Box of Rocks by Karla Telega

Author:Karla Telega
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: murder, mystery, humor, women sleuths, some adult content
Publisher: Karla Telega

“It’s just on the other side of this ridge,” Paul explained. “I think the original entrance was covered by a landslide long before the 1852 gold rush in the area.”

Sam took his cue and started up the trail from the road spur. As they passed the four vertical mine shafts, he strained to see as far down as he could, but the chain link prevented him from getting close enough to judge the depth. A sign indicated that this was the Parsons Mountain goldmine.

They trudged up the trail another 20 minutes until they made the summit. Spurred on by the excitement of discovery, they didn’t even pause at the top to admire the breathtaking hills covered in the gold of autumn leaves. The trail going down the other side turned into a gully between ever steepening banks. They soon reached the bottom to find a large clearing surrounded by southern pine forest. The ground was packed solid, still showing traces of the grooves and ruts from ore cars and wagons in its petrified surface.

For 500 feet along the hillside to the right of the trail’s end, walls of granite rose above the clearing. Roughly in the middle of this wall was what they came for. A mine entrance stood, guarded only by a stretch of chain link fence. The men dropped their camping gear, pulled out their lanterns and hurried to the fence. On the right side of the mouth of the mineshaft, there was plenty of room to slide in between the end of the fence and the rock wall. One hundred yards in, Paul passed a shaft leading to the right without slowing down. Sam was looking down constantly, trying not to trip over the rails for the ore cars. The dust they kicked up hung suspended, reflecting in the glow of their lanterns.

Sam had totally lost track of how quickly they were descending under the mountain, when Paul stopped short. He was shining his light at the base of the wall on their right, where Sam could make out a dark horizontal seam. At the center of the seam was a low opening just large enough for a man to crawl through.

“This is the entrance to the natural cave,” Paul said.

“That’s going to be a tight squeeze.”

“Maybe we’ll need to set a weight limit for students who want to dig. What do you think, Sam, you want to go first?”

“I’ll take a pass on that, since you know the caves.”

Paul got on his hands and knees and crawled through the opening, followed closely by Sam. The entrance opened up after just a few feet. They emerged into a large vaulted cavern.

“I don’t know how long that gap has been there between the mine and the caves, but it’s the only access I’ve found so far.” Paul’s voice echoed through the chamber.

They heard the sound of running water, and headed in that direction. Here and there, splotches of white paint on the cave floor marked the way.

Sam brushed the dirt off his pant legs.

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