Cave of Discovery

CHAPTER 16 - KEEP THE CHANGE

  I guess we should go down and pick up the change,"

  Daniel said with an attempt at a laugh.

  Jason looked at him. "We had it. There was a treasure, and we had it in our hands. He just walked off with it."

  "Come on," Daniel said. "There may not be much left, but we don't want anyone else to wander through and scoop it up."

  They picked their way down the side of the hill, and Jason clenched his fists.

  "I could have carried another bag," he said. "Maybe even two more."

  Tuffs of grass pulled at his shoes. Something was always holding him back. He felt helpless. Helpless about the move. Helpless about keeping the treasure. The weeds thinned out, and his feet crunched on loose gravel. He kicked a rock, and his foot slipped. Twisting around he tried to catch his balance, but landed on his arm and scraped his elbow.

  Daniel started to offer him help, but he scrambled to his feet and brushed off the dirt. He was hot and sweaty and barely felt the scratches.

  They finally reached the cave opening, and Daniel switched on his flashlight. The light revealed wet spots on the ground. Jason realized it was blood. Real blood. Suddenly the gold didn't seem quite so important.

  "His leg must have been cut bad by the sword," he said. "That's why he was limping."

  "Let's get the coins and get out," Daniel said. "I don't want to be here if Balboa comes back."

  Jason's scratched arm began to throb. His fingers were cold and ached, and his mind was numb as they gathered up all the coins they could find. He was careful not to step on any of the dark wet spots as they left the cave. He thought back to their first meeting with Balboa when he waved the dagger at them. It hadn't seemed so real then.

  They hurried out of the cave. The warm afternoon sun felt good, and he finally stopped shaking.

  "You okay?" Daniel said.

  Jason nodded. "I guess we should let someone know he's hurt."

  "Mom and Dad won't be home for hours."

  "It looks like he's losing a lot of blood. Where do you think he was heading?"

  "Let's check the museum. If we don't find him there, we'll talk to Bradley."

  "Is it still open?"

  Daniel glanced at his watch. "We should have enough time."

  They tried to hurry, but their legs were tired. Jason felt like they had been walking for hours. The warmth that had felt so good now became oppressive, and the weight of the coins added to their discomfort.

  "What are we going to say when we get there?" Daniel asked. "We can't say he was attacked by a ghost."

  "How about someone dressed up in armor?"

  "Do we mention the gold?"

  "Not yet," Jason said.

  "It's not stolen. I mean we found it. It should belong to us."

  "It should belong to us, but we're just kids. They may not let us keep it. Once Smith tells everyone about the treasure, they may want us to give up the coins we have."

  When they got to the museum, there was no sign of the sports car. The gift shop clerk was locking the door.

  "Wait!" Jason shouted as he hobbled up the steps.

  She looked up and scowled. "We're closed," she said. Stepping back inside she pulled the door shut. Jason caught the handle before it latched.

  "Let go of the door," she snapped. "I told you we're closed. No barging through lines this time."

  "But Mr. Smith is hurt," Jason said. "We need to talk to Bradley."

  "None of your tricks this time, young man. You probably don't even know Mr. Smith. And Bradley is gone for the day!" She yanked on the door snapping the dead lock into place. He saw her satisfied smirk through the smoked glass. "Come back tomorrow," came her muffled voice. He pounded on the door, but she turned and walked down the hall.

  He slumped back to where Daniel was waiting. "Now what?"

  "How about Standing Bear?"

  They trudged over to Treasure Avenue. Only the restaurants were still open. They stopped in front of the Turtle Island shop. Jason tried to catch his breath as he tugged on the door. It wouldn't open.

  Daniel pushed him aside and squeezed the latch. Jason noticed his shirt was wet. "You're sweating," he said.

  "And you're not?" He swung the door open and air conditioning swept over them.

  "I was just closing?." Standing Bear said as he looked toward the door. He stopped when he saw the boys. "What's wrong?"

  "Smith has been hurt," Jason blurted out.

  Standing Bear stiffened. "Where is he?"

  "We don't know," Daniel said. "But we think he's bleeding."

  "He drove off in his car, but he's not at the museum."

  "Bradley's not there either so we came to you."

  A look of anxiety crossed Standing Bear's face. "Bradley? What happened to Bradley? Is he hurt?"

  Jason shook his head.

  Standing Bear took a deep breath and said, "Let's start over. Why don't you tell me everything."

  Jason began with how they were exploring the cave and found the passageway behind the pool. Standing Bear looked surprised but said, "Go on."

  He told about getting to the top and looking down into the main chamber. Then they saw Smith and someone dressed in armor.

  Jason hesitated. "It was Balboa," he said. Standing Bear met his eyes and nodded.

  "They argued," Jason continued. "Balboa attacked Smith with his sword but he got away. He escaped in his car and Balboa disappeared. It took us awhile to get down the hill and around to the front of the cave. There was blood on the ground."

  "Balboa must have cut him with the sword," Daniel said.

  "I'll call the police and ask them to meet us at the cave," Standing Bear said.

  They found chairs and sat down while Standing Bear made the call. Jason wanted to take off his shoes. His feet were hot, and his legs felt like lead. Daniel didn't look like he felt much better.

  Standing Bear locked up the shop and led the way to his pickup truck. As they sped toward the cave, Jason's stomach rumbled. He realized it had been hours since they had eaten anything.

  The police car was already there when they pulled up to the bus stop. They entered the cave and Daniel turned the lights on. The officers walked around the chamber taking notes and speaking in low murmurs among themselves.

  Jason sidestepped the blood spots and followed Daniel into the center of the chamber. It all seemed like a bad dream. Standing Bear stooped down, picked up a slip of paper, and tucked it in his pocket.

  Before Jason could say something to Daniel, one of the policemen said, "Here's the weapon!"

  They all rushed over. Several large flashlights lit up the dark corner. A sword lay up against the wall where it had landed when Balboa disappeared. The blade was stained, and Jason turned his head away.

  "I think I'll take the boys to get some dinner if you won't be needing us anymore," Standing Bear said to one of the policemen. He nodded absentmindedly.

  They stopped for hamburgers and shakes on the way back to the Silver Lode. Standing Bear was very interested in the passageway and the ledge where Daniel had slipped. He asked about the petroglyphs and if there were any artifacts in the passageway.

  It was starting to get dark when he dropped them off at the hotel. As Jason slung his backpack over his shoulder the coins shifted, and there was a clinking sound. Standing Bear raised a questioning eyebrow.

  "Thanks for dinner," Jason said quickly. He swung the door closed and stepped back. Standing Bear put the truck in gear. Before driving away he said, "I'll let you know if I hear anything about Smith."

  The boys hurried upstairs. Jason dropped his pack on the bed. "Well how was I supposed to know the coins were going to shift like that? Do you think he suspects anything?"

  "Not now. But what happens when they find Smith? They'll know there was a treasure and wonder why we didn't say something. Why didn't we say something?"

  "This is all we have left of the treasure! I don't want to lose this too."
He collapsed on the bed. "Everything's wrong. We should have had the whole treasure. Now the police are involved. Smith might be bleeding to death somewhere out on the highway, and Standing Bear wonders why I didn't tell him everything."

  Daniel laughed. "We can't just spend the treasure. We'll have to tell someone about it sooner or later."

  Jason sat up. "We could sell the coins on E-Bay. You know, setup a PayPal account."

  "Too hard to explain to Dad."

  "How about an ad in a treasure magazine?"

  "I can imagine the commotion that would cause. We'd have to pay for the ad up front and explain where we got a bag of gold coins."

  "How about getting Standing Bear to be our agent," Jason said.

  "Now that's a possibility. We'd have to tell him the whole story though."

  There was a knock on the door, and Matt looked in. "We're back. Bradley said you boys had quite an adventure today. Are you okay?"

  "Bradley? How did Bradley get involved? What did he say?" Daniel asked.

  "Standing Bear told him the whole story. He called Katie because he was worried about you guys. Are you sure you're okay? Have you had supper?"

  "We're fine. Standing Bear took us out for burgers."

  "Well, clean up and come down. Your mom's worried about you, but I don't want her to see you looking like that."

  They changed clothes and hurried down. When they entered the room, Rosalita rushed over. She fussed over them and hugged them tight, wrapping one arm around each of them and crushing them to her. Even Katie came over and hugged them both.

  In the middle of the commotion Matt called, "Hey, it looks like you made the news. Come and hear."

  He turned up the TV. A stylish young woman stood at the entrance to the cave. There was a breeze, and one strand of hair kept sweeping across her face. She stared into the camera with wide eyes. Her voice was animated as she emphasized all her points.

  "Not only were spots of what appears to be blood found at the entrance to the cave, but the police have reported finding a sword inside. Two witnesses, whose identities have not been released, reported that Victor Smith, the curator of Treasure Town Museum, was attacked by a strange person wearing armor." She rolled her eyes and drawled out the next few words. "But the story gets even more bizarre."

  The picture on the screen switched to a raging river. The camera zoomed in on the wreckage of the gray Miata. Jason cringed.

  The voice of the reporter continued. "Just a few hours ago, Mr. Smith was rescued from this flood of furious water. Officers think he was thrown from the car when it crashed into the river. The strong current carried him about a mile downstream. Fortunately his shirt was caught and entangled in the branches of a tree that had fallen in the water. When the rescuers found him, he was unconscious. They flew him to shock trauma where he's being treated for a concussion."

  The camera switched back to the reporter. She leaned toward the camera and dropped her voice to a conspiratorial tone. "They also found a long gash on his leg that seems to be complicated by a serious case of - frostbite."

  Katie sniffed. "Frostbite? That's pretty unlikely. She's all sensationalism." The station went to a commercial and she switched off the TV.

  "They never mentioned the chain on the gate," Matt said.

  "It wasn't there when the police arrived," Daniel said.

  Rosalita's voice trembled as she said, "Who would do such a horrible thing to children?"

  Jason and Daniel exchanged looks of amusement.

  "Maybe he was protecting the petroglyphs, or wanted to keep everyone out so he could explore the tunnel himself," Katie said.

  A scowl crossed Matt's face. "And not heard them calling for help? It's more likely that whoever it was had a more sinister motive. Maybe he wanted to force the boys to explore it for him."

  "That's enough," Rosalita said. "It's been a long day. I think we all should get some sleep, and we'll talk it over in the morning."

  When the boys got back to their room Jason opened the window. There was a warm breeze that carried the promise of rain. Occasional lightening flashed across the sky.

  He was tired, but the gold pulled at him. He loosened the string on the bag and took out a handful of coins. They were heavy as he poured them through his fingers from one hand to the other. He passed one to Daniel.

  "The eagle is almost three dimensional," Jason said as he examined one of the coins. The lamplight reflected off its gleaming surface as he turned it over.

  "How much do you think they're worth?" Daniel asked.

  "Twenty years."

  "What?"

  "He said they had cost him twenty years," Jason said.

  Daniel gazed at his coin. "The news didn't say anything about the saddlebags with the rest of the gold. I wonder if he had it with him, or if he stashed it somewhere."

  "Or maybe they just didn't report it."

  "Maybe."

  The curtains flapped in the breeze like a visitor tapping on the window. Jason said, "What do you think Uncle Matt will say when we show him the coins?"

  Daniel grinned. "Well, at first he'll find them pretty interesting. Once the excitement dies down, he'll talk about saving for college. That's what he always thinks about. Since I'm not likely to get a scholarship like Katie."

  A cricket chirped outside as a soft rain started falling. Then Daniel said, "So we're going to tell the whole story tomorrow?"

  Jason nodded. "The whole story."