Primitive- a Bones Bonebrake Adventure by David Wood

Author:David Wood [Wood, David]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: action, Adventure, Men's Adventure, Women's Adventure, Mystery, thriller, pulp thriller, bones, dane maddock, skunk ape, bigfoot, myths & legends, ancient mysteries, cryptids, cryptozoology, paranormal
Publisher: Adrenaline Press
Published: 2015-10-29T06:00:00+00:00

Chapter 9

Of all the various parts of the galleon, the cargo hold had suffered the most from the intrusion of soil and water. Toward the bow of the ship, where the hull had been split when the ship ran aground, the dark mud lay knee deep, descending to a depth of several inches toward the stern. But it did little to cover the crates that lay all around, scattered and broken by the wreck so many centuries ago.

Carly clapped her hands and Dave let out a whoop of triumph as the beam of Bones’ light glinted off blocks of gold and silver bullion and scattered gold chains. Here and there, jewels sparkled like stars in the dark mire. Trying but failing to suppress a grin, Slater discussed the find at length for the benefit of the camera.

“Why so many gold chains?” Dave asked.

Bones knew the answer to this one. “Tax evasion. The Spanish crown placed a tariff on precious metals, but jewelry was exempt. Europeans didn’t do much in the way of fine craftsmanship in the New World, but they could make rough chains and rings like what you see here, and that was good enough to get around the law.”

“Why not make it all into jewelry?” Carly asked.

“I guess it’s one of those things you can only take so far. The crown would look past a certain amount of circumvention as long as it made its share from the transportation of New World treasure, but if it got out of hand, they’d have eliminated the exemption. Nobody wanted to be the one that killed the goose that laid the golden egg.”

“Speaking of eggs,” Slater said. “Have you seen anything like this before?” She pointed to a small crate filled with dirt, straw, and mud-encrusted egg-shaped objects caked in mud.

“I’ve never seen one up close, but I’ve read about them.” He knelt beside the crate, took out his recon knife, and scraped away the mud that encased one of the strange objects. “These are bezoars.”

“You’re kidding,” Dave and Carly said in unison.

“What are bezoars?” Slater asked.

“Somebody hasn’t read Harry Potter,” Dave said.

“A bezoar is a sort of stone formed from material found in the digestive tracts of two-stomached animals. Given that this is a Spanish ship, we’re probably looking at stones from a llama or alpaca since those were found in the major Spanish colonies. And, just like in Harry Potter, people believed a bezoar could absorb poison. Somebody rich enough to buy one would dip it in his cup of wine before drinking it, just in case his enemies had tried to poison his cup.”

“I take it they were pretty valuable?” Slater asked.

“Very, and not just because of their supposed properties. Being able to afford one was a status symbol. People would have them carved, mounted in a gold setting, and would wear them as jewelry.”

“Did they work?” Dave asked. “I mean, do they really absorb poison?”

Bones chuckled. “Tell you what. When we get back to town, we’ll put rat poison in a beer, drop one of these in, and you can drink it.

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