The news spread quickly, and one morning, the Fat Director found the platform at Vicarstown completely blocked by people with digging tools.
"What's going on here?" he asked.
"There's this news article," said an assistant, handing him a newspaper. The Fat Director looked at it.
"That old legend has resurfaced? Botheration! It's much too late in the year to provide for more tourists! There aren't enough trains for all these people!"
There weren't enough tickets to go around either. When the diggers heard that, pandemonium broke out. They began fighting each other, trying to steal tickets from other people. Many of the fights got violent, to the point where even passengers who hadn't come to do digging were getting injured. The police had to be called to keep the crowd under control. After order was restored, The Fat Director peeked out of his office. Much to his relief, all was calm.
After the fiasco, the Fat Director set to work with Lasigar's government setting up restrictions. One of these was that each treasure hunter needed a permit to access the wreck. In addition, only one group a day was allowed to go, accompanied by a guide. Even then, that wasn't enough. The Lasigar government quickly proved negligent and ineffective, and soon, not only Lasigar, but all of Sodor was saddled with treasure hunters, much to everyone's frustration.
The Fat Director had multiple "No trespassing" signs put up all around his railway, otherwise, people would start digging around the railway line, causing massive delays. Even so, that didn't always work. In the confusion, the actual location of the treasure had been forgotten or ignored by the hunters.
The situation proved to be a blessing for the Germans, who found they could now sail around the wreck uninterrupted.
However, not all was rosy. The wreck was only accessible by foot at low tide, which meant they couldn't explore it all the time. Furthermore, not everyone was caught in the hysteria, and the Germans were soon being watched. They found this out when Hermann found himself being followed by two men. One looked familiar. The other had only one eye.
"I svear I saw bohss of you before," he said. "Or at leascht vun of you. I remember…vich vun of you vas ridink a dinink train?"
"Me… Wait a minute… you're Trevor?!"
"No, I'm Brad. Vye are you followink me?"
"Ok I think I was imagining things: you aren't British and your name isn't Trevor. We came here to find the treasure of the HMS Maura Liath." said Conan.
"Funny: I'm here for zee same sink," said Hermann. "If you excuse me, I'll go to my boat. Good day. gentleman."
He then rushed to where the others were, warning them about the situation.
"Seems vee're no longer zee only vans after zis treasure," he finished.
"Zat kid…got avay zee firscht time…I'll make sure it von't happen again."
"Easy, Morschtein," said Commander Haus. "He vas nefer our target."
"He should be," snorted Wyatt. "I believe we should kill him."
"Unt vat good vill zat do?" asked Commander Haus. "If vee do zat, zee usser person vill come after us too."
"That kid is looking for the treasure. So is the other man… Did you say he had one eye?"
"Ja," confirmed Hermann.
"There's this infamous soldier I heard of. "The devil of the trenches", some said he had one eye only," said Wyatt.
"How vould you hear it? You veren't on zee Front Line," Wilhelm pointed out.
"I had three cousins who did," said Wyatt. He caught Morschtein staring at him. "I have a life outside you."
"Vatever. So vat do vee do now?"
"We enter the wreck again. This time, we go armed. Good thing I brought a few guns with us."
Meanwhile, the brothers were making their own plan.
"You say you know that man?" Noah growled. "He's a dead man. Nobody hurts my little brother and gets away with it."
"Noah…"
"What?"
"The war is over. You can't just kill people like that," said Conan. "If you do, you'll get into trouble with the law."
"Don't think they'll stop me from putting an end to those bastards, Conan," growled Noah. "I may not be allowed to kill them, but I can severely harm them."
Conan sighed.
"Brother, please. I agree they're evil, but the law takes priority, so…just try to not get arrested."
"That I can promise," said Noah.
Back at the shipwreck, the Germans had left the boat they managed to steal. Now all they had to do was start exploring the wreck.
"Hermann, douse the boat with petrol," Wyatt ordered . "And yes, I know what I said: it may stop us from leaving the wreck, but it's necessary for later."
"Ok, sough I'm not sure VAT zis later entails," said Hermann. Nonetheless, he still doused the boat with petrol.
"While he does that," said Wyatt, "one of you will need to keep a lookout."
"Leaf zat vis me," said Commander Haus. "I don't truscht zee look in Morschtein's eyes right now."
"Oh, but you'll truscht a Brit," snorted Morschtein. "Honeschtly, vat does Vyatt haff zat I don't, huh?"
"Loyalty," said Haus. "Zat unt a refusal to kill visout a reason. I know vat you're like, you efen said you'd schtrangle mein wife vunce."
"I told you seferal times I vas jokink!" snapped Morschtein.
"Unt your jokink vasn't velcome," said Haus. "Now go vis Vyatt unt Vilhelm into zee schip."
Morschtein groaned in frustration and walked with Wilhelm and Wyatt into the shipwreck.
Inside, they found half the ship was flooded, usual with wrecks. As they wandered the wreck, they began to find a few things that were odd: for starters, the staircase to the captain's quarters was still intact. Also, there were the remains of a rotten half-eaten meal.
"Gross!" gagged Wilhelm.
Strangest of all however, every storage room they came across was locked. Some even had stuff thrown against the door to block it. Using an axe, the three man managed to break through these doors. One of these rooms contained a painting.
"We could use that," said Wyatt. "If there's no gold, that painting could make a good fortune."
"Vee'll leaf it here for later," said Wilhelm. "If vee take it back now, vee may not get a chance to go back inside."
There were some valuables inside the desk drawers, which they gladly took. Then, wading through the water, they found what had doomed the ship: an enormous hole on what used to be a magazine. Assuming it was a misfire or something accidentally went off, the three agreed to keep an eye on the hole: once the hole was completely underwater, that would be their cue to leave.
Just before they left the ship, Wilhelm found something. The captain's journal, untouched by any water and still readable. Opening it, Wilhelm learned the captain and his crew had found gold, but a deadly disease descended on them. The captain began to descend into insanity as the days went by, with his final entry telling the ship was to be scuttled, something he blamed on the gold cursing the ship. Thus, he had thrown it all into the sea, never to be found again.
"I'm not sure if I should be surprised by that," admitted Wyatt. "On one hand, I didn't think there would actually be any gold. On the other hand, I never expected that the gold would've been thrown overboard before the ship wrecked."
"Zee ussers von't be too happy vis zis," said Wilhelm. "On zee bright side, at leascht vee haff zat paintink."
True to his word, Morschtein was furious.
"All zat searchink for nussink?! Idiots! he shouted. "Zis vas all a vaschte of time!"
"Not entirely," said Wilhelm. "Vee schtill haff zat paintink. Help us carry it to zee surface." Morschtein rolled his eyes, grumbling as they carried the painting back to the surface, alongside the journal.
"Oi! Where are your permits?!"
They all froze: the authorities had caught up to them.
"Shoot!" ordered Commander Haus. They all proceeded to do so, Wyatt aiming a pistol.
The shootout ended rather quickly, nobody getting a shot on anybody. It was a Mexican standoff, all sides aiming at each other. The Germans ended up getting away with the painting, Morschtein "accidentally" being left behind.
"Hey, vould any of you cops be intereschted in helpink out a neglected German?" he asked. "I'd like to cut a deal."
"Tell that to the judge. We got information on you from a local worker on the oldest profession."
After the authorities took Morschtein away, Conan and Noah finally arrived. They'd been held up by their uncle Robert, who'd tried to sell them a map of the wreck. Passing him off, they soon made it.
"You got the permit?" asked Conan.
"Sure do," said Noah. "I made sure to check with…" He froze, and looked down, finding an odd book. It was the captain's journal, which the Germans had dropped during their escape.
"Weird… Wanna read this? Could contain important information."
"Since there's nothing better to do, I suppose we can."
Long story short, both were surprised to learn that the gold had been thrown over as a result of being deemed cursed.
"I don't know what to say," said Noah, then gave a sigh. "Actually, I do: maybe it's best we don't go after this gold, if it's cursed, who knows what will happen to us?"
He proceeded to take out his lighter, but was stopped by Conan.
"Maybe we shouldn't burn it," he said. "If more people know it's cursed, maybe fewer will want to try and find it."
"I suppose so," said Noah. "Perhaps we should at least take something of value from this wreck, maybe one of the captain's instruments."
The cabin was nearly completely destroyed. A lot of things were left open and had fallen to the floor. The captain's compass was still there, which they took. Other things included a small chest, a spyglass, and another book. The authorities later came around, and agreed to let them keep the loot once they were shown the permits.
That night, the brothers examined their loot along with Jewelie, who had to admit it was nice to hold some treasure.
"Okay… Let's open this chest," she commanded. Since it was locked, they had to use a bolt cutter. Inside, there were some diamonds and pieces of gold. Jewelie was shocked, before slowly beginning to smile.
"You were right about one thing, Connie. This is going to help raise our son. That doesn't mean you're off the hook for risking your life, you could've been killed, man!"
"Sorry Jewels. I'll go on no more treasure hunting. I promise."
"Good! I hope you won't: this is enough treasure to last us for a long time. And in the future, don't go on adventures without me. You got a pass because I'm pregnant, else I would've gone with you."
Noah wanted a share, but if what the book said was real, there was more out there. He knew he shouldn't, and probably couldn't afford any gear that could help him get it. But even so, the promise of gold was enough to have him at least try to find it. Only thing really stopping him: there were no hints given as to where it had been dumped.
Meanwhile, the remaining Germans were considering their options.
"Vee've loscht our adfantages. Sanks to Morschtein somehow gettink left behind, zey could now be on our trail," said Haus.
"Do not vorry, Kommandant. Zis book vill…" Wilhelm stopped speaking, realising he didn't have the logbook. "Oh dear!"
"No vorries, Vilhelm," soothed Commander Haus. "If vat zat book said about zee gold beink cursed is true, perhaps vee're better off not haffink it. Once vee get zee power of zee magic railvay, Germany vill srife again,"
"Zare is a politician who says zee same sink," said Hermann.
"Who? Zat Austrian? Bah, no German vould fote for an Auschtrian."
"Gentlemen. Since the look for the treasure was a waste of time after all, I say we burn the wreck. My informant has found a clue. The magic railway is at our reach at last."