Watchkeeper by Debra Glass

Author:Debra Glass
Language: eng
Format: epub

Chapter Eight

Impatient, Gwen watched as Stede set the metal detector aside, took up one of the shovels and pushed it into the sandy earth.

“How deep down is it?” Gwen asked.

“About three feet.”

Gwen knew she’d probably just be in the way but she seized the other shovel and helped dig. Whereas Stede shoveled large quantities of earth from the ever-deepening hole, Gwen only managed a piddling amount. Still, she felt as if she were contributing and she was too anxious to just stand around and watch.

It took far longer than she had suspected to dig a three-foot hole. A bead of perspiration rolled downward between her breasts and she stopped digging to catch her breath and peel her drenched tank away from her chest.

Stede hastily brushed the sweat from his forehead with the back of his wrist and then went back to digging. The muscles in his arms bulged as he tossed shovelfuls of dirt to the side.

Gwen’s own arms burned from the strain and she had worked up a nasty blister by the time she heard the point of Stede’s shovel ping as it came into contact with something solid.

Their gazes collided and then he began to dig in earnest.

Gwen stared, astounded as he kneeled and furiously swept the soil away from the top of a chest with his hands.

The treasure’s here! It’s really here!

Her heart thudded hard against her rib cage. All the pirate movies she’d seen and the books she’d read had not prepared her for this moment. She was excited and thrilled and anxious all at the same time.

Stede had buried this treasure here three centuries ago and although she’d known he’d lived that life, somehow this cemented it. A strange sense of terror shook her to the core.

“Look!” Stede exclaimed.

Gwen had expected the coffer to be dark and secured with rusted metal bands. She was not disappointed.

Instead of the wood having rotted with time, it had been preserved by some sort of mineralizing process, doubtless from centuries in the sandy soil.

With a grunt, Stede stretched out on the ground and reached into the hole with both hands, grabbing the chest by the sides to wriggle it loose. Gwen dropped as well and 88

Watchkeeper

clutched a metal ring on the top. Her arm and shoulder burned as she tugged and jerked. She couldn’t wait to see inside—to see and touch real pirate treasure. She wanted to roll in it and drape herself in jewels. Hardly able to contain her excitement, she pulled hard on the ring.

Although Stede was excited, his giddiness didn’t nearly match hers and Gwen had to remind herself this probably wasn’t the first time he’d dug up a treasure chest.

The chest finally snapped away from its earthen bonds and, groaning, Stede heaved it out of the hole and dropped it heavily on the ground. He rolled onto his back and sighed a deep breath.

Gwen was elated. She leapt to her feet and then joyously stepped to where Stede lay before she straddled him and sank. “We did it!” she exclaimed, pummeling his chest and shoulders playfully.

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