Old Sam
“First thing in the morning we need to get cleaned up and go to church,” said Grandpa. “The cemetery will have to wait until after lunch. I wondered if we wanted to go to the Hotdog Heaven to eat after church.”
“Oh yes, oh yes, oh yes.” Chad bounced around the campsite like he was on a pogo stick. “I could eat a hot dog right now.”
“You had supper just an hour ago,” said Grandma. She shook her head. “You are a bottomless pit and the bounciest kid I ever met. I think we should call you Tigger.”
“I found something in town today,” said Slim.
“What?” asked Chad.
“I’ll go get it. Wait here.” Slim ambled over to the pickup, opened the door, and reached under the seat. “I found these at the Main Street Market. I thought maybe we could build another fire tonight.” He held up a bag as he sauntered back over to the circle. “It’s makings for s’mores. Anybody want some?”
A collective cheer rose from the group.
“I guess that’s a yes,” said Slim. “I’ll go to the office for more wood.”
Max thought the morning would never end. He struggled to sit still in Sunday school, and his mind kept wandering in church. We have to get out to the cemetery as fast as we can. Finally, after lunch at Hotdog Heaven, they stopped by the campsite to change clothes then drove out to the cemetery.
As soon as the van rolled to a stop, the doors flew open and the children spilled out like shoppers into Wal-Mart the morning after Thanksgiving. They had planned in detail where each of them would look, so they made a beeline for their assigned areas.
Less than two minutes later a cry shot across the cemetery. “It’s here.” Molly knelt beside the stone and waited for the rest of the family to gather. “See, it’s kind of hard to read, but it says, ‘Old Sam lies here.’”
“Wow! That’s great!” Max threw his cap in the air. “Finally! Now we can follow the directions.”
“Due east from Old Sam,” Carly read from the map.
“East is toward town,” said Brandon. “It’s that way.” He pointed out the gate of the cemetery past the van.
“Between the twin peaks, there’s an out-something on north, and a canyon on south.” Carly paused.
“Outcrop,” said Slim. “See the outcrop toward the north?”
“There must be a canyon to the south then,” said Max. “Let’s go look.”
“Is it on private property?” asked Brandon. “I know we always watch for strangers on our property at home.”
“There’s a house over there.” Molly pointed to the north of the twin peaks.
“Let’s go ask,” said Grandpa. “Maybe they will know who we should ask for permission. Then we won’t have to worry about trespassing.”
A couple of minutes later the van pulled into the yard of an old farmhouse. The simple two-story house with no side additions sticking out from the original building looked taller than it was. The house backed up to a hill and the front of the house faced south.
“I bet they built the house there for protection from the wind,” said Max.
“I’m sure you’re right,” said Grandma. “Especially such a tall house; you sure wouldn’t want it out in the open.”
Max watched as a border collie lifted itself lazily from the porch and sauntered out to meet the van, its tail wagging a slow welcome. The dog finally started barking when the van pulled to a stop.
“Max and Carly, you’re closest to the door; why don’t you come with me and we’ll go see if anyone is home,” Grandpa said.
By the time they rounded the van, the front door opened and a man stepped out. Medium height with a red bushy beard, he wore blue jeans and a long-sleeved work shirt. He pulled a feed cap on his head, smiled at Grandpa, and stretched out his hand.
“Hi! I’m Duncan Roberts. What can I do for you?”
Grandpa reached out and shook the younger man’s hand. “I’m Milton Johnson, and these are my grandkids, Max and Carly.” He nodded to the two and turned halfway to the van to include the rest of the group. “We are here trying to solve an old family mystery.”
“Milton Johnson?” Duncan turned toward the house and shouted, “Mother . . . your friends are here!” Then he turned back to Grandpa. “My mother-in-law Helen came home yesterday bubbling over. She was the most excited we have seen her in months . . . well, really since my father-in-law died.”
The door opened again and out came Helen. When she saw Carly she looked past her to the van and burst into laughter. She raised her arms in the air and did a little jig, carefully turning in a circle. By the time she had turned around to face the van again, Grandma was climbing the steps. The two women met in a hug.
When the excitement settled down, the whole family was invited into the big farmhouse kitchen.
“We’ve followed the clues this far,” explained Max when Duncan asked what he could do for them. He pulled out his copy of the map and handed it to Duncan. “See, we found Old Sam’s tombstone and the twin peaks, the outcrop, and we thought we should ask permission before we started searching on someone else’s property.”
Duncan read over the poem then looked at the other side of the map. “What do you think this part is?”
Max bit his lip. “We have no idea. We think they must have buried something, or hid something, but we don’t know what the other part has to do with it.”
“We thought maybe it was the East and West Willow Creek divide at first,” said Carly. “But now . . .”
Duncan pulled his hat off and hung it on a hook. “I think I know where you need to go.” He looked at his wife, Leah. “Remember the cave, honey?”
She nodded. “Yep, that’s up a canyon south of the outcrop.”
“A cave.” Molly clapped her hands together. “That would be perfect.”
“Yep, it sure would.” Duncan’s eyes sparkled. “I spent a lot of my childhood exploring that cave. I used to dream of buried treasure. And now . . .”
“Did you tell the rest of your family about the bank robbery?” Helen’s face grew serious.
“Yes, we did. But we found a receipt that we believe proves it couldn’t have been Matthew and Zach.” Carly grinned at her. “We were sure relieved.”
“Well, at least Zach.” Dorie said. “It’s a receipt for the date of the robbery from a clock repair place in Creede. Zach’s signed it.”
“Oh, wonderful,” Helen said. “I sure hated the thought that it could be them.”
“Can you take us to the cave?” Chad tugged on Duncan’s sleeve. “We really, really want to find out what happened.”
Duncan grinned at the boy. “Nothing would make me happier, son, but I can’t today. I have to go to work in a few minutes.” He looked at Grandpa. “I work evenings on the weekends at one of the stores downtown to make a little extra money. Ranching is getting harder and harder these days.”
“Son, I understand. We ranch too, and it’s a constant struggle.” Grandpa stood up. “We should get out of your way so you can get off to work.”
“If you’ll be here at eight in the morning I’ll be happy to take you over there,” Duncan said.
“That would be awesome,” said Max. “We can be here then, can’t we?” he asked.
“You bet! We sure can,” Grandpa said.
“Don’t worry about lunch. We’ll fix something here,” said Leah.
“Do you want us to bring something?” asked Dorie. “We can cook this afternoon.”
“No, don’t worry. I’ll stay here with these two young ladies.” She nodded at Grandma and Helen. “They can help me if I need it.”
“Thank you, ma’am,” said Slim.
Duncan shook hands with all the boys and men. Then he put his feed cap back on and said, “You folks come on back tomorrow and we’ll get this mystery licked.”
Max slumped in his chair and let his head hang back. “Aughh! I think I’ll die before tomorrow.”
The next morning at eight o’clock on the dot the van pulled into the driveway of the ranch. This time the dog bounced up and started barking immediately.
“I guess he was taking his Sunday afternoon nap yesterday,” said Max. “He’s a lot more energetic now.”
Duncan came out onto the porch, a huge smile on his face. “You sure aren’t late, are you?” he said.
“These kids would have been here at 5:00 a.m. if you’d asked them to,” Grandpa said.
“I’m glad you’re here.” Duncan dropped his voice. Max stepped closer to hear better. “Do you know a guy in a blue pickup?”
Grandpa nodded slowly. “It’s okay, we all know about him.” He waved his arm to the group. “He asked if we know a guy in a blue pickup.”
“Dexter,” said Carly. “Why?”
“He stopped by last evening.” Duncan grinned at Leah, who stood on the porch. “I didn’t see him, but Leah told me he came by asking if we knew of any buried treasure around here.”
“That’s subtle.” Dorie rolled her eyes.
Leah laughed. “That’s what I thought too. He was kind of creepy so I didn’t come out of the house.” Leah tucked her hands in her jeans pockets. “I told him he’d have to come back when Duncan was home, but I also told him Duncan had an appointment today.”
Carly grinned. “Thanks. Dexter is related to Matthew, one of the men we are searching for, but we think he stole one of our maps.”
“So he has all of this information?” asked Duncan.
“Not really,” said Max. “It was before we had the map fixed by the document restoration expert so there were a lot of missing words.”
“Well, let’s get going,” Duncan said. “We’ll have the cell phone if you need us, Leah. Call if he shows up. We’ll take the van as close as we can get, then we’ll hike.”
“Sure thing,” Leah answered. “Call us when you decide to come down for lunch; then we can have it ready when you get here.”
Twenty minutes later they were halfway from the van up to the outcrop. The chilly morning air made Carly shiver. “That breeze is cold.” Carly zipped her windbreaker and slapped her arms together.
“I know,” said Molly. “But it’s such a pretty morning. Listen to the birds. It reminds me of Grandpa’s pasture. Only colder.” She shivered.
“You’ll warm up in a few minutes.” Duncan grinned at the girls. “It’s all uphill from here. If that doesn’t warm you up, I don’t know what will.”
Duncan was right. Ten minutes later, Carly peeled off the jacket and wrapped it around her waist. She tied the sleeves in a knot in front of her. Her breath came fast as she leaned forward to climb the incline.
Soon they came to the end of the canyon. “From here we climb,” said Duncan. “What does the poem say after the part about racing down the canyon?”
“It says twenty long somethings,” said Carly. “We thought paces because it would kind of rhyme with race.”
Duncan scratched his head. “I think it’s farther than twenty steps up there.”
“Could a horse climb up here?” said Max.
Slim stared at Max and then nodded. “I think I know what you mean. Zach had his horse, Corp. They pretty much went everywhere on horseback. Maybe it’s twenty paces to a horse?”
Max grinned. “That’s what I wondered.”
“Well, let’s go,” Duncan suggested. “What’s the line after that?”
“Something about looking to right, it’s in your sight,” said Molly.
“I’m not sure what that means,” Duncan said.
They scrambled single file up the side of the canyon. “There’s the entrance to the cave,” Duncan said. “I’ve counted about forty steps.” He pointed up to the right, to a dark spot barely visible through the rocks and trees.
“Wow, you sure wouldn’t spot it if you didn’t already know it was there,” said Brandon.
“No kidding,” Max wiped the sweat off his forehead with the back of his hand.
“It’s kind of neat to think Zach and Matthew were right here,” said Carly. She turned and looked back the way they had come. “Hey look, someone’s down there.” She pointed back down the canyon toward the cemetery. “I saw something move.”