Cave of Discovery

CHAPTER 17 - CONSPIRACY THEORIES

  The rain stopped sometime in the early morning hours. By the time everyone got up, the day was cool and clear.

  The French toast cooled and turned stale while everyone sifted through the bags of coins. Jason was relived once they had told the whole story. Daniel was right about Uncle Matt. After he got over the initial excitement of the rare coins, his thoughts jumped to the practical matter of funding college. The coins were locked in the hotel safe, and Aunt Rosalita made a new batch of French toast.

  Matt suggested they take one of the coins to Standing Bear to get his opinion on its value.

  Silas was just coming out of the store when the boys arrived at the Turtle Island Gift shop. The heavy door thumped closed behind him.

  "See any ghosts out at Haunted Cave?" Silas asked with a sly grin.

  "Maybe," Jason said.

  Silas cackled. "Been doing a little treasure hunting myself." He winked and whispered, "Found some gold." His rasping laugh faded into a wheeze.

  "Gold?" Jason said.

  "Yep. I'm going to go down in history. I made a donation to the museum. They're going to make up one of those engraved plaques with my name on it. Isn't that something?"

  "That's great," Jason said.

  He eyed Jason with a gleam in his eye. "It took me awhile to remember where I saw your face. But you can't fool old Silas for long. Saw you in the cave when I was a lad. You seem to have a connection to the treasure."

  Jason felt the hair stand up on his neck. The old man grinned, and his gold tooth glittered. For a moment Jason could see the young boy with the missing tooth.

  "What did you donate?" Daniel asked.

  "The shiniest gold half eagle you ever saw. I'm sure it was from that other bag I saw McPherson taking off the mule. Don't know what happened to the rest of it, but it proves I was right all along. There was another treasure. A gold treasure." He ambled off up the street toward his old truck talking to himself. "Yep, Silas. They thought you was crazy, but they'll think differently now."

  "I guess we didn't find all the coins," Daniel said.

  He tugged on the door, and they went in. Nita walked up from the back of the store. Her dark hair slid over one shoulder as she tipped her head and smiled at Jason.

  "Are you out making ice cream deliveries?"

  Jason gave her a hesitant grin. Was she making fun of him?

  "We're here to see Standing Bear," Daniel said. "We'd like to get his opinion on a coin."

  She made a face. "Seems to be a popular thing this morning. He's in the back with Bradley." She looked at Jason. "I'm on my way out to make some deliveries that won't melt." She scooped up a package. "If you're around this afternoon I could drop in for a Strike It Rich Sundae."

  Jason nodded, but couldn't think of anything to say. She waved and slipped out the door.

  Daniel gave him a questioning look. "A Strike It Rich Sundae?"

  "Yeah. A?marketing tool?you know?a little ambiance."

  "Uh huh. Very creative. Seems to be a hit."

  "Let's find Standing Bear."

  As they neared the back of the store they heard voices. The door was ajar and Standing Bear was talking.

  "This is a very good forgery. It will fool all but the most observant. How many of these have replaced the real pieces in the museum?"

  "So far about a dozen."

  "And you're sure no one suspects?"

  "I don't think so," Bradley said. "No one but me seems to be the wiser."

  Jason and Daniel exchanged looks of surprise as they backed away from the door. Jason whispered, "Standing Bear used to be friends with Smith. Are they all stealing from the museum?"

  "Bradley wouldn't steal," Daniel whispered back.

  Jason wanted to believe that, but he couldn't forget seeing Bradley put artifacts in his pockets.

  Bradley's voice drifted faintly from the room. "Now that Smith is out of the way, it should make things easier."

  "Yes, and I've been asked to fill in as temporary curator. That will mean we won't have to be so secretive."

  Daniel tugged on his sleeve and motioned to the front door. Jason nodded and turned. A wind chime display suddenly loomed in front of him. Before he knew what was happening his foot bumped the rack. It swayed back and forth, and all the chimes rattled musically. He looked up and saw the ceramic conquistador wobbling on the top. Its menacing eyes stared down at him. Then there was a mass of noise as tinkling glass, rattling wood, and clinking brass all clanked together. With a gasp he reached for the conquistador, but it escaped his grasp and shattered on the floor.

  Standing Bear and Bradley rushed out into the room. They all stood staring at each other with the soft sound of recorded music playing in the background.

  "What happened?" Bradley asked.

  Jason stood the rack up, but the wind chimes were a tangled mess. His face was red as he faced them. "Are you helping Smith steal from the museum?"

  Bradley exchanged looks with Standing Bear.

  "I didn't want to believe it about you," Jason said. "Not even when I saw you put those things in your pocket. I wanted to believe there was another reason. You have to return all that stuff to the museum."

  "We have to find it first," Bradley said softly.

  "That's what the university is paying us to do," Standing Bear said. "Bradley has been working undercover for the last year. We suspect Smith has been stealing the artifacts and replacing them with forgeries, but we haven't been able to prove it."

  Jason let out his breath in a rush. "Then you really aren't stealing from the museum?"

  Standing Bear shook his head. "You can talk to the university and the police chief if you want to check out my story."

  The relief he felt was quickly replaced with embarrassment as he looked down at the mess on the floor. "I'm sorry about the conquistador. I tried to catch it."

  "Don't worry about it. It wasn't one of my favorite pieces. No matter where I put him, he never sold a thing."

  After they cleaned up the mess and straightened the display, they went in the back room. Daniel pulled out the coin.

  "Second one today," Standing Bear said. "Silas was here earlier and brought in one of these. Same year and mintmark. He wanted to donate it to the museum."

  "Seems a bit coincidental to have two of these rare coins show up the same day," Bradley said. "Why don't you tell us the rest of the story?"

  After they told how they found and lost the treasure, they speculated on where Silas found the coin.

  "He must have been to the cave and found one we missed," Daniel said. "We were in a big hurry to get out."

  Standing Bear pulled out the paper he had picked up in the cave. "This is a receipt from 1857. It's written to Peter McPherson from the Dahlonega mint."

  "That's the paper that was in the saddlebag. It fell out when I dropped the bag of coins on Balboa," Daniel said.

  "I believe it refers to the Cherokee treasure I have been searching for," Standing Bear said.

  "The treasure was coins?" Jason asked.

  "Not originally. This was the last clue in a long search, but I think I have finally put all the pieces together. I believe McPherson found the Cherokee gold on his farm. He took it to the Dahlonega mint in Georgia and had it melted down and minted into what are called half eagle coins. Because of the low number of coins struck that year at that mint, these are each worth a fortune."

  "The question," Bradley said, "is what happened to the saddlebags that Smith took?"