Apple-achian Treasure by P. D. Workman

Author:P. D. Workman [Workman, P. D.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: pd workman
Published: 2019-05-16T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seventeen

T

he upstairs was no more enlightening than it had been the first time they looked at it. Erin looked again for any hidden panels, notes folded up and stuffed into the cracks of boards, or anything else that might give them a clue as to the hiding place of old Orson’s fabled gold. There was nothing in the house.

Outside, Erin looked out at the forest. If Orson had indeed cleared a field, it was barely detectable a hundred and fifty years later. The trees had reclaimed the area.

There was a scattering of low plants with bright yellow leaves dappling the shadows under the trees. Tennessee autumn came much later than Erin was used to in Maine, but she had noticed some changes and variations in the foliage.

“I’m going to get the map.” Erin returned to the car to get the map to see if there were any other buildings or landmarks marked on it that they should look at.

Erin returned to where Vic was standing.

“Do you see anything?” she asked.

Vic motioned to the trees to their right. “I think there’s a building over there. Maybe some pieces of an old barn.”

Erin squinted, but couldn’t see anything through the trees that looked like a building. She looked at the map in her hand, then she and Vic walked over to have a look. Erin had been looking for a building that was still standing, like the house, so she hadn’t seen the timbers that were on the ground. They walked around the perimeter of the pile of wood pieces, looking down at the ground and the area around for anything that they might have missed.

“You want to look through this?” Vic asked, motioning to the boards. “It could take a while.”

“Let’s just have a quick look,” Erin said. “We can look more later. If it looks promising or if we can’t find anything else.”

They moved in. Erin thought belatedly that they should have brought work gloves and shovels and rakes. Any other implements that would let them handle the old boards and detritus without getting dirty or putting nail holes in their hands. As it was, they handled the boards delicately, trying to avoid slivers or dirt. Or spiders or other crawly creatures that might like hiding in the pile.

“Looks like there was a fire,” Vic pointed out, as they got down a layer and encountered boards that had been blackened to charcoal.

Erin agreed. “I guess that’s why it’s not standing anymore. If he did leave any clues here, they would have been destroyed.”

“Depending on what kind of clues they were. If he left another note with a poem…” Vic wiped her forehead with the back of her arm.

“There could still be a strong box or coins. They would have survived. But chances are, whoever burned it down would already have looked through the debris for anything like that.”

“It might not have been burned down deliberately. Could have been a lantern or a lightning strike. And who knows how long ago.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.