Lost Gold

Lost Gold

Lost gold, it hit me like an electric shock. What were the chances that it was still lost? It had been three hundred years. Yet as I sat reading the story in the book I’d found in Grandma’s attic, my mind reeled. The last known location was here, on Grandma’s property.

I’d been coming here summers since I was a baby, but Grandpa passed away before I was born. They always said “passed away” but as I got older I found out he’d disappeared. Grandma never spoke of it, I’d heard it from kids who lived nearby.

It seems he went out one morning and never returned. There was speculation that he’d run off with a woman. As I read the passage in the book, underlined, obviously studied many times, I thought otherwise. He was looking for the gold. Having explored this land since I was old enough to walk, I knew the place too. Maybe he ran off with it, but maybe he didn’t find it! Or maybe he left some behind! Early the next morning I snuck out.


I knew where the spot was next to the river. There was a large rock. I'd fished there! Apparently there was a hidden cave. I found it so easily it was almost funny. Scooching in was tight, it was probably more open in Grandpa's day. It turned toward the river about five feet in. I almost went back, but I could hear water as if I were coming to a cave so I pressed on. That's when I fell over the underground ledge.


I found the gold, I also found Grandpa, well, his bones. Now I have to find out if my boy scout training will give me a better chance than Grandpa had, of finding a way back out...