Part 12 (1/2)
”No.”
”Dammit, you had better try,” Longarm gritted. ”if you die on the way, I'll dump your body off and the coyotes will feast on it tonight.”
It was a poor attempt at humor, but Dan managed a smile nonetheless. ”I'll make it,” he said. ”What about food and water?”
”I'll pack all that I can on the two extra horses.”
”I want you to poke around in these caves just a little more,” Dan urged.
”For what?”
”I dunno. I just have a feeling that old Jimmy c.o.x must have had time to bury most of his Spanish gold coins. I've had little else to do but think since you left yesterday, and I believe that I have things figured.”
”What things?”
”Where Jimmy would hide his gold coins.”
”I'm listening,” Longarm said.
”I think that he hid them in that second cave. You know, the one way back in this hillside.”
”What makes you think so?”
”Because that's exactly where I'd hide them. And I'd bury them in the floor and then smooth it over with dust. Marshal, you need to check out that floor.”
”It's too big to go over, and besides,” Longarm replied, ”I need to get you to a doctor.”
”Ain't no real doctor in Wickenburg,” Dan told him. ”Just a tooth puller.”
”Well,” Longarm said, ”there will be medicine and a better place for you to rest. Also, if you die, there's a still half-empty cemetery in Wickenburg and probably an undertaker who needs the cash.”
Dan chuckled drily. ”d.a.m.ned if you don't have a soft spot in your heart after all, Marshal!”
”I had better start preparing a travois for you,” Longarm said. ”Unless you can sit up in the saddle.”
”Not a chance,” Dan replied. ”But first, I'd like you to go check out the floor of the second cave.”
”You seem mighty persistent on this matter. Are you holding back some information on me?”
”No. But I prayed some on this matter and I do believe in the power of prayer.”
”Don't tell me that G.o.d told you that's where Jimmy buried his treasure.”
”All right,” Dan confessed, ”Jimmy did hint around about a second, deeper cave and that it was, to use his words, *worth taking a good look at' if anything happened to him. I just figure he said that to tell me where the Spanish treasure is buried.”
Longarm's eyes widened. ”Dammit, why didn't you tell me this before?!”
””Cause I was planning to find those hidden coins for myself and use them for charitable works. And, if you find them, I expect you to do the same.”
”Some,” Longarm agreed, ”but not all.”
”Most.”
”Fair enough.”
He left Dan and found a shovel, then Longarm crawled back into the second cave which he'd already found so interesting. Lighting a kerosene lamp, he started at one end of the cavern and worked his way to the other, moving very slowly back and forth on his hands and knees.
Longarm wasn't sure how he would know when he located a spot where Jimmy might have buried the gold coins. But less than an hour later, with his fingers brus.h.i.+ng back and forth across the dusty floor, he felt something unusual. Longarm froze for a moment, then he brushed the dust aside and saw that there was a large metal box whose top was buried just a fraction of an inch below the floor's uneven surface.
”Eureka!” he exclaimed, brus.h.i.+ng the dirt away and discovering an old treasure chest.
A moment later, he was prying up the lid and, sure enough, there were hundreds of Spanish gold coins gleaming up in his lamplight, pretty as an Arizona sunset.
”Holy Moses!” ]Longarm whispered, dipping his big hand into the treasure box and allowing the coins to slip between his fingers. ”There must be five hundred of them!”
Longarm did not know what the coins were worth, but he expected it was in the tens of thousands of dollars, given their historical value. Even in terms of their pure gold weight, they were worth more money than he'd earn in many years.
”Jimmy. Jimmy,” Longarm whispered, rubbing a particularly large coin balanced between his thumb and index finger. ”I sure wish you were here with me now, to at least see that you didn't die entirely in vain.”
Longarm used his knife to dig out the old Spanish treasure chest. It was somewhat rusted but still intact. He carried it back to Dan.
”So,” the preacher said, ”we found it!”
”Yes, take a good look.”
Dan's eyes widened with surprise and pleasure when he saw how many coins were in the treasure box. Sniffling and then rubbing away a few tears, he said, ”Do you realize how much good and charitable work this will pay for? Why, there are churches, schools, old hungry people and orphans whose lives will be changed by this treasure.”
”I said I was going to take a a little of it for myself,” Longarm reminded the preacher.
”Of course! And I would not have it any other way. After all, you risked your life for me and for this bounty. It would be only right, even if you are a federal marshal working in the line of duty.”
”What is that supposed to mean?” Longarm asked with a sudden scowl.
”Oh, nothing! Nothing at all. It's just that a well, I sort of think that you are on the government payroll. I mean, you're getting paid every day we are here, aren't you?”
”Why sure! In the neighborhood of a whole d.a.m.ned dollar a day.”
”Well, then, as a government servant, I just kind of thought that you might want to donate whatever little share you think you are due of this treasure to charity.”
”You're wrong because I don't.”
”Fine! Be that way.” Dan smiled but without warmth. ”So I guess now we need to get back to Wickenburg before we have any more visitors. Huh?”
”That's right.”
”With me on a travois.”