she sensed that Kirk was in danger.
The journal was filled with the major sales of cattle, major expenses, and mentioned important events on the ranch. One of the things it mentioned was a cave on the property that was well hidden. It was used as a vault for the family’s valuables. Robert’s father had stored many gold coins there for safekeeping before Texas fought Mexico for independence.
Mara found the last few entries to be very interesting. In June of 1899, Robert wrote that William Norman’s lease had expired and Robert was going to meet with him near the cave, to discuss the sale of the property. Robert mentioned that the legal papers, including the lease and the property deeds and other legal papers were in the cave.
Robert had put the papers in the cave, after there was a mysterious fire at the courthouse that had destroyed several files. The main house at the Red Rock Ranch had been ransacked soon afterwards, as if someone had been looking for something specific. Fortunately, Robert had already moved the legal papers to the cave.
Jake wanted to show the journal to his parents, but Mara told him that without the legal documents, the journal would not stand up in court. “We have to find the cave and get those documents to the court house by two o’clock tomorrow afternoon. We will have to start searching for the cave early in the morning.”
“Do you have any idea how big this ranch is?” asked Jake. “It covers over one hundred thousand acres. It could take days to find that cave, if it does exist.”
“We don’t have days” said Mara. “We have less than twenty-four hours.”
That night, Mara dreamed about the cave again. This time, she made mental notes of landmarks near the cave, to help them find it the next day. Mara also saw something in her dream that disturbed her a great deal. She saw Kirk lying motionless on the ground, near some large rocks.
Early the next morning, Mara, Karen and Jake were up before sunrise, and they were very quiet, so they would not wake up the grownups. Mara and Karen packed a lunch for the three of them and Jake filled three canteens with cold water. Before they left, Karen wrote a note, saying that they were going riding and that they would meet their parents and grandparents at the courthouse at two o’clock that afternoon. Then, they quietly went to the stables, saddled up the horses and rode away from the ranch house.
By nine o’clock, they had seen no sign of any caves. After another half hour, Mara began to recognize landmarks from her dream.
“What kind of tree is that?” Mara asked. “I think it is a Willow, Mara,” said Karen. “Me too” said Jake.Mara knew they were close to the cave.
After another twenty minutes, they stopped near a pile of rocks that had slid off the mountain. “I think that the cave is here, under this pile of rocks,” said Mara. “I think that a rock slide has covered the cave entrance.”
The three of them dismounted and began moving the rocks. After working for over an hour, they found the opening to the cave. They moved more rocks, to enlarge the opening.
Mara hesitated at the entrance of the cave, as dozens of dreams about a cave-in made her quite nervous around caves. She finally got up the nerve, and ventured into the cave. Jake and Karen followed close behind her. When they were inside the cave, they turned on their flashlights and began looking around the cave. In the back of the cave, they saw something lying on the ground.
Mara walked closer and saw that it was a body, or rather what was left of a body. It was now just a skeleton. It was wearing boots, blue jeans, a red cotton shirt and a brown leather vest. Lying beside the body was an old cowboy hat. Mara walked closer and knelt beside the body. Karen and Jake stayed behind Mara. Neither of them wanted to get any closer to the body.
Mara had a good idea as to the identity of the body, and as she touched the bones, a flood of images filled her mind. The body was indeed, that of Robert King. From her mental images, Mara soon knew what had happened to him. Mr. King had gone to the cave to get the legal papers. Before he could retrieve them, William Norman; John Norman’s great grandfather, ambushed him.
Mara saw two holes in the vest and when she unbuttoned the vest, she saw two bullets lying inside the ribcage. Mara picked up the bullets and put them in her pocket. As she was closing the vest, she felt something. She looked inside the vest and saw a pocket with some folded papers inside. Mara took out the papers and carefully unfolded them. She read them aloud to Karen and Jake;
“To whoever finds my body, this is my last will and testament. I came to this cave to meet with William Norman to discuss the purchase price of his ranch. Fifty years ago, William’s grandfather leased one hundred thousand acres of land from my grandfather. According to the agreement that William’s grandfather signed, his family would lease the land for fifty years, and then pay full market price for the land once the lease expired. The lease was due to expire this month- June 1899. If he chose not to purchase the land, the land would revert to the King family.
I came to retrieve the original lease and the deeds to the land before my meeting with William, but, before I could do so, William shot me, telling me that with the documents in the courthouse destroyed by the fire, that he had set, no one would ever know about the lease agreement and the land would be his forever. William caved in rocks in front of the cave, so that if the bullets did not kill me, I would be buried alive, and nobody would ever find my body.
I know that I am dying, but hopefully, someone will find this will and set the record straight as to the rightful owner of the land. I hereby bequeath all two hundred thousand acres of land, which the Red Rock Ranch and the Wagon Wheel Ranch currently occupy, to my family, my wife Agnes and my son Randolph. The deeds and other family papers are hidden in this cave, along with the family gold.
I want my family to know that I leave this life reluctantly, and that I love them very much.
Robert J. King June 24th, 1899”
Mara carefully folded up the will and placed it in her backpack, and then the three of them began looking for the gold and legal papers. After searching, and not finding anything, they were ready to admit defeat, when Mara glanced up, and noticed that near the roof of the cave, there was a rock ledge. She tried to reach it, but she was too short. Jake tried also, but even he was not tall enough. Since Mara was the lightest of the three, Jake gave her a boost, and she was able to grab hold of the ledge and pull herself up.
When she was up on the narrow ledge, she saw two iron boxes. She opened the first one and found several legal documents. She put them in her backpack and then opened the other box. It was filled with gold coins. Some were Spanish gold doubloons and some were U.S. twenty dollar gold pieces dating from 1800-1840. The box was too heavy to lift, so Mara took a handful of the coins and put them in her backpack as well.
Jake helped Mara climb back down. Mara, Karen and Jake went outside to look at the documents in the light. They realized that the documents would save the ranch. They mounted up, and prepared to head for the courthouse. Suddenly, Mara got a vision that was like her dream the night before. She saw Kirk lying motionless on the ground. Her psychic instincts kicked into high gear, and she rode off, with Jake and Karen following her.
Fifteen minutes later, they spotted Kirk lying on the ground, partly concealed by some small boulders. They quickly dismounted and ran over to Kirk. Mara felt for a pulse, and Kirk began to move. Jake gave him some water from his canteen, because he looked quite dehydrated.
Mara asked Kirk what happened. “I was shot by my stepfather” replied Kirk weakly. “He also broke my leg.”
“Why did he shoot you?” asked Karen.
“I was snooping around his office” said Kirk, “and I noticed that his safe was not closed all of the way. I found a document that proved that the ranch did not belong to him. His ancestors only leased the property from your ancestors. The lease expired in 1899.”
“John came into the office, just as I
was putting the document back into the safe. He thought that I was taking it out. He took it away from me, put it back in the safe, and locked it. He had no idea that I had already photocopied the document.”
“Yesterday, he drove me out here and told me that I would never tell anyone about the lease. He planned to kill me. I stalled for time. I got him to admit that he knew about the lease and that his great grandfather was the one who stole the legal documents from the courthouse and then burned a bunch of files to cover his tracks. I taped the entire conversation on my mini- tape recorder. It’s in my pocket.”
“Where did he shoot you?” asked Jake.
“In the chest” said Kirk, “but my cell phone deflected the bullet into my shoulder. You have to stop my stepfather from getting away with this. You must stop him from taking your ranch.”
Karen looked at her watch. “It is one thirty now. We will never make it to the court house in time.”
“Mara can get there in time,” said Jake. “She’s the fastest rider that I have ever seen.” Mara tried to look surprised, but John added; “Mara, I have seen you riding and I know that you tried to make me look good. I know that you are a better rider than I am. Now go and save the ranch. Karen and I will stay with Kirk, until you can