Nexus - 0210 - New Times Magazine-pages

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with his head bent low. About 100 paces further in, he esti- and that, and the light of it penetrated the darkness, unveiling mated he was now directly under the mountain. And it was many more mortal remains strewn about the room. He stood here, in the deep blackness of the inner passageway, that he _ there for a length of time and counted no less than ninety stumbled upon some sea chests piled alongside the passage _— skeletons. Doc Noss was not the kind of person to imagine wall. The lid of one of the sea chests was partly open, and he malevolent presences haunting the gloomy depths of the lifted it to reveal the contents gleaming and sparkling in the = mountain, indeed he would have loudly derided the idea, but torchlight. He opened the lids of the other sea chests and _ alll the same for that, he was very much relieved to depart from found that they were all crammed full of gold coins and pre- _the depressing influence of that doleful room. Outside in the cious jewels. Reluctantly leaving his incredible find, he came passageway, he stooped over an open sea chest to select some to a room, and beheld, beneath a large wooden cross looming choice items, which included a gem encrusted diadem, to take black and sharp through the torchlight, two stacks of pig iron away with him. Naturally, after this, he left the mountain, ingots, about six feet high, by eight feet long, by three feet | making sure to replace the stone slab so that not a trace of the wide. The stacks of pig iron ingots almost filled the room. _ hole was visible. Upon entering another room, further along the passageway, he When, later, Doc Noss when back to the mountain, his wife stood still for a long moment as though frozen to the spot. went with him. She waited near the hole while he went in There in the full circle of his torch beam was a human skull _—_ under the mountain for the second time. As he was going grinning hideously at him. If he had seen the devil he could down the ladder, she shouted after him. not have been more surprised. He lowered the torch a fraction, “An’ don’t forget to bring back one of them pig iron ingots!” and discovered the skull belonged to a skeleton propped up —_ He was gone for almost an hour. When he returned, she was against the far wall facing him. He turned the torch this way sitting on a rock, facing the hole, anxiously gazing down at the "opening to the passageway. He came shambling out, ina small cloud of dust, gasping and spluttering, with an ingot cra- dled in his arms. “Heaven’s sakes!” he cried, throwing the ingot to the ground. She smiled down at him. “What’s up, Doc?”He scowled up at her. “What the hell do you want that for?” he asked. “Aw, bring it up. "He looked down at the ingot, laying on the ground, where he had flung it. “But it must weigh over fifty pounds,” he protested. She nodded thoughtfully. “You can manage it, Doc. ”*He made a wry face. “Alright,” he grumbled, “alright, but I still don’t know what you want it for. ”He bent down and picked up the ingot, then carried it up the ladder, struggling, with each uncertain step, to keep from falling with his burden, until his head and shoulders appeared above the hole. “Here,” he said, heaving the ingot away from him, so that it fell with a dull thud to the ground close to where she was sitting. “Don’t ask me to bring any more of that up, it’s too damned heavy!” He remained standing on the ladder, with his hands resting on the edge of the hole, as his wife got to her feet to satisfy her curiosity. She crouched down to examine the ingot, turning it over, looking down at it. He saw her catch her breath, and turn the ingot over again. ”Hey,” she exclaimed, “this ain’t pig iron, it’s gold!” ”Gold?” "Yeah, she said. He frowned at her but his eyes were gleaming. ”Here,” she gasped, as with an effort she pushed the ingot closer to him, “have a look. ”Craning his head forward, he saw where the rough ground had scratched the dark surface of the ingot. The scratch marks glittered in the sunlight. “Lord almighty,” he muttered. "How many of these did you say was down there?” she asked. Hundreds,” Hundreds?” She stared at him in disbelief. "Did you ever know me tell lies?” ”No, you never tell lies.” "Well then,” he said, “I’m telling you there’s hundreds of them down there, maybe thousands.” : r A few days afterwards, Doc Noss and his wife drove into Francisco Pizarro Santa Fé and registered a claim giving them the mineral rights Francisco Pizarro 42°NEXUS OCTOBER-NOVEMBER 1992