Spake As a Dragon (54 page)

At five p.m. Robert assembles the
workers, “Men you have tried your hardest to find the gold I
thought was hidden within these walls, I’m beginning to believe I
interpreted my Grandfather’s Bible verse incorrectly. Before we
break for the day does anyone have anything they wish to say, or
did anyone find or see anything they thought might be out of the
ordinary.

Young Billy Baird speaks, “Mr.
Scarburg, I know I have not lived here in Scarlettsville all my
life, but I thought it strange that me and John here,” he said
pointing, “ when we went into the bell tower we found the ropes to
the bells rotten and decomposed beyond use. It appears the bells
haven’t been used in years.”

“
Yee are correct young
Billy,” answers Elder Lindley, “those old bells have never been
used since the Battle of Scarburg Mill back in 1771. That’s over
eighty years the bells have remained silent.”

“
Why? Asks
Billy.

Elder Lindley looks confused, “I don’t
actually know young Billy, I have always supposed it was to honor
John Scarburg and his two sons William and Isaac. I personally have
never heard the bell’s ring myself.”

“
That’s is okay Billy, you
did an excellent job today, all of you did. Tomorrow we meet again
at 9 a.m. in front of the Masonic Lodge, and we will go through the
same procedure with it. Get a good nights rest and come back
tomorrow fresh for a good search.”

That night at supper the whole family
is seated around the table. Malinda says to Robert, “Don’t be so
dejected, you will find something in the Masonic Lodge. Now eat,
you will need your strength tomorrow.”

“
I just can’t understand
it Luke, I thought we had figured out the mystery of Pappy John’s
Bible. Where did we go wrong?” He said with his elbows on the table
and his head buried in his hands.

“
Mother is right Father,
we will find the gold tomorrow – have faith.”

FRUITLESS
SEARCH

The next morning Robert is up before
sunrise sipping coffee on the front porch. He thinks of the
previous day – the men were right - the church is not that big and
there really is no place to hide something, especially a lot of
gold bars. He keeps remembering back to what his friend Ben had
told him – a bar of gold weighs over 27 pounds each. A wagonload of
that would take up a pretty good chunk of space. The church just
isn’t big enough.

A few minutes before 9 a.m. he rides
Blaze up to the hitching post in front of Masonic House Number One.
As he steps from the saddle to the ground he thinks,
‘How could
we have been so wrong? All the clues were right there in the
2
^nd
Chapter of Kings, Chapter 16 and
Verse 8.’

The men are milling around the front
of the Lodge, but today only about twenty show up. Ten decide
Robert is crazy and did not want to waste their time. Yesterday the
men were eager to get started looking for the gold – they thought
within a few hours they would have their hands on bars and bars of
shiny gold. It isn’t to be so today the men were simply going
through the motion, after searching the church they are sure
nothing is in the Lodge either.

The noonday meal comes and goes
without any information being discovered on the gold. At 5 p.m. as
happened yesterday Robert asks if anyone had found anything – the
answer was still no. Did anyone have a word or a comment – again no
one speaks. Robert stands and calls everyone into a semi-circle
around him, “Men, I am sorry! I could have sworn the gold would
have been in the church and in the Lodge – I was wrong! You all
have done a good job, but I guess looking on the bright side
Malinda, my wife, had already decreed the gold was to be returned
to the Treasury of the United States, so not finding it is not a
big loss to us, but I am sorry your sincere efforts did not produce
any results.”

After supper, Robert and Luke sit on
the porch. Robert is in a melancholy mood; he does not want to
talk. Luke presses the issue, “Father, I have a question to ask.”
He asks as he rubs Kentuck’s head.

“
No, no I do not want to
talk more about the fruitless search of the church and
lodge.”

“
Father what I need to ask
is about the Lodge, but not the search for the gold. Today William,
Isaac, Stephen, Thomas Henry and I were assigned to search outside
around the rock foundation checking for possible hidden storage
areas.”

“
Are you trying to say you
and the children found something?”

“
No, no we didn’t, but the
boys were checking out the old cannon sitting in front of the
Lodge, you know, that was the one fired on the 4
^th
.
Well, the boys asked a question I could not answer. They wanted to
know what a cannon ball weighed? I tried to tell them we were in
the infantry, not the artillery, so I did not know the weight. Do
you know?”

At first Robert just sits there
appearing as thought he has not heard the question, “The weight of
a cannon ball huh? That is a twelve pounder sitting out front of
the Lodge, so I suppose the balls weigh twelve pounds
each.”

“
Father, does the Army
make different weights of twelve pound cannonballs.”

“
Luke did you just hear
what you said? Why do you suppose they call them twelve
pounders?”

“
Oh yeah, that was kind of
silly wasn’t it, but those cannonballs weigh much more than twelve
pounds. The boys tried to pick one up and they were just barely
able to move it. Oh well, it’s not important, I think I’m going in
and get ready for bed.”

Robert sat by himself with only
Kentuck for company on the porch. Kentuck lay at his feet sleeping.
He watches the moonrise over the pond and trees toward the east
thinking about the past two days: why does the church have bells,
but never use them. Why would the members of the Meetinghouse stop
ringing their bells right after the Battle of Scarburg Mill? As a
tribute to Pappy John, that makes no sense. Quakers are pacifists,
silencing the bells would be a tribute to the battle they would not
do that. And what’s with the twelve-pound cannonballs not weighing
twelve pounds? Suddenly it struck him like a bolt of
lightning!

Running back into the house, he
hollered, “Luke! Luke go saddle the horses, we’ve got things to
do!”

“
Father it’s late,”
complained Luke. “Why would you want to go somewhere at this
hour?”

“
Come on hurry! We’re
going back to the Meetinghouse and the Lodge.”

ANOTHER LOOK

Robert is sliding from his saddle
before Blaze has come to a full stop at the hitching post in front
of Elder Lindley’s house. Robert left Scarlett at a full gallop
with Luke doing his best trying to keep up, yelling, “Father,
slowdown! It’s dark!”

Robert slightly turns his head and
responds, “Come on Son, times wasting, try to stay up with
me.”

Half running Robert is up the steps
and across the porch pounding on the Elder’s door, ‘Thump, thump,
thump,’ Robert pounds with his gloved hand.

A light appears in the house as
someone inside yells, “Who’s there?”

“
Sorry, Elder Lindley, it
is Robert Scarburg. May I talk with you?”

Opening the door slowly, Elder Lindley
peeps out to see if indeed it is Robert. Verifying for himself, he
opens the door. “Sir, what could ye be seeking with me at this late
hour?”

“
Get dressed Elder, come
with us to the Meetinghouse. I have an idea about the
gold.”

“
Brother Scarburg is this
not a matter that could be delayed till the morrow?”

“
Yes, of course, but
please Elder Lindley grant me just this one request and let us get
into the Meetinghouse tonight.”

Walking up the walk to the front door
of the Quaker’s house of worship Elder Lindley says to Robert,
“Sir, I know not what ye expect to find that the men did not find
during thou initial search.”

Opening the large oak entrance door,
the Elder lights a kerosene lamp in the foyer and hands it to
Robert. “Luke,” said Robert, “I want you to take this lamp, climb
into the belfry and closely examine the Meetinghouse’s
bells.”

“
Okay Father, but examine
them how? What am I looking for?”

“
If the clapper is still
within the bells take hold of one of the wheels that are attached
to the bell, turn it by hand, if you can. The clapper should bang
against the inside of the bell. One of two things I will hear
standing here underneath the belfry – a sweet ring of the original
brass bell or something else.”

“
Father, you are making no
sense. I have no idea what you are up to, but I will do as you
ask.”

A couple of minutes later Luke has
climbed the ladder and is in the bell tower standing next to the
two bells. One is pretty large the other a shade smaller, yelling
back down to Robert and Elder Lindley, “Okay, I’m here, now
what?”

“
Turn the large wheel next
to the bell, if it turns the bell will ring. If it is rusted shut
swing the clapper by hand.”

From the Meetinghouse floor, the two
men look up into the steeple awaiting the sound of the bell. A
dull, dead sound is heard coming from the top of the tower, Robert
said later it reminded him of someone thumping on a ripe
watermelon.

Yelling back down Luke hollers,
“Father, the bells will not ring, you reckon they are cracked and
broken? I don’t see any cracks.”

Shouting back up into the belfry,
“Luke, what does the headstock look like? Is it secure or is it
rotten?”

“
I don’t know Father, what
is the headstock?”

“
Luke, it is the large
piece of wood that holds the bell.”

Responding back, “Father, these things
holding the bells are large metal bars, they are not
wooden.”

Turning to Elder Lindley, “Something
is not right Elder, the bells are not cracked, but they will not
ring. The wooden headstocks are made of metal not wood. I have an
idea.”

“
Luke are the bells made
of brass?”

“
I don’t know Father, they
are painted black.”

“
Black! Bells aren’t
supposed to be painted. Luke use your pocketknife and scrape off a
small spot of the black paint and tell me what you see.”

Moving over to the large bell Luke
removes his pocketknife, flips open a blade and scrapes the black
paint along the edge of the bell, “This can’t be Father,” Luke
yells. “It looks like...like...”

“
What Luke? What does it
look like?”

“
Gold! Father it is
gold!”

“
Luke test the headstocks
too.”

“
Gold! The metal
headstocks seem to be made of gold too!”

Grinning, Robert looks to Elder
Lindley, “Well I guess we have found the gold Elder Lindley. It
appeared when the soldiers pulled out that morning during the
Battle of Scarburg Mill they left the gold bars and burned the
wagons. Later, the bars were melted and turned into the bells in
your belfry. Now we understand why the bells never rang again, they
couldn’t, they are made of pure gold!”

“
What now Father?” Luke
yells from the belfry.

“
Good job Luke, now get
yourself back down we’ve got to get over to the Masonic
Lodge.”

TWELVE-POUND
CANNONBALLS

Masonic Lodge Number One is located
just a short distance from the Meetinghouse. Robert and Luke mount
up and spur their horses followed closely behind by Elder Lindley
in his buggy. He said he was coming too he wasn’t going to miss the
excitement.

Luke has been instructed to go to
Lonnie Turney’s house and ask him to meet with Robert and Elder
Lindley at the Lodge.

Stopping in front of the Lodge to
await the arrival of the official for the Masonic Lodge. Robert
lights the two lanterns on either side of the entrance doors so
they can see a little better. The wait is not long. Up rides Luke
followed closely by Mr. Turney. Dismounting, Turney like Elder
Lindley could not understand why Robert would want back into the
Masonic Lodge, especially this late at night.

“
I’ve got the keys right
here Robert, but I don’t understand what you expect to find inside.
We have already searched the Lodge pretty good, I
think.”

“
You’re right Lonnie,
we’re not going inside. I wanted you here to see what I think we
will find on your Lodge’s property. No need to explain I’ll just
show you all, but first I want to thank you for coming down to meet
us.”

“
You’re welcome Robert,
glad to help.”

“
Lonnie during the late
War I know you were in the Artillery, I believe you were what we in
the Infantry called a ‘cannon cocker’, your job took you right out
there at the beginning of every action while engaging the enemy.
Seen a lot of battles just like most of us, right?”

“
Yeah, more than I wanted
to, believe you me!”

“
Lonnie I’m saying this to
establish the fact that you know all about cannons and cannonballs.
I reckon you have handled a few of those balls in your time, is
this correct?”