You thought it would be a good idea to drag Riley down here to muddy the waters."
"It's not like that, Ben. The actual venture I am suggesting is rooted down here anyway, and I have business meetings here for the next three days or so."
Abigail put her finger to Ben's lips before the retort popped out, and said, "Let's just hear what he has to say, and then you can throw him out if you want to."
There was no one else in the area, so Sadusky dropped the notebook, sheet of paper, and the golden scarab on the table. Riley struggled out the pottery shards to add to the pile, while still trying to wipe the terrible taste from his mouth. While Sadusky related the entire story to them, Abigail and Ben began rummaging through the small pile on the table.
After a few minutes, Abigail said, "That scarab looks real, but I would like to have the gold tested."
"Already done Miss Chase," Sadusky said, "It tests to the eastern Mediterranean."
"That's Mrs. Gates," she responded with a huge smile.
Abigail rose to get a few things from the room, while Ben puzzled over the coded message and the booklet. He was talking when she returned, 'The message on the front is interesting, but vague, and the misspelling..."
Abigail produced a few small tools, a pick, a pair of tweezers, and a small magnifying glass, that rotated out of a protective shield.
"The message is intentionally vague, but 'wivver'..."
"Ben, one thing the old lady said was that her grand sire had a speech impediment, he couldn't pronounce his 'r's, Riley commented, "Then that would make the word 'river', but I don't know about finding a field of rye wheat in that area. Does anyone know what rye even looks like?"
"Riley, you've both solved and missed the whole point. He wrote it that way on purpose, paddle until you see the 'y', with no 'r' sound, then it makes perfect sense. Now all we have to do is narrow it down to which of the hundred rivers flow into the Colorado!"
Abigail Gates had been studying the scarab and the pottery, and had moved on to the tin-type photo. "The pottery appears to be Egyptian by the shape of the sand grains, and color, and the paint seems to be from the area, too." Ben picked up the pottery while she continued. "The tin-type appears in expected poor shape after all these years, but wait..." She took the tweezers and gently removed the paper backing. She exposed a piece of newspaper stock with writing across the partial article, for the story was truncated, and torn through the center. Their heads all came together in the center of the table.
Ben spoke first, "This is torn from the Arizona Gazette, and the paper is quite old, even before it was hidden." The row of capital letters was written in ink across the article, YNETRFG PNPGHF BAR ZVYR ABEGU.
"It is too short to do a letter count for most common letters," said Abigail.
Sadusky joined in, "Remember, this was an uneducated man, it won't be anything fancy."
Ben nodded, "A simple replacement cipher, all we need is a number to add to each letter to get the replacement."
"In the corner," said Riley, "the page number, but I can't make it out."
Grabbing for her glass, Abigail said, "It's the number 13, although it is smeared by the gum glue he used."
Ben already was writing, and placed the second half of the alphabet just under the first thirteen letters. After a couple moments he read, "Largest cactus one mile north."
"Ben, let's talk about this before we get in the car and race off."
Sadusky stood and said goodbye. "You have my private number, if there are things you need, I have a much larger budget than I did before the South Dakota trip." Riley suddenly had to go check on his luggage.
"We have had nearly a full week together, but there are things I want to see before we go racing off again."
"All right, what are the two most important places?"
Abigail thought for just a moment, "Chaco Canyon and the four corners."
"You do know there is really nothing to see at the four corners, it's just a brass plate on the ground with four states labeled."
"Exactly why I want to see it."
Ben started to make another argument, but she looked him directly in the eyes, and said, "Chaco! You promised!" Then she kissed the tip of her finger, and touched it to his nose.
Ben rubbed his chin, and said, "Why not. Whatever is there on the Colorado, has been laying around for a century, and no one else is looking for it. We'll stop at those places on the way to wherever it is we're going." After she kissed him, he whispered 'page 47'.
CHAPTER 2
Ben was just out of the shower, starting to dress in summer khakis, and he said, "What are you watching?"
Abigail was sitting on the bed in her honeymoon pajamas, nothing at all. "I thought I would check the weather report, but I can't seem to find one."
"Down here, I don't think they have them; it would be boring, every day, hot and dry, hot and dry."
"I hadn't thought of that."
As she passed him heading for the bathroom, he gave her a very friendly caress as she passed. After very gently swatting his hand away, she hopped into the shower and called out "I know that you just finished dressing, but I wouldn't mind some 'help' in the shower".
"I bet you would, but I don't think that we would leave this room as soon as Riley would like us to if I would do that." Ben opened the shade to get a glimpse of the morning sun, and saw two people, father and daughter, jumping into the swimming pool. The temperature was in the low seventies and climbing fast as he thought, must be mid-westerners, seeing two others beside the pool in heavy coats. They pulled their coats a little tighter, they must be locals.
They had turned in their rental car, a brand new Mustang with only a few miles on it, and with Sadusky's cash, bought a tan colored van with lots of space, and a side bench area for all of Riley's toys. He had brought computers, GPS equipment with satellite up-link, and some other toys including a printer, and extra battery packs. Ben decided he would miss the Mustang, especially the way it had a light on the bottom of that door that displayed a lighted horse silhouette on the ground, when he got out at night. He smiled as he thought back to the first day he drove it, they had made a wrong turn, or missed their turn, and the road had run straight east out of town, the pavement had just turned into sand, and their headlights illuminated the wide open desert. It was a holdover from his youth, he had always wanted a Mustang.
Abigail was washed, dressed and ready to go, with her hair tied into a pony tail, and sporting new tan coveralls. They tossed the rest of their gear in the van, and headed for Riley's motel, about a mile away. On the way, she placed her left hand on his knee, he just smiled. Ben idly thought that another mystery was a perfect fit for their relationship, and a good way to end the honeymoon. What a woman he had married! He could almost hear his father's voice in his head saying, "Now don't let her get away!"
Pushing an overloaded cart, Riley got stuck halfway through the door, but after a quick dance of annoyance, he pushed it through. Once ensconced in the back, he rapidly hooked up all his apparatus, including a printer and the satellite connection. "Are you ready Mr. Poole?"
"Powered up and ready to rock!" Riley looked at Abigail, and asked, "What is she doing?"
Abigail was busily tapping away at her computer, and didn't even hear the comment.
"Abigail had an idea, and I think it's a good one. Let's assume for the moment that someone or several persons of interest took the loot from those crates, what would they do with them? Simple answer, sell the stuff and get rich. She is setting up a search engine to go through all the published material, for about ten years after the Civil War, to find all the people who suddenly came into wealth. It might be a waste of time, but it might pinpoint an area where the loot went to. Your job, is to find a map of current Phoenix, and overlay it with an 1875 map of the city so we can find 'one mile north'."
"What are you going to do, Ben?"
"I think I'll drive toward the city..."
Riley grinned and dove into his task, after five minutes he said, "I found your maps, but the old one is linked to a website, so I can't just scan it in. By the way, originally this was the mining community of Wickenburg, just northwest of where we are, around the time of the Civil War. This area here was an irrigated farmland venture."
"If you can't hack the website, then just buy the map!"
"I hate it when you assume I can't do something..."
"Assume?"
"Yes, you just assume that I can or cannot do something as simple as hacking." Then a moment later he said, "Yes!"
On the screen in front of the driver, a map of the city popped up, then came the overlay in gray. A circle cropped up in red, indicating the approximate one mile area. "It was pretty easy, since the old map only showed one road, or dirt track, going north, and I overlaid the river and that road to get a correct sizing."
"Astounding, Mr. Poole, as always. Now we have to go south to get north, this city has really grown since those days."
The trip took only about fifteen minutes, they had to go around two of the small mountains that spot the city terrain, but traffic was light. Phoenix was unique in his mind with the small mountains within the city, which had just expanded around them. Now that spring training was over, there were fewer tourists. Ben pulled off the interstate at the nearest intersection, and drove through quiet city streets, toward the area. "Okay team, keep your eyes peeled for a tall cactus."
After less than a mile, Abigail pointed at a saguaro that stood well above the surrounding homes. Ben stopped the car, and they scanned in all directions, without seeing anything taller. "Did you know that the roots of these cacti go deep into the ground to find water, even taller than the trunk."
"Yes, Ben, and they grow much taller when they find a good source," said Abigail.
Arriving at the home where the majestic cactus stood, they delayed a moment, then Ben said, "We should probably knock."
Approaching the door as a group, Abigail stepped up the single step, and rapped loudly on the door. When no answer came, she looked around and found a recessed doorbell, after two rings and another knock, she swished her hands at the boys, and they all went to the tall cactus. All three started low and stayed low, Ben had reminded them that plants grow out, they do not grow up, except at the tip. After fifteen minutes of looking for even a tiny scar or imperfection, they came up empty. Riley was poking with a small screwdriver, and Ben with a pen, when Abigail pointed and said "Look!"
In a patch of mesquite bushes about thirty feet away toward the back of the house, was the base of an even larger cactus, broken off about three feet off the ground. Riley took off like a shot and literally dove into the bushes, letting out a scream as he did.
"Those bushes might have thorns..." Ben said, a little too late. Abigail and Ben raised the branches as best they could, and Riley quickly chirped out, "Got it!"
Standing up, he displayed the small metal snuff box? "Were there any scorpions or tarantulas in the hole?" asked Ben, hiding a smile.
Riley rolled his hand rapidly left and right, then smiled a silly smile. They hurried to the van, and drove away before any nosy neighbors, could get out of their night clothes, and come out. Looking back, no one was seen. Ben found a local park about a mile north, and swung in leaving the air conditioner going, it as usual was going to be a hot day.
Inside the can was a small piece of paper, yellowish brown in color, with the following printed on it:
"YOU CAN DRIVE A TRUCK THROUGH IT
BUT YOU CAN'T DRIVE A TRUCK TO IT
BRING LOTS OF WATER
TO GET WHERE Y'OUGHTER
DRIVE A TRUCK TO WHERE YOU GO
PARK THE TRUCK WAY DOWN BELOW"
"Hmm," said Ben, "This changes things a bit." "William could not have written this as early as we thought. They didn't have trucks until the turn of the century. He must have come back here much later than we thought to leave these clues."
"We don't really know what went on during those years, maybe he ended up in jail for a while."
"I got the impression from the talk with Sadusky, that William was trying to find the thieves, with wealthy people that can get you in a lot of trouble," Riley said.
"It doesn't matter, we are trying to find the cave, not what was in it, right?"
"Oh yeah, that," Riley said in a low voice.
Ben asked, "How about doing something else while we drive, Riley? We will need some detailed maps, preferably with river names listed, of the whole Colorado river system. Can you do that?" Riley just made a noise in response.
They decided to think about their next step, and the clue while they drove on, destination Chaco Canyon, 30 to 40 miles into New Mexico. Ben drove north on I-17, then turned onto I-40. It would take some time to get there, but the miles raced by on open roads, with high speed limits. By the time they reached the New Mexico border, they had decided a few things. The next place they had to go was very arid, and it was something natural, not man made. So it had a big hole in it.
Ben was thinking about large natural caves, Riley mentioned the huge sequoias, but Abigail reminded him that they did not grow in desert areas, much the opposite. Just as they turned off on the local road for the park, Abigail said, "How about the big stone arches in the national park?"
"How did you come up with that one?" Riley asked.
"It was easy, once I figured out why we couldn't drive a truck through it."
"Oh..." he said with a puzzled look on his face.
They easily followed the road to Chaco Canyon, but the road into the park area was not easy, a lot of it had a rippled look, and was like driving over a washboard. Ben was probably driving too fast, trying to get there, when he hit a cow grating, bars embedded in the road over a wash or gully, and the van lifted fully off the roadway a foot or so and nearly knocked Riley off his seat when it came down.
After an uneventful, slower trip the three got out of the vehicle, to take in the sights. The circular buildings stacked and bunched the way they were was fascinating. The population must have been large at one time, but the soil was now bone dry, mostly sand, and little vegetation grew there.
"I would have loved to see this spot, with the green vegetables and even the grasses blowing in the wind for the horses. The homes likely had a flat roof, and I assume there were additional living areas above." Ben looked around to see Riley scampering back to the van, and took Abigail's hand, raised it to his mouth, and kissed it. "Hey, look over there? Do you see the coyote?"
"I do, Ben. They are some magnificent creatures in this world, and to see them in their natural habitat is amazing."
Later after they had poured over the site and seen as much as Abigail wanted, they returned to the van to see Riley scanning the ruins.
"What are you doing, Riley? Are you going down to see the pueblos up close?"
"Probably not, I am setting up videography equipment to take three dimensional scans of the buildings. When I get the readings downloaded into my computer, along with star positions,, it will be as if I am in all the spots down there, and see the star correlations."
He attached three more cords, then said, "Ben, when we get to the motel tonight, tell me the mileage, so I can take a star map and make the minor distance correction."
"All right, what did you think of the sight?"
Riley paused thoughtfully for a moment before saying, "I don't want to live there, no electricity."
"Tell me if anything points to Krypton." Riley ignored him.
They stayed in a motel 12.7 miles west of the canyon, with no pool but air conditioning. Abigail talked about the canyon until Riley fell asleep sitting up, then they retired for the night.
In their room, as they were completing their packing, Ben said, "We'll take highway 191 north and stop at the four corners in a couple hours".
"That sounds good, Ben." Abigail says. "Let's go pick up Riley."
Ben and Abigail left their room and walked to Riley's room. Knocking on the door, they hear a muffled thump and a voice saying "I'm up...really!"
"It sounds more like your down Riley." Ben states.
The door opens and Riley peeks out "Ha ha ha...very funny."
After they packed up the van, and go on the road, Riley starts to squirm.
"Riley? Did you forget to go to the bathroom before we left?" Abigail asks.
"No, not really...I am just trying to get a bit more sleep. You know trying to get comfy in a van like this is hard."
"True. After all Ben and I have to best seats in the van."
After getting to the Four Corners, Ben walks about a little, seeing the simple store fronts hawking their goods, if that label could be applied. He watches Abigail and Riley moving around the brass plate, hopping from one state to another, and laughing. It was good to hear her laugh. They took copious pictures of their feet in different positions, until they got hot and thirsty. As the pair walked back, both of them pointed up in the air, there was one small cloud high above them, and it was raining, but nothing hit the ground. It evaporated in the hot, dry air before it landed. When they reached the van, they both grabbed a bottle of water and took a big drink.
Riley then climbed in, holding several items of questionable value in his hands, and they proceeded back to the highway.
"How did your evening sky viewing go last night, Riley?"
"Fine, just fine. I got all the sky mapped before I brushed my teeth. When we get home, I will plug all the data into my large computer, and find out if the dwellers at Chaco had star alignments."
Ben just smiled. "I can't think of anywhere else to go, so let's proceed up to Arches National Park. It is pretty much on our way to the upper Colorado, and I would like to see it anyway. I've never been there.
"I found this really old hand drawn map of the Colorado river system, but it does not really match the actual river system. It was available at the time Wright was there, before any actual maps were available." Riley handed the print out of a very old map of the Colorado to Abigail per her request. He had printed it to four sheets of paper, and taped them together. After just a few minutes, Abigail said, "I think I have found something!" She pointed to the undetailed map, and said, "Remember what Wright wrote, the three circles in the wivver, look at these. Not you, Ben!"
Riley looked at what he had not seen before, three of the tributaries curved out, then back in again, to form rough circles. Her finger stabbed at the middle one.
Ben pondered driving a truck through these circles, but it really made no sense. They would have to find something else you could drive a truck through.
About four hours later, Ben dropped off Riley and Abigail, to rent some rooms in a motel that clearly had vacancy, no cars were parked in the lot. He headed into town and returned with some supplies. He also bought two backpacks, and six large water bottles, which went into the refrigerator until morning, and two he put in the freezer, all that could fit.
"We'll need those tomorrow, just for a change, it's going to be hot and dry."
They stopped at the ranger station to pay fees, and get maps, then drove directly to the main feature of the park, the one seen in all the pictures, a huge stone arch, big enough to drive a truck through, but you would have a heck of a time driving a truck up there, even if you could avoid arrest. There were several park rangers around. They put on their packs, loaded the cold water bottles into them, and Ben stuck several small tools, and a clothes hanger into his. They made the climb in good time, and talked about how much water they had already consumed. When they reached the end of the trail, they were alone. Scurrying around the arch itself, they could find nothing that indicated a hiding place for a clue. Abigail and Riley got down on their bellies, and meticulously tapped and poked, every crack and line in the two ends of the base. Ben looked through the arch and saw a rock which looked out of place. It was darker than the surrounding stone and set into a small natural niche a ways off the path. He moved towards it and then called out to the others. "Over here!"
By the time Abigail and Riley got up, and over there, Ben had pulled out the hanger, and twisted it open, to make a wire with a curled end on it. There was a round hole on the left, with a larger rectangular hole on the opposite side. The twisted end slid in about four inches, then hit something, another push went further in, and a second effort popped another metal box out of the larger hole. Ben snatched it up, folded the wire, stuffing it into a pocket just as two rangers approached.
"Having some trouble?" which Ben took to mean, 'why are you off the path?'.
"No sir, my watch just slipped off, but I found it," he shook his wristwatch to show he got it back. They all immediately started moving down the path while the rangers poked about, looking for signs of mischief or perhaps spray paint.
They chugged water upon return to the car, then left the parking lot immediately. After seeing the other sights, they exited the park with no problem, and returned to the motel in the town of Moab, for a second night.
Riley had pulled a small table into the center of the room, closed the window shades, and placed the best light next to it in Ben's room. Ben came over with ham and Swiss cheese sandwiches for all, plus lots more water. The metal box was in the center of the table, Ben pushed it over to Abigail. She opened it with a little difficulty, and pulled out a small scroll of paper, while rusty metal decorated the table top. There were six digits, 206742, followed by a line of capital letters:
RKGVATHVFU LBHE GBEPURF
Smiling, Ben said, "I think we know this code." In a few minutes, he wrote out 'Extinguish your torches'.
Looking at the original paper, Abigail said, "Six numbers, could be a date."
"The date he found the cave?" asked Riley.
"No that date would be unimportant to someone following his clues, someone who new him..."
"Birthday!" Ben and Abigail said together, followed by Riley a second later, "Birthday… whose?"
"William of course, only his friends or family would know it."
"Do we know it?"
"Not yet. Let's look in his little booklet."
Abigail dug it out of some pocket, and opened it, but no written dates were seen. After a moment, she found a line that said he was released from the army when he was 18. "So eighteen years before 1865, would be 1847."
"Then the date can only be February 26th, or June 22nd."
Riley said, "I vote for June!" Then he mumbled something about being frozen.
"So we are agreed, we have to be at the middle circle in about ten days."
They planned a little for the next day, but the heat had taken it's toll, and they headed off to bed before dark. While Ben lay next to his beautiful bride, he said, "I think William must have made that rock out of clay, and then put the box in while it was soft. It was a bit crumbly, and darker than the other rocks..." His voice trailed off, but Abigail hadn't heard him, she was already sound asleep.
CHAPTER 3
The coffee pot was wafting its fragrance into the room when Ben walked in, bearing a big bag of breakfast tacos, and a jug of some juice mix. Before he could close the door, Riley popped into the room. They ate first with relish and then cleared the table, while Ben stated the obvious, "Now all we have to do is figure out which direction we are headed."
Abigail put all the items on the table, including several maps that Riley had printed up, all showing different aspects of the Colorado river system, and its watershed, as well as the irrigation systems. It was a lot to take in, and unfortunately, many of the tributaries were not named. Riley let the others try to absorb this large amount of information, while he finished the last taco, and drank another large glass of the juice. It wasn't very good, but it was wet; he kept thinking about all the water they drank yesterday, and how he was still thirsty. Ben had been smart to freeze a couple bottles before they left, they were cool and delicious upon returning from the arch, and almost all had been consumed.
"I can't really make heads or tails out of all this. So many of the river systems are similar to the other maps, but there are variations," Ben said.
"Perhaps it is because these date from different periods, certainly only this current satellite image shows nothing that looks like the three circles Wright talked about," Abigail added.
Then Riley reached under the table, saying, "I had to hack another website to get this one, but I couldn't match it to these." It was an old, hand drawn map, with few features except the river system, on a yellowed background. The river lines were distinct, and smooth, nothing like any of the actual pictures, or accurate map renderings. As Abigail and Ben saw, there were three distinctly circular areas, where two tributaries would bend out, then almost come back together. Three circles.
For the next hour Abigail and Ben kept swapping and turning the maps trying to find some semblance of comparison, and having no luck. All during the time, Riley shared with them other stories he had read about treasures found or hidden in the Grand Canyon, and other places along the river.
"I came across an article in an old newspaper dating back to the 1920's, that claims were made by two Smithsonian archaeologists, of mixed Egyptian and oriental treasures, including mummies and a Buddha about 42 miles from El Tovar Crystal Canyon. The Smithsonian denied everything, including the scientist's existence. They claimed it was just a hoax to drive up newspaper sales." Riley cleared his throat, and went on, "Another story I came across was about a guy named Forrest Fenn, who says he buried two million dollars of gold and jewels in the Rocky Mountains, and then left clues for people to go hunt for it. It has never been found. There are also stories of artifacts in the Canyons of the Ancients in Towaoc..."
"Thank you, Riley, but this is going nowhere!" Ben stood and starting pacing in the small room. "The old map shows three rough circles, and on one of the circles is printed "White", but this does not match the more modern maps which show no circles, and the White river is in the next state, Colorado. In that map there is a small loop formed by the head waters, that could be called a circle, but nothing else close." He rubbed his chin and kept pacing.
"Why are you talking about the White river, Ben?" asked Abigail.
"Perhaps I am way off base, but lots of these rivers have tribal names, and the southern ones have Spanish names. Then I thought of his speech impediment, he would pronounce his name 'White', not Wright! I can't decide which lead to follow..."
"Let's just check out both, we have more than a week before his birthday."
"Good idea, Riley, let's go!"
Opting to head for the Colorado White river first was a longer trip, but the roads from where they were made it seem the easier route. Several hours later, they made a pit stop, and filled the van's gas tank. Ben talked to some local fishermen, and came back with an unhappy look. They continued to where Riley had pinpointed the area, but as Ben had been told, the area was low and grassy, and the stream was quite shallow. The fishermen had told him they would have to go a good ways back the way they had come to put in any kind of larger boat. After checking out the three roads in the area, all agreed they had to head back to Utah.
Abigail drove over the next stretch, while Riley tapped away merrily on the computer keys in the back of the van, "I could drive, if you guys get tired, or something."
Together came the answers, "No thank you, Riley!"
While the miles passed beneath them, Riley would call out items of interest he found. "Did you know that Phoenix didn't become Arizona's capitol until 1908, with a whopping fifty five hundred people. I also found an article in the Arizona Gazette, which is now called the Republic, a story about two men named Jordan ans Kinkaid, they claimed they had found a treasure, but it was taken away from them!"
"Thank you, Riley!" which he took to mean 'shut up'.
The miles passed slowly, and the roads were less well traveled. Abigail toyed with her computer, and said, "I have found an article of interest using my search engine, even though the program is less than half done. It is hard to believe how many small towns and small town newspapers there were or are on the east coast. This one is from the Hales Corner, in Hales, North Virginia. It records the growth of a town called Recovery, which sprang up about ten years after the Civil War was over. There were eight men who fought in the war, all from the same small town, three fought for the union, the others for the south, and Robert E. Lee. Two recounted a tale of having actually seen each other during a skirmish outside of Chattanooga; they looked down their rifle sights at the same time, and both recognized the other. One told how he bore down his sight on the rebel, then both men changed their aim and fired in a different direction. An article was written in another paper that six of the eight men survived the war, only to return to a town that had been burned to the ground, none had survived. It is said that these men were all masons, of the same lodge, and they decided to rebuild the town in another area. They built homes and very profitable businesses, all had gotten married, and the new town prospered hugely, even though they had nothing of value to begin their new lives with."
"The article says the story ended as 'to be continued', but never was; the names were withheld because of privacy."
To pass the time, Riley said, "I have all the clues needed to find the Forrest Fenn treasure.
'Gone in there alone
'Keep my secret
'Where warm water halt
'Home of Brown...'
Thank you, Riley, that's enough. We are not hunting for a fake treasure!" Ben said.
"How about the treasure of Marble Canyon? In 1909, it was said Egyptian urns were found, dating to the reign of Zapnath, also known as Joseph. The story says the urns are on display in the Smithsonian, but they deny ever having or displaying anything like this."
"This sounds too similar to Wright's story, so it might be a retelling," Abigail commented.
After another stop, when Abigail took the wheel again, the landscape had turned gray, it reminded Ben of the moon. There was some vegetation in the distance but the land nearby seemed dead and desolate.
They had crossed into Utah traveling at good speed, on highway 40, and within a short time they crossed a larger bridge spanning the Green River, outside the city of Jensen. Ben thought idly, staring out the window, that this was a much larger river than they saw, the last time they crossed the Colorado. Abigail commented that she was seeing signs for so many other places she wanted to visit, like Dinosaur National Monument, and they would have to find their way back there some day.
Stopping for lunch in Roosevelt, they resupplied their food in a food market, and Ben found another store. Returning, he was carrying a large boxed tent, with another sack of other implements. These were stuffed in the rear of the van, over Riley's complaints, and they were on the move again.
Upon arriving in Duchesne, they left the main road, and were soon on dirt back roads.
Eventually, the land started to rise, and the terrain became more rocky, soon there were trees, and some sparse grass. Just as Riley announced they were almost there based on satellite imagery, Ben spotted a circular stone hut sitting atop a small hill. As they approached it, the river came into view. "This is now called the Duchesne River, by the way," said Riley, "not the White river."
It was approaching evening when they looked inside the igloo like hut, one could crawl inside on all fours, but it was already passed sundown, leaving the western sky ablaze. After a long day of travel, they decided to head back to town and get a good night's sleep. Tomorrow was William Wright's birthday, and Ben suspected that had meaning, based on its inclusion in the clue. The drive back was a bit difficult with no obvious road sides, but the starlight and moon allowed them to see well enough. They found a small motel on the outskirts of town, and booked lodging for two nights. Ben got on his phone while it was charging, and called Sadusky. He asked, "How's the golfing?"
"I am here on business, but I have visited a few local golf courses. What do you want?
They talked for nearly a half hour, while Ben filled in how they had spent their time, and commented on the newest clue they had found. They ate a light meal, and turned in for the night.
Morning came brightly, and they packed up after breakfast, and headed back to the river. The stone igloo was pronounced free of vermin, and only then would Riley enter, pushing several bags of equipment and batteries ahead of him. They grabbed a quick lunch, then all climbed into the igloo; it was hot outside, but hotter inside. Riley had set up a camera, recording in 360 degrees. Going in and out regularly to cool off in the near hundred degree outside temperature, but until about two in the afternoon, it was just hot and partially dark inside. Ben stabbed a finger at a spot of light on the ground close to the western wall, throughout the afternoon they watched it in shifts, until just at sundown. A brilliant spot near the base of the south wall flared into brilliance.
Ben looked closely at it, from the side, "It is a chip of mica, pressed into the clay used to fill the holes between the stones. Did you know that the tribes in this area revered mica for its reflective properties?"
As he spoke, the tiny light winked out. Riley reached for a flashlight, but Ben stopped him, saying, "Remember the clue, extinguish your torches." They sat there in the hot igloo, while the evening breezes already had begun to cool the outside to below 90. Riley had just started to complain about getting out of there, when Ben stabbed a finger at the wall, pointing at a very tiny spot of light. "There it is," Ben said, "What we have here, if I am not mistaken, is the light of the north star. It is not the brightest star, but it is the only one that stays in the same place. Did you know that this star was prized by ancient mariners because..."
Abigail was already out of the sweat box, followed by Riley, dragging his bags of gear. Riley was commenting why Wright didn't use the moon instead of the north star, "The moon is on a twenty-seven and a half day orbit, and besides it wobbles like 6% in its rotation..."
"Yes, Riley, that is why we only get eclipses about four times a year, instead of every month." she replied.
Ben stabbed the tip of his knife into the pinprick of light, and felt it go in, then the thin veneer of clay cracked off, exposing a hand cut slab of rock. With a few more knife cuts, the rock slab came out in his hand. He could feel the bottom edge was polished, and the right side was about three times as thick as the left. Cupping it in his arm, he stepped out into the pleasantly cool air. They returned to the motel to examine their find, turning it over and over, looking at the rough sandstone. Only the bottom edge had been polished and shaped, tapered to a narrow edge, but it just looked like an imprecise line, that hooked to the side on the thicker part of the stone. Staring at it didn't help, so they decided to call it a night, after another round of drinks after their thirsty day.
In the middle of the night, Ben sat straight up in bed. He fumbled around in the dark, then took the stone into the shower stall. He laid a flattened brown paper bag on the floor and dowsed the stone with water. He shook it to remove excess water, then pressed the polished edge onto the paper. Then he set the stone on the floor of the shower, and outlined the liquid line, it was a river valley, he was sure, and the hook at the end was the 'rye', in Wright's speech, the 'y' in the river. The hook on the end was much thicker, a larger river. With some difficulty, he fell back asleep.
Awakening just after dawn, Abigail heard a sound outside, and peaked through the shade, just in time to see a slender man, dressed in jeans and a T-shirt, but his face was covered with a ski mask. Before she could do anything, he was in a nondescript sedan speeding away. A glance at their tires showed her two were flat, and she guessed the others were also, since the van did not look tilted. She confirmed her assumption before she woke Ben up. Before she could tell him anything, he was shouting, "You have to look at this. Get Riley."
"There's no hurry, Ben, we have four flat tires."
"What?" he said, poking his head out of the bathroom door.
They had plenty of time to pack and eat, while they waited for a tow truck to show up with four new tires, pre-mounted on new rims.
Ben had already shown them the imprint he had made in the middle of the night, saying that it was the river, and his perception about the 'rye',at the end of the river. Riley was finished washing his hands when he looked into the shower stall, and exclaimed, "Look at that!"
The stone laying in the stall had rough cut letters now visible. "The water must have dissolved a salt and sand and clay mixture, that was hidden before! The letters read, 'Other Side'.
By noon, the van was packed, with four new tires on it, and Sadusky's team had hooked an eighteen foot tri-hull boat, strapped to a trailer, behind it. They drove back up to the place they had left the previous night, but it had changed. The rock igloo had been all but obliterated, stones and chunks of clay mortar were strewn across fifty square feet, there was no sign the building had ever been there. Much of the rock had either been driven away, or thrown in the river, and then the area was swept to look natural. The team of FBI agents helped remove the boat from the trailer, and with some difficulty launched it. Gear and personal items, as well as food and supplies were stowed aboard. It was well planned to get a boat with shallow draft, the river here was little more than a wide stream.
Handing the keys for the van to the agent named Mike, they boarded and set off slowly. The van with the trailer disappeared over the edge with the black SUV driven by the other three agents.
Riley busied himself, setting up his computer under the front hull, and attaching the uplink to the light post beside the small upper cabin, with room for only a driver and one other to sit. After a half hour, the stream had widened, and Ben increased the speed a little. Riley came out, and stood there holding the brown paper bag, with the water map. "This doesn't match the actual river we are on, no matter how I turn it or place it."
"I think we can assume, Riley, that he had no real knowledge of what the river looked like, the only thing we need to do is head toward the 'y', and look across the other river, up on the bank, somewhere."
"But we aren't even going to hit the Colorado River, the next waterway is the Green River."
Ben smiled and said, "We have to remember that these clues are a century old, you already told us that the river names differ from the old maps to the new. I looked on our road atlas, and it looks like the Green river is much bigger that the Colorado this far north. Maybe this used to be called the Colorado before the boys that carved out the states, got to rename everything. If so, we would be calling it the Utah river, so that name must have come later, long after Wright was gone."
Riley, somewhat mollified, went back below mumbling to himself. Just at that point, gunshots rang out over the quiet stretch of river.