The Secret of the Stones by Ernest Dempsey (reading fiction .TXT) 📕

cave is somewhere at the bottom of what is called Carter’s Lake now. ”

“What happened to the Indian translator? Did he stick around long?” Sean asked.

“He died a few months later; I think they said it was a heart attack or something like that. Can’t remember. It’s a little odd, but the guy was old, so it was bound to happen at some point, I suppose.”

Silence fell on the room as the facts and the strange sequence of events settled in. Suddenly, the telephone rang in the kitchen, disrupting the moment and startling all three of them. “I should get that. It’s probably Evelyn. She went to her mother’s tonight. I’ll be right back. Ya’ll need anything else?”

“No, we’re good, Mac,” Sean answered for the both of them as his friend jumped up and took off toward the kitchen.

In the other room, they heard him answer the phone, “Hey, honey.” Then his voice trailed off in a discussion about her staying at her mother’s for the night.

Sean turned to Allyson as he lounged farther into the soft material of the sofa, “What do you think?”

“The whole story is fascinating. It’s a lot to digest.” She looked thoughtfully into her empty cup.

He couldn’t help but stare at her for a moment; then, as her head lifted slightly, he caught himself and averted his eyes.

“Yeah, I just hope Joe can help us find Tommy.” He picked up the conversation again.

“All right, what were you saying about me? I know I just heard my name.” Their host returned to the living room with a smile on his face. Sean was glad his friend had come back in time to end the awkward moment.

Allyson smiled. “Sean was just saying that if anyone could help us find Tommy, it would be you.”

His face took on a serious expression. “We’ll find him, buddy, and whoever is behind all of this.” He gave his friend a sincere nod.

Another thoughtful moment went by before Allyson spoke up again. “So what happened to Joseph Vann and his family when the Cherokee were moved to Oklahoma?”

“Glad you remembered.” Joe collapsed back into his spot on the couch. “Vann and his family relocated to Oklahoma and picked up right where they left off. Of course, losing all of their land in Georgia hurt, but it needs to be noted that the forced move did not hurt the Vanns nearly as much as the rest of the Cherokee population. The family prospered in Oklahoma almost as much as it had in Georgia.”

“How is that possible? Was Joseph just a better businessman than the rest of his fellow tribesmen?” Sean was interested.

“Possibly. There isn’t anything concrete, but there is an interesting end to the Vann story. A hundred and twenty years later, in 1958, the Vann house was turned into a state historic site.

“A year or so after that, four dark-skinned men walked into the old manor one day. The park’s curator offered to give them a tour, but they said nothing. They simply walked by and went directly to the fireplace. The park ranger watched as the men knelt down and started removing some of the bricks from the back of the chimney. Mesmerized, he stared as the strangers reached into a secret compartment and began removing gold bars from the hole.”

“Gold bars like the ones at the waterfall?” Allyson could barely contain her curiosity.

“Exactly the same, and with similar carvings on them as well. We can only assume that the symbols the state worker saw as the men walked out were identical to the ones that were discovered in the waterfall cave.”

Sean piped in, “So you think that the Vanns had some of that gold when they left?”

“It would certainly make sense as to how they were able to keep up the type of lifestyle to which they had become accustomed.”

Allyson wasn’t sure. “If the Vanns did have a bunch of Cherokee gold, how did they transport it to Oklahoma without it being seized by the army?”

“You really must be a great journalist, Ms. Webster, to ask all the right questions like that.” Joe gave her a quick wink, causing her to blush momentarily.

“To answer, yes, transporting any amount of gold would have been a difficult task not only from the point of keeping its existence unknown to the army, but also from a logistical front. They had few wagons and were certainly under constant supervision from the soldiers who were escorting them west.”

“Well, how’d they do it then?” She was on the edge of her seat.

“I think most of the gold remained right here in the state of Georgia, hidden in a secret location. Only a select few would be able to interpret all of the clues that would lead to the larger deposits. That being said, the Cherokee still must have taken quite a bit of the loot with them as they went west.”

“Yeah.” She was becoming impatient, so she asked the question again. “So, how did they move so much gold without getting caught?”

McElroy scooped up the empty coffee cups and started to make his way to the kitchen with them. “Tell me something, you two. How much do you know about Mormons?”

24

Blue Ridge Mountains

Tommy sat defiantly at the breakfast table, arms crossed. His two guards stood on either side of him, anxious and uncertain. It had been about thirty minutes since the bigger guard had called Ulrich and requested that he return to the mansion immediately. After being dragged inside, Tommy had refused to do anything else except for pulling up a website about lost worlds. Once that was done, he simply sat there until they had telephoned their boss.

“You better not be toying with us,” the smaller guard remarked