CHAPTER TWENTY
Jake didn’t like dark, closed-in places. He especially didn’t like the fact that this one appeared to be an unstable cave and that fattened Black Angus cattle were probably tromping around overhead. The air in the cavern smelled musty and his nose itched. Tree roots poked through the cavern ceiling like tentacles clinging to the stalactites.
His father shined the flashlight around. “Hope there’s not a nest of rattlers in here.”
“Thanks for that image, Dad. Makes me feel so much better.”
Dad caught up with him. “Hmph, I owed you for the cave in comment.”
Jake directed his own flashlight at the cave floor. “Look, those must be Harmon Terry’s boot prints. Kind of eerie knowing we’re walking where he walked over a hundred and twenty years ago.”
“Especially since we know this treasure got him killed. What do you aim to do with whatever you find?”
“Guess we’ll do like those wealthy Kennedy’s motto said, ‘Save some, spend some, give some away.’ We could do a lot of good with the amount this should be worth.”
“Proud of you for thinking like that. We have all we need but there are a lot of folks who don’t have anything.”
“Dad, see those boxes?” Jake rushed toward them.
The lid of one was askew. His father shined a light on the contents then reached inside.
“Gold.” He held up a gold bar. “Would you look at this? Never thought I’d hold anything even remotely like it. It’s heavy, too.”
“Look at the number of boxes. What are we gonna do about getting them where we can have them assayed and deposited in the bank?”
His dad took out his cell phone. “Let’s call Caleb.” He shook his phone. “I’ll go outside. You come, too, in case this really is about to fall in.”
“Suits me. I can’t get out of this place fast enough.” Jake wasn’t afraid of the dark. He wasn’t afraid of caves. He just didn’t like them. No spelunking for him.
They made their way to fresh air.
Penny and Sally stared at them expectantly.
Penny closed the notebook. “Well? Did you find a treasure?”
Howard held up the gold bar. “You mean like this? There are boxes full of these.” He turned back to Jake. “We should have counted them, shouldn’t we?”
Sally’s eyes widened and she touched the gold. “I never dreamed the story was true.”
Penny blinked and looked at him. “Boxes of them?”
Jake nodded and punched in Caleb’s number. When his cousin answered, Jake said, “Can you come back to the ranch?
Caleb’s voice sounded terse. “I’ve missed too much work lately. If I worked for me I’d have fired me by now.”
“Sit down because I have big news. We found the Old El Paso Trail Treasure.”
“Have you cracked up? I remember when you and Bart looked for that until Uncle Howard fell into one of your holes.”
“Listen, Caleb, I’m not making this up. There’s a second safe in Penny’s room on the other side of the fireplace mantel. Had a map her father drew when he found the treasure.”
Caleb didn’t sound convinced. “So, you expect me to bring a shovel and a pick and look for a spot marked with a large X?”
Jake knew he was testing his conservative cousin’s patience. “We need your banker advice on how to proceed. Now that we’ve found the cache, what do we do next that won’t get us killed or mobbed by the press?”
“Okay, I’ll be there in fifteen minutes, but you better be telling me the truth.”
“I am. We’ll wait at the house.” When he ended the call, the others were walking toward home.
He jogged to catch up with them. “Caleb is coming here right away. I’m not sure he believed me.”
His father looked at him. “Lot of things going on here lately that I’m not sure I believe even after I’ve seen they’re true.”
When they reached the house, they congregated in the kitchen.
Sally set plates on the counter. “Who would like more dessert?”
His father perked up. “I sure would. That was the best cobbler I’ve ever eaten.”
Jake shook his head. His dad said the same thing every time he ate anything Sally had prepared.
Penny nudged Sally out of the way. “I’ll serve while you sit down for a change.”
Jake was surprised when Sally didn’t protest even though Penny’s arm was still in a sling. Instead, Sally sat by his dad rather than in her usual place.
Penny looked at him. “Did you call Bart?”
Jake slapped his forehead. “How could I have forgotten to my brother?”
He took out his phone and punched in the number. “Bart, we found out why Miller wanted this ranch. You’d better come home. Caleb is on his way too.”
“Yeah? I’m pretty busy. Fill me in. What’s going on?”
“I don’t want to say much on the phone when you have all those scanners and such going. You remember when we were kids and dug holes all over the place? Well, we didn’t have to dig this time but we found what we’d been looking for.”
His brother sounded irritated. “Are you playing a prank? If you are—”
“Caleb is on his way.” Frustrated that his brother hadn’t caught on with the clue he’d given, Jake protested, “We need you here for your input and we need you pronto.”
He heard the resignation in his brother’s voice. “Okay, I’ll be there in a few minutes.”
Jake ended the call. “Better dish up more cobbler. Caleb and Bart are on their way.”