In the early morning hours, just after sun rise, a yellow jeep drove through the mist along the winding roads of the mountains of North Carolina. The roads were still damp from last nights rain, and glistened in the few areas where the morning sunlight reached the ground.
It was March, and spring had arrived in the Appalachian mountains. Billy and Ted were returning to these mountains for the first time since their ordeal. They had some unfinished business in these mountains.
Finding The Legend Of Dawson’s Gold had been an incredible experience, but having gotten so close to the final geocache, and not having signed the log to prove they were there had bugged the boys all winter. They had their hands on the cache, but didn’t get a chance to open it, all thanks to the terror that was Angus Dawson.
Billy had suffered a serious sprain to his ankle, and was off his feet for several weeks. By the time he was ready to make the attempt again winter had settled in. The trails became impassable with snow, and they were closed by the US Forestry Service.
The only bright side is that no one else had solved the puzzle before the trails closed, so the first to find honours were still up for grabs.
The cache owner, having heard the crazy adventure the boys had been through, had graciously offered them the right to claim the find on the online logs, however the boys wanted nothing to do with it. They didn’t want to claim the find until their signatures were on the log sheet. There was honour among cachers, after all.
This was the first day that the trails would be open, and they could finally collect the find what was rightfully theirs.
They parked the jeep at the same trailhead as last time, and with their spirits high, they started hiking down the trail with a bounce in their step, singing trail songs as they went. They grew quiet at the covered bridge, but were back to their high spirited selves by the time they passed Cockney’s Knob once again.
When they finally broke thru the tree line and entered into the clearing where the old mansion once stood, both boys paused in silent reflection. Both had spent the winter coming to grips with the psychological trauma that Angus Dawson’s terror had left them, and they were approaching the spot where they were attacked. A moment of reflection seemed in order.
The boys shared a look. They didn’t have to say a word. They knew instinctively what the other was thinking.
“Lets do this” Billy finally said, clamping a hand on Ted’s shoulders. “Its been a long time coming, and we deserve this.”
The boys hiked directly to the middle of the field, all the while keeping a wary eye out for trouble. They saw nothing but squirrels, and heard nothing but bird song and the wind blowing through the trees.
Once they stood at ground zero, Billy looked down at the red stone and laughed. “Its exactly as we left it!” He said excitedly. Ted removed the rock, and pulled out the ammo can.
He pulled the log from the ammo can and opened it up anxiously. Had anyone else found it?
He read the note on the first page: “Congratulations! You solved the Legend Of Dawson’s Mine! The first to find is: “
“Yes!” Billy exclaimed. “The log book is blank!”
“First to find, baby!”, Ted cried out in celebration. The boys exchanged a high five.
Billy pulled out his pen and, with a satisfied sigh of accomplishment, signed their names in the log book. Preston. Esq, and Theo.Logan.
Billy replaced the ammo can, and covered it with the red rock.
The boys lingered at ground zero for a few minutes, enjoying the crisp spring air, and revelling in their victory.
“Well done, bro” Billy said, eventually, and shook Teds hand, “well done!”
The boys then turned around, and headed back towards home.
However, there was one more piece of business Billy needed to attend to before he left these mountains. He had to know what that 50 carved into the stone in the cave he sought refuge in was all about.
It had been gnawing at the back of his mind all winter. He had his suspicions, but it didn’t seem possible. Regardless, he had to take a second look.
When Billy was released from the hospital after his ordeal at the hands of Angus, he had downloaded the route his GPS had recorded that day onto his computer. Then using Google Earth, he pinpointed the location where the mouth of the cave where he found refuge was located.
Surprisingly, it was just 500 feet off the trail. He had stumbled back and forth a lot in his daze, and did not make a lot of linear distance. Both boys bushwhacked their way through the woods quickly and easily until they arrived at the mouth of the cave.
By the light of the day they could see that this cave was actually an old mine entrance. There was no indication of who it belonged to, but given this was all Seamus Dawson’s land it seemed likely it would have belonged to him. They both armed themselves with tactical flashlights, and shone them into the dark cavern, then they ducked and went inside.
Billy led the way into the mineshaft, with Ted following close behind. When they got to the back wall where the mine had caved in, Billy shone his light around, looking for that 50.
“Here it is!” Billy exclaimed excitedly, shining his light on a large rock near the floor of the mine shaft.
“That doesn’t look like a 50”, Ted noted, “It looks more like an S and a D.”
“S. D.”, Billy repeated, “wait… you don’t suppose… Seamus Dawson?”
“Maybe! That would be incredible!”
The rock was too large for one to move in these cramped quarters, so the brothers worked together to move the stone out of the way. Behind the stone was a large, deep hole carved into the rock wall.
Billy shone his light into the hole, then he reached inside. He pulled out a chest.
He exchanged excited looks with his brother. Ted shone his own light in the hole.
“Dude! There is, like, 5 or 6 more chests in there!”
On the lid of the chest was a plaque that read “Property: P.G Mine Co. ”
Could this be the missing gold that Seamus Dawson allegedly stole from Parker Gilmour way back in 1938?
He opened the lid of the chest and shone his light inside. Yellowish light was reflected back.
Billy smiled triumphantly.
~ The End ~
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This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/. Copyright 2015 by Dave DeBaeremaeker. All Rights Reserved.
