Home For Christmas.

Home for Christmas.

They drove on up north to Tonopah, and then farther up north toward
Battle Mountain. Linc wanted to get over the highest passes they had
to go over, before nightfall.
So far so good since there wasn't but a little snow on the highest
pass they went over, and the highway was clear
They stopped for lunch in a small town, after the pass. Linc parked
in front of the small café that only had a couple of cars parked
there. 'They went in and sat in a booth in front of a window where the
truck was parked. They could see Angel sitting in the seat looking in
the window of the café. The waitress came over with a coffee pot and
two menus. Linc gave her a thumbs up, so she turned the coffee cups
over and poured them coffee. She looked at the window, and asked, "
Is that your dog in the truck"? Linc nodded, then she said, If your
dog is well behaved, go get him and bring him in. The Harvey's over
there in that booth, bring their dog in all the time. See how he just
lays there at their feet. He's a good boy, sometime pets are better
behaved than some kids are."
Linc went out to the truck and got Angel. He told the waitress< "
this is Angel, and she is also a good dog", when Angel laid down by
his feet.
They ordered lunch and when their sandwiches and soup came, the
waitress also had a small paper plate with two hush puppies on it for
Angel. She Told them, "These hush puppies are not deep fried, but are
just small cornmeal patties we serve with breakfast orders, and save
leftovers for the pets". While Linc and Lucas ate their lunch, Angle
ate the hush puppies. When they were ready to leave, the waitress
said< 'There is a doggie potty yard right of the café".
Linc took Angel out to the yard while Lucas got back in the truck,
then they were on their way again.
With those mountain passes behind them, the only stopped once for
Angel potty break, then stopped at Battle Mountain for the night.
Linc didn't want to try and go over Emigrant Pass in the dark of
night.
They got a motel that took pets. They left Angel at the motel and then
went to supper at a café.
Back at the motel, Lucas sat watching TV, while Linc was surfing the
net on his laptop. Linc thought he heard a familiar voice, looked up
and saw Gus from the Tru Blu Mine on the ivy. He said to Lucas, "turn
that up, that's Gus on the news. What has happened"?
There was a news reporter talking to Gus. Said something about a mine
cave in. trapping three men underground. Linc thought, Oh God, now
what happened? Gus said, " First off, I want people to know, there
has been no cave in nor any accident at the Tru Blu mine. We here at
the Tru Blu mining company have been actively Had our geologist doing
some exploratory checking, all last week or so, for new outcrops of
sulfide gold bearing clay deposits. He has located, and we have
staked and claimed them. Just day before yesterday, he came upon an
old abandoned gold prospect. He entered it and found only a short
drift that had no timbering in it. He found it very unstable and got
some samples just inside the drift. He also found and staked other
deposits in the area. When he brought the co-ords and samples back to
the mine he warned me the prospect was very dangerous and to tell the
miners to stay out of it. I told my miners and surveyors that were
going to post claim markers, to also put a barrier in front of the
drift and post it danger, No Trespassing as well. I wanted them to
post no trespassing signs all around the area. The incident happened
when those three men, who were posing as mine safety inspectors, and
were harassing all the mine owners and managers months before, took a
helicopter out to the old prospect. It was not a working mine, only a
prospect, yet they broke the law, entered the prospect without our
permission and caved the woke thing in on them. Tru Blu denies any
responsibility and liability. The reporter then asked if his
geologist would back up this action about the mine being dangerous,
and Gus told him, to ask him, if he could find him, because he was on
vacation for the Christmas Holiday. Linc hoped that John hadn't told
any reporters about his folks in Provo. They didn't need any
harassment from the media. The news reporter switched over to a
reporter at the site of the disaster, so Linc called John to warn him
about what happened. John told him that Gus and the Sheriff both
called and warned him, and he was telling all callers that Linc and
Lucas were off on a Christmas Holiday and were unavailable at the
present time. Linc told him not to mention the folks to anyone. He
then called Axel to warn him as well. Axel said he was way ahead of
him and had already called the folks when he heard about the incident,
and when he found out Linc was safe. He said he tried to call, but
couldn't reach him. Linc told him, that he must have been in a no
service area when everyone tried to call him.
Back on the TV, the reporter was talking to the head of the search and
rescue team, trying to uncover the old tunnel. The search leader said
he was going to pull the men off the hillside, because the men buried
in there had been under the tons of rocks too long to still be alive
now, so the reporter switched over to the reporter at the airport,
talking to a man standing by a helicopter. The reporter asked him
what happened, and the pilot said, "These three dudes came here in
that van over there and told me they were mine safety inspectors, and
couldn't go out to a mine they had to inspect because their van
couldn't make it there on that old road. They wanted me to fly them
out so they could inspect the mine. Well I flew them out to the end of
the road and landed. There were no trespassing signs posted there.
When the men got out of the chopper I told them the area was posted,
and there was even a big danger no trespassing sign on the hole in the
hillside. The big man told me not to worry, because they had a job to
do and had permission to do it, so they went over the wash and up to
the mine. The big guy didn't just set the barrier aside, he took it
and threw it down over the hill into the wash.. I thought that was a
stupid thing to do. I got out of the chopper to have a smoke just as
they went in the hole. I had the smoke and was about to climb back
in the chopper when I felt the ground tremble and heard a loud roar. .
I looked over at the hillside that was falling down . There were tons
of rock and dirt crashing down the hillside. There was nothing I
could do so I called the base, told them to call the law, and came
back here to the base. That's all I can tell you". The reported
thanked him and turned the news over to the main studio. The reporter
at the main studio told everyone that they had been contacted by the
people the three men had worked for and they had demanded to know what
had happened, and were told to investigate. He told the people
listening that he had done all he was permitted to do, and as far as
he was concerned, it was just an unfortunate accident that could have
been prevented if the three men had just obeyed the law about
trespassing. Then he went to other news.
Linc called Gus and told him he had just heard all about what had
happened on the news here at Battle Mountain. Gus said , "I'm sure
glad you called. I have been trying to reach you. Boy, the home
office is sure glad they had me put you on the payroll. Warning me
about how unsafe and dangerous that tunnel was, saved our bacon.
Because of your warning I told the men to stay out of that tunnel and
to put that barrier and signs in front of it did the trick. The
outfit those guys work for want me to take equipment out there and
uncover that old tunnel. I told them, we have no plans to do anything
with the property at this time. We had to set up a mill site to
process the sulfides before we did anything. They were royally pissed
off but there is nothing I can do about it. I told them the men
should have obeyed the law and stayed out of the drift. Any way those
three guys won't bother us again, but you can bet we haven't heard the
last of it.

Linc called home and talked to his Dad. He told him that they were
doing fine and were spending the night in Battle Mountain. Going to do
Emigrant pass in the daylight, and spend the next night in Salt Lake,
to do their Christmas shopping before they head for Provo the next
morning. They would be home in time for lunch. They talked a bit
about the cave in at the old mine, among other things about the
family. He gave the phone to Lucas who talked for a while before they
went to bed.
The next morning they had a bite to eat then headed to Salt Lake where
they got a motel then went shopping for the day. They got everything
for Christmas and spent the rest of the day in the motel, wrapping
things up.
The Next morning, Linc called Uncle Vernon and told him they were in
Salt Lake and on there way home. Vernon told him, not to do lunch,
because he had everything ordered for it and was bringing it when he
went over to the folks place.

To be continued.

Desert Queen.

Back at the farm, they had just finished the chores when John and
Trudy returned. They must have had a good time Linc thought because
they were smiling and joking. That's good, he thought, they really
needed some time off. They probably won't take any more time off til
spring.

The next day after breakfast, Linc asked Trudy if she needed
anything from town, since he was going into town. He wanted to mail
the journal and get some new sheets and blankets, along with a few
other things he needed at the retreat. He went to the Post Office
first to mail the journal, and run into Annie, Gus's wife. She said
Gus had been trying to reach him, could he run on up to the mine, and
be sure to mark time for it to the paymaster. Linc drove on up to the
mine and went in to see Gus.
Gus jumped up from his desk and pumped Linc's hand vigorously. "Boy
am I glad to see you. Also glad we don't have any snow yet. The men
got the other claims staked and filed, but there is something I would
like you to take a look at if you will. Those Chinese that were
here before, plus a geologist, came back into town yesterday and
they have been snooping around at things south of here. One of the
miners that works here told me about an old abandoned mine called the
Desert Queen, off to the north of where you found the other pieces of
material. He said the old miner who used to have it was spooked after
his partner was killed in a rock fall. Said the mine was haunted, and
would not go into it after that. He said the old timer told him that
the gold was petering out anyway because they hit a crumbling quartz
dike and behind it was clay. My man said he went over to it one day
a few years ago, and didn't go in because he thought he heard people
in there. I don't know if you are afraid of ghosts or not, but I'd
like you to check it out, since there may be a continuation of the
clay dike. I looked up the co-ords for the Desert Queen, on the old
mine maps. It should be in this area here, and handed a piece of
paper to Linc. I know you said you wanted to go to Provo for
Christmas, but could you possibly check into this first? I don't want
the Chinese to get wind of this right now. I need proof of the clay
dike, if it is the same as the one here, then my people can stake and
file it, if it is. ". Linc told him it would be a few more days
before he went to Provo, and he had the time right now, and he would
get right on it.

Linc took the paper and drove over to the old road that used to go to
the mine. The road was in pretty bad shape, washed out in areas, but
he managed to get within seeing distance of the mine, in four-wheel
drive.
He was glad he wore a heavy jacket as he got out of the truck. He
always had a rock pick with him in the truck and a rock bag as well.
His geologist's bag was always in the truck. The road that went to the
mine was washed out at a big wash that ran below the mine. He walked
on over to the mine, that was up on the side of the hill. There were
not a lot of tailings. He could see that there was no door on the
adit. May be some animals in the, but he hoped not. He took a flash
light and went in. He could see it was not a very long tunnel. He
could feel a bit of air coming out of the mine and thought that was
unusual. Just as he got inside he thought he heard someone say, oh,
oh, hurts. He called out, " where are you", but didn't get an answer.
The tunnel was only about fifty feet long, and ended at a large rock
fall. There was no timbering in the mine at all. Linc could see no
one in the mine, even behind the rock fall. He shined the flash up at
the ceiling above the rock fall. Lots of big cracks up there. That
must be where the air he felt when entering the mine, was coming from.
He had seen the rusty decomposed quartz seam on his left as he
entered. He could see where the old miner had dug a trough into it and
where they encountered the clay. It was s bit rusty, but it was the
same as at the Tru Blu mine. The clay vein was only about three feet
high, but continued down ward. He started to pick at the base of the
vein, and then he heard something behind him. He turned to see dust
filtering down through one of the cracks above the rock fall. He
hurried and dug a hole at the base of where the old timer had left
off. Down about two feet he did recover a couple of pieces of rusty
quartz with a bit of gold attached. So the mine did have more promise
than just the clay dike. He gathered some samples of the clay and
several more pieces of the quartz As he covered the hole up, more
dust came down behind him, Time to get the heck out of this place, he
said to himself.
Outside the mine he went down into the wash just below the mine, and
went downstream about twenty feet, and found an out cropping of the
clay. He took samples, staked it and tied a piece of blue flagging to
it, marked the co-ords in his booklet. He then climbed up the bank
above the stake and found more pieces. He staked this too. He went
all around, found places where it outcropped and staked them with
blue flagging. He staked the boundaries with stakes and tagged with
orange and white stripped flagging, Took him almost three hours to do
this, then he went back to the Tru Blu, mine and gave the info and
the samples to Gus, who was very pleased to get it. He told Gus the
clay area seemed to be quite extensive. But the mine itself was very
dangerous, and miners should stay out of it. Gus called in a couple
of men and gave them the info from Linc and told them, the mine was
very dangerous, and to stay out of it. He also told them to take a
barrier and no trespassing signs to post on it in front of the adit,
and all around the newly claimed property, to preserve the mines
liability.. He said to get a big survey crew together and get right
on it that very minute, before it got dark.

They talked about the mine and what he thought about the haunting
thing. Before Linc left, the paymaster came in and gave Linc a very
generous check for his time, and Gus said he earned every penny of it
too. Linc thanked him and left, thinking the money would come in
handy now at Christmas time.

He drove on into town, went to the bank, then to Walmart to pick up
the stuff he needed and the things for Trudy. He got some sheets and
two new blankets along with a larger coffee maker.
He put the tote with the stuff for Trudy in the truck, then took the
tote with the stuff for the retreat and went there.
At the retreat he put the new bedding away, and since he missed lunch,
he got an apple to munch on while he unpacked the new coffee maker and
placed it on the counter by the other one.
Back at the truck, he was just about to drive off when the Sheriff
drove up and stopped. He told Linc the Chinese were back in town, and
Linc gave him a thumbs up and told him he had already heard about
them. Sheriff told him, he wanted to make sure he knew so he could
keep an eye out for them.

Driving out of town, Linc saw the blue van of the Chinese, parked at
the BLM office. Well it looks like they wasted no time in digging for
info on mines and new claims, he thought.

Back at the farm, he gave Trudy the tote with the stuff she wanted in
it, then went in the living room, where Lucas said, " sure took you
a long time in town, did you run into some kind of trouble? "Not
really", said Linc and proceeded to tell Lucas everything that went
on that day. They sat and talked and watched the news, then Linc took
Angel outside to play with her a wile before supper time. After supper
Linc went to the office, and called Fannie and told her about the
journal he had sent that day. He asked her to read it and see if
there was ny reference to an enameled box, with diamonds in it. He
told her about the box, and how it was found. She had to give him a
bad time about how he was the luckiest person alive.

He called Lewis to see how things were on his end, and found out he
didn't know what to call the mineral he found, on the claim papers.
Linc told him that the professor had told him the mineral was unknown
and how he had told the professor to name it Lewisite. So now Lewis
could fill out the forms with the right name. Linc told him to mark
the forms, All further mining is pending further exploration. Lewis
told him that he and his Uncle with help from a friend had staked four
claims, to file on the next day.

Linc got to thinking about the way the clay dike seemed to be
trending, and decided to google the area again with that in mind. On
google he could see how the clay dike could possibly extend out onto
the surrounding desert area. The Gregory ranch was in line with that
dike. There were no roads in the area, but access to it could be
gained by following the ranch fence line almost to it. He thought
about it for a bit, then thought if Gus wanted him to follow it up if
he could, he would go over and talk to old man Gregory and see if he
could borrow a horse to go over and check it out. He also thought
that would give him an excuse to maybe talk to that youngest girl of
their's. She is still living at home helping around the ranch. This
brought a smile to his face. Oh well he thought, I'll talk to Gus
about it tomorrow.

The next morning there were a few snow flurries, so Linc decide not to
call Gus about what he had been thinking about, and instead he thought
it better to get the truck serviced and ready for the trip to Provo.
After that was done he cleaned all the un needed stuff from it and put
a tote with two heavy blankets, Heavy socks and a pair of boots and a
couple of hand warmers in it, along with a set of chains. He hoped
they would never be needed but wanted them just in case. He and Lucas
had their bags packed, so he loaded them in too, and told Lucas he
decided to leave the next morning for Provo.

The next morning after breakfast, Linc, Lucas and Angel headed off to Provo.

To be continued.

Retreat

Retreat.

At the retreat, he got out of the truck and opened the tail gate and
took the box with the wagon out and put in under the patio. Since he
didn't eat lunch yet, he decided to go ahead and let the trailers
worry about what they had seen. He sat on a lounge in the sunshine
and ate it. He had to smile a lot as he thought about the jerks that
followed him.

After eating, he closed up the tail gate, got in the truck, touched
the broach and said, "back". His truck dropped in behind them at the
pull-off. He started the truck, pulled out onto the highway, tooted
the horn at them and drove past. He could see as he passed them, that
there were two Chinese, with horrified looks on their faces. Good
deal, he thought and laughed like mad.
He also noticed they didn't follow him any more that day.

Back at the farm, he went in the house , and as he stepped into the
living room, Angel jumped off Lucas's lap and ran over to him and then
went to the door. Lucas had been laying back in his recliner taking a
nap and now he raised up as Linc went out the door to let Angel do her
potty job. As she was looking for the right spot, he went and hid
behind John's truck. He saw her go back to the steps, then she went
looking for him. Didn't take her long to find him. He picked up a
stick and threw it as far away as he could and when she ran after it,
he hid again. She found him right away. He threw the stick again,
and ran to hide, but she was right behind him. He heard some clapping
and laughing, and looked up on the porch to see Lucas had put on a
jacket and had come out for some fresh air. Lucas said, " you are
going to have to do better than that, because she is one smart little
girl. I have already started to teach her a few things. You really
need to work with her, she's old enough to teach . I have already
showed her how to go up and down the steps by herself". " I know",
said Linc as he went up on the porch. "Since John and Trudy are going
to be gone, Why don't we go to the retreat and spend a couple days out
in the sunshine. I got a wagon while I was in town today and already
took it to the retreat". He then told Lucas what had happened that
morning. Lucas laughed and said, I'll bet those two wet their pants
when you showed up behind them. I'm ready to go to the retreat, you
know I love it there". Linc said, " need to remember to take Angel's
collar and leash, and get started with her while we are there".


The next morning he told John and Trudy, if they wanted to leave right
after breakfast, to go ahead. He and Lucas would take care of the
chores. John had already milked the cow so there really wasn't that
many more chores for them to do. They said that would be great, and
left right after breakfast while Linc was doing the cleanup. Linc fed
the pig, while Lucas took care of the chickens, then they both got
their stuff ready to go to the retreat. They could spend a couple of
days there while only leaving the farm for a couple of hours., with
the time difference. Plenty of time to come back and do the next days
chores, and still go back to the retreat.
As they were getting ready to leave, the Sheriff called. He said, "I
thought I would give you a call and warn you. I don't know what those
two Chinese are going to do, but the hotel manager called the office
and told us that they have checked out. They are from LA. And I can
only hope they are headed back there. Just thought you should know in
case they head your way, even though they were seen heading west out
of town ". Linc told the sheriff thanks for the info, and he would
keep an eye out for them. He Told Lucas, and they both had a laugh.
Linc said, " those guys probably couldn't get out of here fast
enough. I doubt if they will bother us for a while, but I'll bet we
will hear from them or some other bunch again, before too long. Gone
for good is almost too much to hope for".

At the retreat, Linc put the collar and leash on Angel and they went
for a walk to get her used to the new stuff. They went down toward
the small cave where Angel found the box with the diamonds. She had
to go back in there and came out with the dino. Now at least she had
a new toy since Linc forgot to bring her teddy bear.
They spent two restful days, walking, playing pool, teaching Angel
how to mind on a leash and swimming, Linc was even able to coax Angel
into the water. They took the wagon out of the box and put it
together.

They did up all the laundry and cleaned up before they went back to the farm.

That evening, at the farm, Linc took the milk pail and went down to
the barn to milk the cow. He put some hay out for the calf and some
hay in the trough by the milk stall for the cow to eat while he milked
her. After milking her, he stood up from the stool and stepped back,
into a portal he didn't even know was there. Now what, he thought.
Here I am with a pail of milk in my hand and a stupid look on my face.
He turned around hoping to see the portal, but saw he was standing on
the same hill in Egypt, overlooking the pyramids, but now the pyramids
were no longer the smooth sided glistening white pyramids he
remembered.
This time there were people. They had carts, and wagons. They were
breaking huge slabs of the limestone from the pyramids and loading
chunks of it onto carts and hauling it away. Some of the carts were
taking the limestone down to the Nile river and loading it onto
barges. This was un-believable. They had already stripped most of
the limestone coating from the two smaller pyramids and had most of
the larger one almost stripped as well. The golden caps were already
gone. I wonder what time period this is, thought Linc. Looking down
the hill a ways he saw two men with swords in their hands, coming
toward him. He looked around frantically for the portal, when all of
a sudden, it opened and he jumped through, almost spilling the milk.
Darn, that was close, he thought.
He poured some milk for the cats and fed them some cat food. Since
they didn't need the rest of the milk, he gave the rest of it to the
pig. He thought as he went back to the house, Gramps just wouldn't
really need to know about the portal just now.
Lucas had fed the chickens and gathered the eggs, so the evening
chores were done. They sat and watched the news on TV before Linc
went into the kitchen to fix supper.
The next morning they fed the animals and did all the chores before
they went to the retreat.
Linc decided since he was here at the retreat and the family would be
coming here soon, he had better do some needed house cleaning.
While Lucas had Angel on the leash and was teaching her to heel, Linc
decided to clean the cave out first. He swept the kitchen and main
room, then started on the small bedroom. He cleaned out from under
the bed. Noticed there were two pillows on the bed and decided to
take the extra pillow up to the house. When he looked at the pillow,
he found it wasn't a regular pillow, but a huge white fur muff, with a
pillow case on it. That's strange he thought why? Well he put real
pillow back on the bed and took the fur muff pillow, to take up to the
house. After dusting everything he went to clean the main bedroom. He
emptied all the papers, magazines and such from the bed stand tables
Then he swept and dusted everything. He was looking at the stuff
from the bedside tables and discovered that there was a journal that
had belonged to Estelle Hancks. Well he couldn't read French, so that
would do him no good. He thought, when he got back to the farm, he
would send it to Fannie and have her read it. Maybe there would be
some info that would explain the box with the diamonds. Who knows, he
thought. Never know if you don't try.
When he was all done with the cleaning, Linc took the pillow,
journal and all the stuff to be washed up to the house. Lucas had
tired out from working and playing with Angel, and was sitting on a
lounge in the sun.
Linc told him about the journal and the strange fur muff that had been
used as a pillow down in the small bedroom at the cave. Lucas looked
at it and said, " it isn't rabbit fur. Too coarse. Looks more like
maybe a white fox or something. Hard to tell. Sure nice, though it's
quite large for a muff. But you can see that it is. Who knows"?
After looking at the journal, he said, " Printed French is hard
enough for me to figure out, but handwritten French, looks like
chicken tracks. Somebody else will have to tell you what it says".

Linc loaded up the washer , before starting lunch. He made some
sandwiches and they ate out on the patio.
Linc put the clothes in the dryer and reloaded the washer. He
decided to check the couch in the living room. He knew it made into a
bed, but he had never checked in the storage compartment to see if
there was any bedding in there. He opened it to find two pillows and
two blankets. No sheets or cases. He checked the linen closet to
see what was there, then decided he better bring a couple more sheets
and blankets back with him.

Linc spent the rest of the day doing odd jobs with the cleaning.
Didn't want his Mom to think he had turned into a slob.

Linc and Lucas spent the last two days working with Angel, playing
pool and just loafing around. Then they put things in order and went
back to the farm.

To be continued.

The Hunt begins.

The next morning after breakfast Linc drove on over to an area south
of the Tru Blu mine to check it out. As he drove, he looked back a
couple of times and saw a blue van that seemed to follow, instead of
passing when he slowed down for him to, since he was going slow to
spot the road he wanted to turn off on. He came almost to a stop
before the jerk finally went past. Down the road a bit, he saw the
same van pass him going back the other way, then it came back up
behind him just as he turned off on a dirt road. That's strange he
thought. Why follow him?
The dirt road was quit rough, but his truck had pretty high clearance
so he continued on, to a place where he could get off and still be
able to turn around, and parked. He got out and got his gear.
He put on his geologist pack and carried his pick in his hand. It
was cool enough up at this altitude to wear gloves and a heavy hooded
sweatshirt since it was party overcast.
He went into every small wash and gulley, picking up rocks and looking
at them with a loupe. Most of them he tossed back down but once in a
while he put one in a bag he had across his shoulder. He went down
over a small hill, and slipped into a deeper wash. There were quite a
few squaw bushes and a Juniper tree now and then He saw a couple of
rocks that looked like the clay material, but were discolored, maybe
by rust. He put them in his bag and took a stake out of his pack,
pounded it in and attached a orange and white stripe piece of flagging
to it. He marked the co-ords on his GPS, the continued on up the
wash. He found a small out cropping that was like the other rocks he
found below, and took a stake from his pack and after pounding it in,
he attached some blue flagging and recorded it in his GPS. On up the
wash farther he found another piece of the same kind of rock, and was
about to stake it when the sun came out from behind a cloud and he saw
a shadow cross the wash just ahead of him. He thought maybe a crow or
hawk flew overhead. Then the shadow just stayed in front of him and
didn't move. Wait a minute, he thought. Birds may hover for a tiny
bit, but not this long. He bent over a bit so he could sneak a look
up in the sky, and sure enough there was a drone up there watching
every move he made. He picked up his pack, put the stake back in it,
and went on back down the wash, pulling up the other stakes he had
placed. He went on back to the truck, and drove back to the main
highway , then on up the road to the mine.


At the mine, he went to Gus's office and told him what had happened.
Told him that he was being followed and probably had a tracking device
on his truck. Maybe Gus may have one on his truck too. He gave the
co-ords of the places he wanted to stake and was forced to pull the
stakes up so the party who was after him couldn't find them. He told
Gus he was going to wait till he got back from Provo to do anything
else about locating any new material, meantime while he was in Provo
he would have any tracking devices removed from the truck. Gus said,
"Thanks Linc. Good job. I'll give the time keeper your time, and
give a couple of the miners the co-ord's, give them the rocks you
found, and tell them what number road you took, have them get out
there as soon as they can and get the area staked and claimed".
Linc said, " looks like those Chinese want that material real bad, but
they need the other rocks from Colorado to make it do what they want,
and they can't find them here in Nevada. They think the stuff is up
at Gramp's old mine, but the rusty stuff is only a catalyst. Not that
important, as any iron oxide will do the same thing".

Gus had called in a miner to have him hear about the area Linc had
located, when he came in, he told Gus there was a blue van hanging
around the main gate, did he know about it? Gus told him the van was
following Linc. Gus introduced him to Linc and told him all about
what had happened and what he wanted him and a couple other miners to
do, and make sure they were not followed either by humans or drones.
He and Gus talked about the Chinese and other things for a bit then
Linc got up to leave. Gus said, " Contact me when you get back from
Provo".

They shook hands all around then Linc left the mine. Sure enough, the
blue van was still there and after a while Linc looked back and it was
on his tail. Just for the heck of it, Linc pulled off on the first
side road he came to and waited to see what the van would do. It
slowed down as it passed him, and Linc pulled out after they went past
and followed them. They speeded up but Linc followed them all the
way into town.
In town he went to the sheriff's office and told him what had
happened. Sheriff said, "I thought those darn fools had left town
but I guess they haven't ". He called in his dispatcher and asked her
to call all the hotels and motels and find out where they were
staying. In a few minutes she came back in and handed a slip of paper
to the sheriff, who looked it then called to one of his deputies,
gave him the slip of paper and told him to check it out. See if they
are there. Use a complaint about speeding or something to find out
about them. Get plate numbers and all info he could from them, ASAP.
Sheriff told Linc he had a number of complains about them from people
there in town. " Darn them, why didn't the stay away when they left a
few days ago". he grumbled. He and the sheriff talked a bit longer
then he left the office.

Linc figured as long as he was in town, he would go over to the
Tractor Supply Store and take another look at a wagon he saw when he
was last in there. The wagon wasn't a small one like you usually see,
but a nice large one of heavy metal with stake sides on it. He wanted
it for when the kids went to the retreat at Christmas time. He took
it out and put it into the truck. He wanted to take it to the retreat
before he went to Provo.
As he sat there in the parking lot, he decided to call his mom and
find out what the kids might like for Christmas. He already knew Todd
wanted a better camera than he had now, but he didn't have a clue what
the girls might want. He could always stop in Salt Lake on the way to
Provo and get what he needed. Lot bigger stores there and a better
chance finding what he wanted. His Mom told him that Leslie was really
into art. She watched all of Jerry Yarnell and Bob Ross's shows on
TV. Linc told her he did remember that when he was back home, but
had forgotten about it. Told his mom, he would get her an easel,
paints, and canvas's for Christmas, and that he was getting Todd a new
camera, now he had to figure on something for Amy. His Mom told him
she had some good color books and pens she liked but she was really
into baking right now. Watched the cooking shows that she could and
wanted to make all kinds of things. Since Todd did make a lot of the
evening meals, just like he used to do, Amy was right there to help
him out. Linc told his Mom, "I wonder if she would like an I-Pad to
record her recipes on". His Mom thought that was a good Idea, since
she liked using the computer, and it always seemed to be in use. This
way she had one all to her self. He talked a while longer to his Mom
and as he sat there, he saw the blue van go past the parking lot and
park a ways down the street. He had to smile to himself. He just
thought of something he could do to give them something to think
about. He told his Mom good-by and pulled out of the parking lot.
Going down the highway a few miles, he could see the van was still
following him. He pulled off at a wide pull-off. He waited until
the van was almost up to him, and then he touched the broach, and
said, "retreat", and laughed out loud. He knew this would get to
them.
To be continued.

Pyramids Again.


As Linc stepped out of the portal, he couldn't believe his eyes. He
was standing in the same place where he came out of the portal the
last time he was here, but things were nowhere near the same. He
looked to the north at the sky. It was very dark, with ominous black
clouds. Lightning was flashing all through them. The noise around
him was almost deafening. He could see great waves of muddy water
roaring past the pyramids in a raging torrent. Caught up in it was
trees, brush, dead animals and even large boulders. The water was
about a quarter of the way up along the sides of the pyramids. Large
chunks of the limestone was being knocked off with all the objects
striking them. This was almost un-believable. He looked down by his
feet and saw the water was rising. A strong gust of wind almost
knocked him off his feet, so he stepped back through the portal and
went back to the farm.
Good grief he thought as he stepped out of the coop. Oh wow! That
was scary. I'm glad to get out of that. He wondered why that portal
was opened again. What did the time master expect him to do there?
When did this all happen? This only adds many more questions he
couldn't answer. Looks like he would never be able to know in advance
what things would be like when he stepped into a portal.
He picked up the milk pail and went to the house.

Just as he got back up by the porch, A truck pulled into the yard. It
was Gus from up at the Tru Blu mine. He shook his hand and told him to
come on in the house. Inside he gestured to the living room and heard
Lucas say as he went to the kitchen with the milk pail, " howdy there
Gus,. come on in and have a seat". Gus replied, " Hey there Luke,
long time no see, but you are looking great for an old dude".
Linc came into the living room, followed by Trudy with a tray with
coffee service and all that stuff.
As Linc poured out coffee for them, Gus said, "Linc, the head
officer is just pleased as all get out, with what you have done for
us. Your old teacher called them and told them there are two rare
earth minerals in the samples you sent him. Neodymium and Dysprosium.
And both of them have great reaction to another rock sample you sent
him from another mine. There is something they want me to tell you,
but first I want to tell you about another incident.
I heard you have had a problem with the two jerks that have been
harassing the miners and the owners. Buck, from over at the Mamoth
told me about it. I'll bet that Chinaman wet his pants good. I hope
so, he deserved it.
They came up to the mine and I wouldn't let them in, so they went to
the head office, and threatened to shut us down if we didn't let them
inspect the mine. Well Bill, from the office in Vegas, came over
and said that the both of us would show them through the mine. He was
pretty put out about the fact that they went over my head, and
bothered the execs at the head office. That really put them in the
dog house as far as he was concerned.. He told them he was not
pleased to have to shut things down just to show them through the mine
since it went though a safety inspection just six months ago and
passed with flying colors. We went over to the main adit and prepared
to enter the mine. We put on our safety gear, hard hats with lamps,
and Bill saw they didn't even have hard hats on. He muttered,
something safety inspectors don't even own a hard hat. He tossed
each of them a hard hat, with no lamps, and in we went. The oriental
guy had a small flash and a big magnet, in a pouch he carried around
his neck. He kept touching the magnet to the walls when we reached
the place where we left the lift. In the small light placed here and
there in the main tunnel, we could see the oriental stop and shine his
light on a spot that looked a bit rusty and the magnet was touched all
a round them. Bill hurried us along the rails to the operating area,
as best he could, with that screwy dude with his magnet holding us
up.
The boss man didn't say a word until we reached the end of the tunnel.
Then he said he wanted to see the area where the new deposit had been
found,
Oh yes, he had found out about it from the miners. Bill told him that
area was not being worked and was placed in reserve for future
exploration. Nothing going on in that area as it was closed off. He
demanded to see it or he was going to make a complaint to the head
office and the Bureau of Mines as well, so Bill had a miner remove the
barriers and we went in that part of the tunnel. With out headlamps,
they had to stumble along. Bill let out a snicker now and then when
one of them almost fell down. I didn't feel sorry for them for coming
down in a mine un-prepared. As we went along they could see where a
lot of holes where drill cores had been removed. Boss asked why and
Bill had to tell him, to see if there was any gold in that wall. Then
he wanted to know where the drill cores were so he could see them and
Bill told him the drill cores have no bearing on the safety of the
mine, but if he really had to see them then he had to take it up with
the main office down in Texas, since they were sent down there.
At the clay deposit, the oriental shined the light all around and
touched the magnet everywhere along the exposed area, all the time
saying how it looked like metal. He picked up a tiny piece of it from
the floor of the tunnel, and
put it in his pouch. Then he said he knew people who would like to
purchase the clay material, and was told once again, it was not for
sale and was withdrawn from mining and placed in reserve for future
exploration.
Bill then turned around and led the way out of the mine. We could
tell that they were not a bit pleased they didn't get what they
wanted. Since they didn't have head lamps, they could do nothing but
follow us out of the mine.

Once out of the tunnel, we could here the oriental jabbering away on
his phone in his own language, as they went back to their car.

Now for the good news. Bill and the head office, want me to put you
on the payroll, ASAP. They would like you to scout all the area
around the Tru Blu and see if you can pick up any indication of the
clay material anywhere around that is not already being mined. We want
to see if it outcrops any where around us before the Chinese get an
idea to do it too. We know winter is coming on, so keep track of your
time and let us know what you find out. "
Linc said he would do it the best he could till the snow falls, but
said he was committed for the time between December twenty first and
January the fifteenth. He would be in Provo at that time. Gus said
it was fine with him.

Gus and linc stood up and shook hands. Gus looked over at Lucas and
said, "Hey Luke, Annie said to tell you hello from her. She'll be
glad to know how great you are doing". Lucas said, "Give Annie my
love, will ya".
Linc picked up Angel who had jumped down from Lucas's lap and took
Gus back out to his truck. After Gus left, he put her down to find
her spot.

When he got back in the house he said to Lucas. "I didn't know you
knew Gus's wife". Lucas actually blushed and said, Oh well that's
way in the past, she was once an old flame. Darn nice gal, and Gus
deserves her".
Angel jumped back in his lap as he leaned the recliner back to take a nap.
Linc said, " I think I will do some scouting around tomorrow up that
way, but for now I want to Google the area and make out a good place
to start". Then he went to the office to begin the search.

To be continued.

Cabin Tale.

As Linc entered the house, he could smell something delicious. Trudy
had something cooking in the slow cooker.
In the living room, he found Lucas, John and Trudy sitting, drinking
coffee and watching the news. He went to sit in the other recliner,
when Angel jumped off Lucas's lap and came over to him to be picked
up. He did it while Trudy poured him a cup of coffee. They all asked
him what happened up at the cabin.
As they sat and drank coffee, Linc told them how Jim had piled a lot
of the big rocks from the tailings, up in front of the adit, then
covered them up with dirt he drug down from the hill above the adit.
It looked just like it had slid from the hill. If you didn't know
there was an old tunnel there, you would never find it anymore. He
also planted a big clump of grass he got down by the creek on top of
it too.
He made a berm in the road to the tunnel and piled some brush on top
of it as well. Linc told them that Jim suggested making a fire pit
on top of the trench. he liked the idea of the fire pit it would
remind him of how he, his Dad and Uncle Vernon used to camp out
around just such a fire pit when he was a kid. It would be a great
place to gather around when the kids come back to the farm next year.
He said he had been thinking of getting a good tent to put up at the
cabin then, so the girls could come up to the cabin as well. They
might like to go fishing too.
Linc said if no one bothered to go to see the cabin this year, winter
would erase every trace of things being done to hide the old mine
tunnel. Nothing could be better.
They all thought the fire pit was a great idea too.

Lucas told Linc the Angel had met the farm cats while he was gone. He
told him how he had gone to the garden to get some veggies for Trudy,
and Angel had followed him there. The cats were laying in the
sunshine, on a couple of bales of straw that John had put by the
garden to cover the veggies with after the first good frost. Angel
saw them and stood up to the bales to get a better look. One of the
cats put a paw on her head. She then barked at them. First time he
had ever heard her bark. The cats got down from the bales to check
Angel out better. They all had a mutual smelling contest, them they
seemed to accept each other and then they started to play together.
Looks like that problem had solved itself. They all had wondered what
might have happened when they met for the first time.
They all talked about different things for a while, and since Linc was
tired from all the walking he had done that day, he took his shoes
off, leaned the recliner back and put his feet up on the coffee
table. Darned if Trudy didn't do just the same thing his Mother did.
She pushed his feet off the table. Well naturally, the guys had to
laugh at that. Linc apologized and said he was just going to have to
get a recliner with a foot rest, since he couldn't remember anything.

Later that evening, when the others had gone to bed, Linc took Angel
out for her last walk of the night, while she was looking for the
right place, he looked up in the sky and wondered about just what
all is really up there. He saw the bolts of electricity going up high
in the sky above the pyramids, when he went through the portal. So
much he didn't know, and so much to wonder about. He picked up Angel
and went on up to bed.

Linc was tired, but tossed and turned, in bed. He just couldn't
seem to turn off his mind, and get to sleep. He kept thinking about
those darn pyramids. What time period was he in when he was there? He
finally got out of bed, got the GPS from his pack and looked at the
reading that was saved on it. Hmmm… he thought, and went to his
computer and looked up the co-ords for Egypt. Good grief!. No
wonder there was all that vegetation . He was there at a time before
the continents had even begun to shift. Whoa!…Well there goes the
theory that the Egyptians built those pyramids. They were done long
before there even were Egyptians. Well now, who did build them? Were
the built just to generate electricity? Blast it! This creates more
problems than answers. He started to think about how complicated it
would have been to plan all the stuff to build the pyramids to do what
he saw them do. What level each one had to be at? Just how far away
did each of them have to be from the largest pyramid to get the angle
for the electricity to shoot up from the far corners of the outside
pyramids, to intersect with the bolts shooting up from the four
corners of middle one, up in the sky? Wow! All that info would have
taken some strenuous calculations and formidable planning. Darn, too
bad he didn't learn more from his Dad about Physics, since he teaches
it at the university there in Provo.
He just wished he knew why the time master opened that portal for him.
Well nothing he could do about it now. He just wanted to forget about
all of it now and get to sleep.


After tossing and turning a while longer he was finally able to drift
off to sleep, only to be awakened by Angel, who was whimpering to go
out. Linc mumbled to her to hold on a bit until he got a robe and
slippers on. He took her down stairs and went out into the chilly
darkness. After bringing Angel back in he saw it was not quite four
AM. No way would he get back to sleep now so he went into the kitchen
and turned the coffee pot on.
Later as he sat in the living room drinking coffee, John came in with
a cup to join him.
John told Linc that he was going over that morning, to the big ranch
to help get all the rest of the hay bales into the barn, and he would
bring some home with him for the cow and calf for the winter. He also
asked Linc, since he was going to Provo in a couple of weeks, if he
and Trudy could have the next weekend off to visit family. Linc told
him ro go. He and Lucas could take care of everything here. They
could always call over to the big ranch if anything came up that they
couldn't handle.

Linc could smell something cooking and Lucas came in as he heard Trudy
setting the table.
After breakfast when John brought in a pail of milk, Linc told him he
would take care of the chickens if he wanted to leave right away. He
gave Linc a thumbs up and left for the big ranch..

Later he took what milk Trudy left for the chickens and went out to
feed them, while Lucas with Angel on his lap, watched the news on TV.
As he was about to leave, he saw a blue glow on the coop. He went in
and stepped into it and was again on the hill by the pyramids.

To be continued.

Through the portal

Linc couldn't believe his eyes. He looked all around, but he had to
admit he was where he thought he was. He found himself on a small
hill facing what he knew was the three pyramids on the Giza plain.
There they stood, in all their beautiful white limestone coated glory,
capped with gold, all three of them. This has to be impossible, he
thought. Looking all around him, this was not a desert plain. There
were trees, shrubs and flowers all around. He could see no other
structures or humans anywhere. He saw what could be Lizards, both
large and small. Holy cow, he thought . Just what time period am I in
this time, and why am I here?
He walked down the hill through the brush and flowers. He heard
something and found that there was a large lizard following him. He
picked up a rock and tossed it at the thing that ran off, but not very
far. He looked back and saw that he had been on the hill that had yet
to be carved into the sphinx. Wow he thought, this is really strange.
He remembered reading some where that the sphinx was older than the
pyramids. Well now that was solved as far as he was concerned.
Taking his GPS from the pack, he could see the pyramids were lined
up, north to south. He decided to circle them and hopefully to find
out why he was here.
He went to go along the east side of them first, finding there was a
terrific amount of humidity in the air.
As he got closer to them he could see that they were not stepped on
the sides, like they are in modern days, but were smooth as glass. It
looked like there was a film of water sliding down the sides of the
limestone blocks. Why? How did it get there? What purpose did it
serve? This was so very strange. He could also see there were white
limestone walls around them that were about knee high, and each about
a foot wide.. What on earth for? He could see that they were about a
foot away from the base of the pyramids themselves.
He walked up closer to the first one and saw that there was water in a
limestone paved ditch between the wall and the pyramid. Now that was
strange indeed. What was that for? As he stepped up closer, he saw
two lizards fighting on the top of the wall. One of them jumped up,
but fell toward the ditch. There was a bright flash, and the lizard
was instantly turned into dust. Holy gadzooks! He yelped. This is
truly unbelievable. What on earth caused that to happen?

He decided to move away from the pyramids to walk past them.
As he wound his way through the shrubs and trees, he began to feel
the earth beneath him tremble. His skin almost seem to turn prickly
The hair on his arms and legs seemed to stand up. Whoa! He thought,
now what is going on?
He was almost up to the largest pyramid that was in the middle when he
looked and saw what looked like blue white lightning bolts rushing up
from the base corners of it straight up into the air. A loud sizzling
sound started and as he looked back at the far pyramid he could see
the same type lightning bolts emanating from the far corners of it,
leaping up to join the bolts from what looked all four corners, of the
main one, jutting way up into the sky in a swirling mass. This was
almost enough to un-nerve him and make him want to retreat to the
portal and leave the area. Darn it anyway. This phenomena, lasted for
about five minutes or so.
The earth tremor quieted down, so he began to walk a bit faster past
the largest pyramid. The trees and brush thinned out a bit more as he
went along. There was more grasses showing along the way, than there
was before.
When he got to the corner of the middle one, he thought he might just
skip going around the last one and cut between it and the middle one,
when the earth started to tremble again and the air even seemed to
quiver too. Again the sizzling sound started, and the bolts began to
shoot skyward again, just like before. After about five minutes or so
they stopped again. Linc wondered if this was an ongoing thing.
He turned toward the opening between the two pyramids and started to
go between then them, when he seemed to step into a barrier that
knocked him flat on his butt with a loud pop and sizzle. He scooted
on his butt backwards for a couple of feet, before trying to stand up.
Wow! Well that settled that idea. He would walk around all three of
them. Anyway, it looked like maybe the waterways went between them to
feed each of them.
After going past the largest pyramid, the trees, brush and flowers
steadily increased like they were at the other end of them.
Around the corner of the last pyramid and going down past the farthest
side of it he came upon a shallow ditch going toward the pyramid,
that had a trickle of water in it. So that is where the water came
from that was in the ditches around the pyramids. Well I'll be darned,
thought Linc. He stepped over the small ditch and continued around
the last pyramid.
He no more got past the middle of the pyramid when the same thing with
the lightning bolts started up again. So this really was an ongoing
thing. What was generating all this power? Why was all this
electrical power going up into the sky? What was the purpose of it?
Where did it go from there? Was there something way up there in the
sky that he couldn't see, that was using it? Just too many things to
comprehend. He was beginning to think this was all just some fantasy
the time master had dreamt up.

As he walked along the West side of the pyramid, he began to see that
the vegetation had began to thin out some. The ground sloped to the
west a bit here, and he could see mountains in the far distance with
trees and shrubs in between, but no buildings or dwellings of any
kind, also no humans either.

The vegetation had almost died out about the time he reached the
middle of the largest pyramid. He came upon a hole in the wall
surrounding the pyramid when he saw there was a small ditch that ran
from it down the slope to a pool. The pool and the sand all around it
sparkled in the sunlight.
He picked up some of the sand and saw it was full of salt crystals.
The sides of the pool were crusted with them also. That's why the
dead vegetation, he thought. The salt in the sand has killed it off.

Continuing along the west side of the pyramids, the vegetation
increased as he went. The air tingled and the lighting bolts started
again. By the time it quit, Linc had reached the bottom of the hill
where the portal was. He went on up, took one last look around, then
stepped through the portal and ended back at the cabin.

He took off the backpack and put it in the truck and left the cabin.
After locking the gate and. driving back to the farm, he started to
think about all that he had seen, going through the portal.

He recalled reading that some scientists believed the pyramids were
really generators of electricity, yet they didn't know what for. He
also remembered what N. Tesla thought about them as well

Tesla was certain that he could recreate this process and capture
energy he believed to be lodged deep in Earth and transmit it all over
the globe. He was fairly certain that the Earth itself was a large
capacitor, holding endless volts of electricity that he believed he
could provide to anyone in the world for an endless amount of time. He
set up shop in 1899 in Colorado Springs near Pike's Peak to carry out
his research. This particular site was chosen carefully: being near
enough to Colorado Springs to give access to plenty of electricity and
also because the air at this altitude was dry and held more magnetic
force.
Tesla also reveled in the amount of thunderstorms that passed through,
and was curious to see if lightning did indeed "charge" the earth
every time it struck. We now know that lightning also travels from the
ground up, so it is possible that Tesla wasn't far off in his
theories. The first prototype he built, the Wardenclyffe Tower, was
basically a large octagonally-shaped capacitor, with a gold domed
capstone that discharged any build-up or excess energy. Its iron
foundation reached 300 feet into the ground. Because of the high
magnetic density of the area Tesla selected to research, the electric
field's voltage increased by 100 V per meter, and he wanted his tower
as high as possible to achieve maximum voltage.
This massive structure was intended to fling raw energy skyward that
would then be captured by homes around the globe, simply outfitted
with a buried ground connection and a small antenna affixed to their
roofs. Ships at sea could also theoretically tap into this widespread
energy source with similar antennas, and in addition to electricity,
there was the possibility that the energy could also carry and
transmit radio-frequency information, much like high-speed internet
today.

Linc thought of all of this, but decided it best not to bring the
subject up, except maybe with his Dad, at some time.

At the farm he pulled up to a storage shed and put the propane tank in
it before driving up to the house.


To be continued.

Farm

Farm

Back at the farm, Linc unloaded the truck while Lucas and Angel
decided to take a nap.
Trudy told him the Sherriff had been trying to contact him and he told
her they had met in town. He put the dog food and dishes in the
laundry room, out of the way, then went into the office. He called
his old teacher and told him about the boxes he had sent.
He called Uncle Vernon to see if they got the old ZCMI building, and
found that they did and were now making rooms for the exhibits and
updating the security of the building. They hoped to be ready to
transfer the exhibits in December. Linc hoped so too, because he would
be down there in Provo at Christmas time. Be great if they could get
it all done then.

He called Lewis to see if Axel had got the Chinese off his back, and
found out he was so far, free of the bugs and spies. Linc told him
that it would be a very good ides for him to go file claims, in his,
his Mother and Lincs name's , on the old mine where he found the
rocks.. And keep quiet about the fact that they were anti magnetic.
Lewis said he had thought about it but wondered what Linc would think.
Now that he knew, he would do it as soon as he could. It was a good
ides to take care of it now.

On the computer, he tried to find out something about the enameled
box on line but got nowhere there.
Tried to research on the diamonds. If they were famous stones, or
something, like stolen, or missing, he could find nothing about them.
He just had a mystery on his hands for sure there.

He heard Angel whimper, so he got up from the computer and took her
outside. She did a lot of sniffing around before she found just the
place to go.

Back inside, he found John sitting in the living room, and sat down to
talk to him when Trudy brought in a tray with coffee and sat it in
front of them. Just as she was pouring each of them cups, Lucas made
his appearance too.
After they all got settled with their coffee, Linc told them what had
happened up at the mine, and told them he was going up to the cabin
again since Buck had volunteered to send up a big earth mover. Lucas
said to count him out, He had enough of the blasted con-artists crap.
He would stay home and watch Angel, so Linc didn't have to worry about
her.

After breakfast the next morning, Trudy fixed a lunch for Linc who put
it in the truck with his back pack, and drove on up to the cabin. He
left the gate open so the guy Buck was sending up with a big machine,
could get in ok.
He went into the old tunnel, checked on the seep and found it was
still stopped. He got all the tools and the gas light, closed and
locked the tunnel back up. He took the tools over to the lean- to
shed by the cabin and put them there. He saw they had forgotten to
take the big propane tank off the BBQ. After putting the lantern in
the cabin, making a small fire and putting on a pot of coffee to perk,
he went out and took the tank off the BBQ and stowed it in the back of
the truck.
He then went to the creek and got a bucket of water.
Back in the cabin, he poured a cup of coffee Put the rest in the thermos, put
Water in the dishpan and put it on the stove to heat for clean up,
then went and sat in the sunshine, taking a cup and the thermos with
him.

The guy Buck sent over game in and got off the machine. Said, 'Hi
there, I'm Jim. Lets see what has to be done". Linc poured a cup
of coffee from the thermos, handed it to him, and said, "It's over
this way.' They drank their coffee as Linc explained about the
tunnel and the trench.

Jim climbed back on the machine, and in no time he had buried the
trench and piled so many rocks up against the adit, no one could begin
to see it. He took most of the old mine tailings and made a berm on
the road leading up to the tunnel as well.
Jim told Linc if he wanted, he would get some of the big boulders over
at the base of the hill and put them on the trench. He might even
want to add a fire pit to further confuse anyone looking for it.
Linc liked the idea, so Jim brought six large rocks over and placed
them in a wide circle with room in the middle for Linc to make a fire
pit from rocks from the tailings berm in the road. Linc told him
thanks a lot, and Jim took off down the road, back to his job at the
mine.

Linc put on some gloves and made a nice big fire pit in the middle of
the rock circle. Right on top of the buried trench. He laughed when
he thought about those darn snoops coming back and looking for it.
Might not be until next year, since winter was coming pretty soon now.

He poured out the rest of the coffee in his cup and got his lunch out
and ate it with the help of a couple of squirrels

Back in the cabin he washed the coffee pot and cups with water he had
heating on the small fire. It was almost cold, but did the job ok.

He put things away, locked the cabin and as he walked toward the
truck, he looked over at the new fire pit and saw a blue glow.
Oh boy! , Now what? He got his pack from the truck and entered the portal.

To be continued.

new

What waits at the cabin?

Back from the retreat, Linc puts the tote with the packages, in the
truck, then goes in the cabin to help Lucas get it all cleaned up for
the winter. He put the chairs upside down on the table and the bucket
he put the dog food in, on the table too. He turned the wash basin
upside down over the soap dish as Lucas started to sweep the floor.
He took the dirty laundry out to the truck, shook the rugs and put
them in the truck as well. As he was going back to the cabin, he got
a phone call from Sherriff's office; They said a deputy was bringing
some one out to the cabin. Linc went out and opened the gate so they
could come in. He wondered just what this was all about.
Back in the cabin, he helped Lucas finish up with the cleaning.
A while later the deputy came in with another car with Nevada state
emblem on the side door. Linc picked up Angel as they came in. The
deputy came over to Linc and Lucas with two other men. One was an
oriental. The deputy said to Lucas, " sorry about this, Mr. Hanks, but
these gentlemen have a court order I am obliged to bring to you. He
handed it to Lucas. Lucas looked at it then handed it to Linc,
telling the deputy, " that's ok there Don, I no longer own the
property, Linc does."
Linc Put Angel down as he took the paper. She had to go and sniff at
the men. The oriental kicked her and she yelped. Linc fumed. At him.
" that was all uncalled for. You are here on her territory and she
has every right to check you out". "I don't care, just keep him away
from me because I hate dogs" said the man. Linc had picked Angel back
up, and now handed her to Lucas so he could read the paper. After
reading it he said to the man who seemed to be in charge, " This is
an order to give you access to safety check my mine. I don't have a
mine There is no longer a working mine on this property. The mining
claim was converted to a homestead over 50 years ago. So now there is
no longer a working mine." The deputy said, " the Sherriff already
explained this to them but they went and got the court order anyway"
By now Linc was truly ticked off. He glared at the men and said. " I
want to see your credentials. You turn up here with out any safety
equipment and demand to inspect a non existent mine, what am I
expected to do. Just calmly let you push me a round? Well it ain't
going to happen.". Then the head guy took out an ID card and handed
it to Linc who took it and said. This is not your safety inspector
ID, That's what I want to see." He handed it back to the man who told
him he don't carry that around with him.
They heard the oriental guy shout, " Hey boss look at this, It's
what I look for".. He was standing in the trench with some of the red
mud in his hands Linc yelled, " Oh my god. Put that stuff down
and get the hell out of there you damn fool. That stuff is loaded
with Arsenic, and you have it on your bare hands and your feet. Don't
track it all over, and contaminate my yard. just get back in your car
now."
The oriental rubbed his hands on his pants and climbed out of the
trench, screaming "water, water, I need water to wash it off." Linc
said, " we get our water from the creek, and if you go near the creek
to get arsenic in it, I will tromp you into the trench and cover it
up." The oriental ran for the car.
The head man said, " One phone call and I can have you shut down for
good. No more mining." "Go ahead. You can't close the tunnel any
more than the last earthquake did. It collapsed part of it so no one
could get in, anyway.
Deputy, get these phonies off my property". " With pleasure," he
said. And lead them off. Lucas roared with laughter as they pulled
out of the yard. " I bet that dude has wet pants about now. You
really laid it onto him about all the real bad arsenic in that stuff".
" Serves him right for kicking Angel. I hope he has night mares for a
long time. I am going to have John bring the front end loader up and
cover that trench up. You can bet that jackass will never forget that
rusty dirt now. They will be back, somehow, you can bet on it. " he
said as they went to get in the truck.

In town they went to the UPS and sent the packages off, then went to
the Tractor Supply store and got a collar. leash, more dog food and
food dishes for Angel. As they were pulling out of the store, the
Sherriff pulled up by them and said to Linc, " I want to talk to you.
Go on over to Annie's café. I'll buy lunch, Ok? " Linc gave him
thumbs up and drove on over there.
They had just ordered sandwiches when Buck, the manager from the
Mamouth mine came in. He spotted the Sherriff and came over, excused
himself to Linc and Lucas and sat down. He said to the Sherriff, " I
was just headed for your office when I spotted your cruiser here.
Some thing is going to have to be done with those con artists here in
town bugging the miners and disrupting operations at all the mines.
They are getting to be a damn nuisance around here." The Sherriff
said, " I think from what Linc and my deputy has told me about their
visit to his property, They will be leaving shortly, if they haven't
already gone. Linc tells me the oriental guy got into a trench he had
made to drain a seep of rusty water from the old tunnel, that had
stained the dirt very red. He had it all over his hands and feet.
Linc scared the crap out of him telling him it was highly contaminated
with arsenic. Any way, be a while before they come back, and I bet
they will. Linc here said they are looking for rusty stuff, and they
think they found it at his place. Going to have to watch out for
them". They all laughed, and Buck said, I hope that dude has Bad
dreams the rest of his life. I sure hope they have gone for good, but
like you, I doubt it. If you guys need any help there Linc, we will
back you up". Thanks said Linc. " I'd like to blow the tunnel shut,
but I'm afraid it would start the leak up again, now that it's
stopped. I'm going to have John bring the front end loader up and
cover the trench up, and pile some of the old tailings up against the
old adit". Hey Buck said, I can have one of the men run a bigger
machine over there tomorrow and really bury that old tunnel and
trench to where they will never find it in a million years". "Sounds
good to me, give me a call so I can be there to let him in".." Will
do, Buck said as he pushed back his chair and stood up. By the way
there Lucas, you are looking mighty good for an old codger who had a
stroke not too long ago." "Thanks, said Lucas. Linc here keeps me
active".

After Buck left, the Sherriff got up to leave and said, " Glad I
caught you guys and got some things cleared up. That main con guy
wanted you arrested for having a toxic pit in your yard, Said his
assistant had a hard time getting all the mud cleaned off him, and I
told him they were not there to play in the mud, and he got all out of
joint about it, but is nothing he can do about it. You can be sure
they won't let it rest. Let Buck's man do the job and make liar's
out of them.". " Plan to. And thanks for lunch", said Linc.

Back at the ranch, :inc unloaded all the stuff from the truck while
Lucas and Angel went to take a nap.

To be continued.

At the retreat.

At the retreat.

When they got to the retreat, Linc unloaded the totes and put things
away. He fixed some lunch, and cleaned up after. Lucas and Angel
went for a nap on the terrace, and Linc took the packaging material
down to the cave to get the boxes ready to ship when they got back
from retreat.
Linc packed the rocks from Colorado in two different boxes. He
carefully wrapped the specimen with the crystals, and the jar with the
rusty sludge in bubble wrap and put them in separate boxes.
Since the rocks were radioactive, he decided to leave them in the
cave until they were ready to leave the island.
He went in the bedroom and took the packet of papers, the dueling
pistols and the ring. He decided to take them back up to the house
and put them in the office up there. He wanted to bring his folks and
the kids here to the island at Christmas time. You never know if Todd
might try and show the stuff to the other kids before he could show
them to his parents. Better to be safe than sorry. He just hoped
Uncle Vernon got the old ZCMI building. Fannie seemed to think he had
a real good chance.
Back up at the house, Linc put the stuff he brought from the cave in
the desk in the office. Then he sat down at the computer to make some
shipping labels for the boxes in the cave. All at once he heard Lucas
yelling," no Angel come back, come back. Linc, Linc, help, help. Stop
her." Linc jumped up and ran outside in time to see Lucas running
down the beach and into the water. He looked and saw Angel bobbing in
the water not far from shore. Lucas ran into the water after Angel
but fell when the water was up to his knees and was struggling to get
up as Linc raced past him to get to Angel. She slipped beneath the
surface and Linc dove under the water to find her. He reached out and
pulled her out of the water, and shook her and blew into her face.
She started to cough, gag and sputter. She whimpered and quivered as
he carried her up to the house. He hugged her and crooned to her a bit
before sitting her on the ground. Angel just lay there quivering
instead of standing and shaking the water off her. Linc felt so sorry
for her. He picked her up and took her with him to the shower by the
patio.
Lucas had already stripped off his wet clothes and was under the
shower, when he got there. Lucas got out of the shower and got some
towels out of a tote that Fannie had put out on the patio. He wrapped
one around him as Linc put Angel down and stripped off his own wet
clothes. Angel still just lay on the ground and shivered. Linc
picked her up as he stepped to the shower. He held her up and washed
the sand and sea water from her belly, then held her up to his chest
as he stepped under the shower. Angel put her head on his shoulder
and her paws around his neck. As the water poured down over them,
Angel licked Linc on his cheek. As Linc stood there holding her
quivering little puppy body close to him, he knew without a doubt , he
really had a dog now.
Linc wrapped Angel in a towel and took her to a lounge chair on the
terrace. He rubbed her and then told her to lay there in the sunshine
and get warm and dry, while he dried himself off. When she finally
quit shivering and just lay in the sun, he went in and got into some
dry clothes.
When he came back out he saw that Lucas had picked up the wet clothes,
wrung them out, and draped them over the chair backs to dry a bit
before taking them in to the laundry. He came up to Linc with such a
hang dog look on his face that Linc almost started to laugh, and then
Lucas almost cried as he told Linc how he was playing toss the ball
with Angel when the ball got away from her and rolled down the beach
to the water. He was so sorry, so sorry. He would never do that
again. Linc hugged him and said, " I bet Angel will never follow a
ball into the water ever again either, she was so scared".
Lucas said, " I bet she will hate me now". He went over to the lounge
and sat by Angel, and she promptly crawled over onto his lap. " well
that answers that, now don't it"? Linc said as he looked at Lucas,
who was grinning broadly. Lucas held her like you would a baby and
told her how sorry he was, and called her Angel Face. He set her on
his lap and she wagged her tail so hard, her butt wagged too. They
both laughed at her.
Lucas put her on the ground and got up, saying he wanted to go for a
walk. They walked down the side of the island opposite the cave.
Angel running ahead, then back to them. She had to stop and sniff at
some piece of driftwood now and then. At one piece she sniffed then
pawed it. A tiny crab scuttled out from under it and went to the
water. Angel was right behind it sniffing and pawing just until she
saw the water, then she ran back up and cowered by Linc's legs. "
See, I told you she wouldn't follow anything into the water again",
Linc said to Lucas., who reached down and petted Angel and told her
what a good girl she was.
When they came to the small cave where they found the children's
toys, the first time they walked this way, Angel went in and came out
with a teddy bear. She shook it over and over again, then went back
in the cave and brought out a purple dino. She put it on the ground
and sniffed at it. Back in the cave she went and started sniffing
and digging. Linc and Lucas stopped to see what she was up to. She
dug out a yellow rhino and a small enameled, metal box. She took the
rhino out and shook it, while Linc reached in and picked up the box.
He opened it and found it held 4 of the largest diamonds he had ever
seen in person. "Holy Cow! . Wonder where these came from, and why
are they here? " he exclaimed. Lucas said, " are they real'. Linc
replied , " looks to me like they are, but I can't be sure". Linc
wondered, how in the world did a child get a hold of them, and when
and where, did he do it. How old was he when he did it. Where did they
come from in the first place? Are they part of one of the time masters
plunder? This is something he never in the world would have
expected. Now what? Sure the island was his but, but… The box was
small, yet too big to fit in his pocket, so he would have to carry it.
Lucas knelt down and started digging in the small cave looking to see
if anything else was in there. He pulled all the loose sand out of the
place and came up with two tiny toy wooden trucks., and a wooden spin
top. That was all. Lucas tossed all the toys back in the cave, all
but the teddy bear. Angel was already taking it up the beach. Lucas
said, "well I guess you can have that, I don't think anyone here will
mind". They walked a ways farther up the beach to where it became
really rocky then turned back to the house.

Back at the house, Linc put the box on the patio table and went into
the house to get a magnifying glass. He wanted to get a closer look
at the box. When he came back out, he saw that Lucas had taken the
diamonds out of the box and laid them out on a napkin. He was looking
closely at the largest stone that was about the size of a quarter,
but more oval. He said, " looks like a poor cutting job, they must be
native cut. This one is pretty clear but has some tiny black specks
near the girdle. I think they are real. All four of them are a
different pale color. If real, they must be worth a Kings ransom, even
as badly cut as they are. Where in the world did they come from"?
Linc had picked up the box and was examining it closely. " The
enameled figures and scenes on the box looks almost Oriental to me.
Not really Chinese nor Japanese. Maybe Tibetan? Hard for me to tell
and I can't decipher any of the marking on the bottom of the box.
Going to have to leave this mystery up to Uncle Vernon to figure out.
This is more up his line".
They sat there for a while, talking. They tossed ideas of where the
box came from, who had it in the first place and why it was buried in
the small cave and why. Why was it still there if Roland put it
there. Did he forget it, or was he deliberately hiding it there
forever?
Linc put the stones back in the box and took it inside to put in the
desk in the office, and start fixing some dinner. He made a bowl of
gazpacho, peeled and sliced an avocado and started to make some
burger patties. He called out to Lucas who was playing toss the teddy
with Angel, to fire up the BBQ.

Lucas lit the BBQ then set the table on the patio. Angel was tired
from all the running around and had taken the teddy and went to lay in
the shade.

As they sat there eating, Angel sat by Linc and begged. He gave her a
bit of bun with avocado on it. She gobbled it right down. Then he
gave her a piece of cucumber and she did the same thing. He tossed her
a piece of onion and when she grabbed it, she chomped once, then spit
it out and shook her head. She looked up at Linc, who pointed to the
piece of onion. Angel picked it up and took it out in the sand and
buried it. Came back, took her teddy and went and laid in the shade.
Linc and Lucas both roared with laughter. Linc said, "I bet she will
never gobble another thing with out smelling it again".

After clean up, Linc took the labels down to the cave and put them on
the boxes.
They spent the next few days, just hanging out, playing pool, napping
and walking. Then Linc got the boxes and they went back to the cabin.

To be continued

At the farm.

Back to the farm.

As Linc pulled out of the driveway, Angel sat there on the seat and
looked up at him. Linc looked over at her and said, "if you pee on
my seat, I will boot your bottom, ya hear?' Angel looked up at him
and raised a paw. Linc touched her paw and laughed. She came over
close to him and laid down by his thigh and went to sleep.
Driving down the road, he remembered when he had a dog. She was a
golden retriever puppy his Dad got for him on his third birthday. He
called her Missy. She went every where with him. When he was about
sis years old, he and Uncle Vernon were out camping. They had just
finished eating breakfast when a bear came into camp. Uncle Vernon
told him to run for the truck, and they ran for it. The bear started
to come after them instead of raiding the camp. Just as they reached
the truck, Missy tried to distract the bear and had it going around in
circles while they got in the truck. The bear swatted Missy and sent
her flying. Uncle Vernon grabbed his gun out of the back window and
got out of the truck just as the bears grabbed Missy and bit her. He
shot the bear, but Missy was already dead. She died saving their
lives. That really ruined camping for Linc for a while. He choked a
sob even as he remembered at this late time since she was gone. He
could never get another dog after that.
Angel squirmed and let out a whimper. Linc petted her and thought to
himself, well Linc old boy, you let yourself in for this, but he just
figured it would make Jenny un-happy if he refused to take Angel.
Any way, she will be good to give Gramps company.
As he pulled into the farm yard, he could see Lucas had his jacket on,
sitting on the porch getting some fresh air. He picked up Angel, got
out of the truck and put her on the ground. It didn't take her long
to find the right spot to pee. She went over to the steps but couldn't
begin to get up them. Linc picked her up and set her on the porch and
she promptly went over to Lucas. As he walked back to the truck to
get his bag, he heard Lucas say, "well, well, what have we got
here, as he picked up Angel. If you ain't a cutie."
Linc got his bag and went back to the house. When he got up on the
porch, he found Angel snuggling up to Lucas who was laughing at her.
Linc said,
" I have to go into town and get some packing materials and puppy
chow, so I'm thinking I will tell Trudy we are going up to the cabin
for a couple of days to close things up for the winter and will get
what we need in town, so she don't need to fix things for us to take.
What I really need to do is go to the retreat first. If you want to
come that is"? " You're durn tootin I want to go, Don't we Angel",
Lucas said as he held Angel up and wiggled her.
Just about then, the door opened and John looked out to tell Lucas,
that supper was ready. He leaned back and called to Trudy to put on
another plate because Linc had just got back. They went inside and
Lucas put Angel down and they went to the sink to wash their hands..
Trudy suspected that Linc would be back and had made a big pot of beef
stew. They all wanted to know about Angel, and Linc told the whole
bit. He put some veggies and a bit of bread in a dish and gave it to
Angel, remembering that his Father had told him not to give a small
puppy meat because it would give them the runs, and he didn't need
that right now for sure.
Trudy got up and got a bowl and put water in it for Angel, who sat and
waited for it. Trudy said as she put the bowl down, " If you pee on
my clean floors, I'll spank, ya hear". Angel raised a paw and Trudy
touched it laughing," it's a deal". She and all the others laughed as
she sat back down and Angle drank.
Linc told Trudy and John about going up to the cabin in the morning,
for a couple of days to close things up. They would get what they
needed in town.

After breakfast the next morning, Linc and Lucas took what they needed
for a couple of days and went to town where Linc got, packing
materials, dog food, a couple of totes and replenished the items he
had on his grocery list, which was substantial since Axel and Fannie
had been up at the retreat with him.

Back at the cabin, linc wanted to collect another peanut butter jar
full of the rusty material to send his teacher. He told Lucas to keep
Angel inside the cabin so she wouldn't fall in the trench or the
creek. He got an empty jar and an old broken wooden spoon and went
out, leaving Lucas to clean up the cabin and put all the dirty bedding
in a bag to take back to the farm.
He filled the jar and stuck the old wooden spoon in the dirt beside
the hole. He left the jar there beside the trench and went into the
mine to see how the seep was doing. He used a small flash instead of
lighting the lamp. He saw the seep had still stopped seeping and
turned to leave the mine. And saw a blue glow. Oh darn he said to
himself, now what?
He stepped into the portal and found himself in a very narrow area
which looked like it was between two walls. The walls were unfinished
so he assumed he was in a passage way inside the walls.
How strange he thought as he made his way between them. He came to a
corner an went down the passage way farther. He wondered where in the
heck he was. He came to what looked like the end of the passage and
saw two holes in the wall, that was letting light through. He went up
to the holes and looked through them. He could see he was looking
into a room filled with vintage furniture. Where is this place he
thought as he looked around. He started to turn around and as he had
to step back to do it, he stepped into a big spider web, face high.
He flailed his arms and bumped into the wall. Holy cow! He said to
himself as the wall opened into the room. He stepped out and looked
back , he saw that he had come out from behind a bookcase. Next to it
was a large portrait of Abe Lincoln. Linc looked closer at it and saw
the two holes he had looked through were the eyes on the painting.
Now what the devil was all this about, and where am I.
All of a sudden he heard a bunch of people , and then, there they were
standing out side of a red fuzzy rope across a large doorway. There
was a guide who was talking, and then looked and saw Linc. She
yelled, what are you doing in there. Guard's, guard's, and started to
climb over the rope. Linc hurriedly stepped back into the opening
behind the bookcase and pulled it shut behind him. He hurried as fast
as he could to get back to the portal before they caught him. As he
stepped through the portal back into the mine, he had a hard time
trying to figure out where he went and why that portal was open to
him. It was a good thing they didn't catch him before he reached the
portal. Who knows what would have happened then. Crazy, is all he
could figure. No need telling Gramps about it though.
Linc took the lock from the shelf just inside the adit and put in on
the adit door. He picked up the jar with the rusty ooze and put it in
one of the totes with the stuff he wanted to take to the retreat.
Filled the other with foodstuffs to take also.
Inside the cabin, he found Lucas had most of the other stuff to take
with them ready. They took it all outside to where the totes were and
went to the retreat.

To be continued.

story

Back in Vegas.

They no sooner got back to Vegas when Fannie called Vernon and clued
him on to what she could about the ZCMI building in Provo. She faxed
him some paperwork to apply for the building to be donated for a
museum. Told him there was a very good chance it could be done.
Linc had talked to Axel about him going into the mine with the right
people and to be sure to check on the rock-fall history of the mine.
Axel Called some of the agents in his office and got things setup to
do that the first thing Monday morning. Then he called some FBI
friends and told them all about the problems Jane and Lewis were
having with the Chinese. They got things started right away.
Fannie had never made kiwi jam, but had eaten some at a company
luncheon and liked it, but kiwis were a bit pricey to try before but
now she had a bunch of them. She got on the computer to find a recipe.
She found one, and told Linc, next time she saw him she would have
some for him.

Before he left, Linc gave Fannie an envelope with four of the French
bank notes in it, and his banking info.

Linc got in his truck and started for home. He had put a John Denver
disc in the deck and was rolling along singing with John, when a big
dog went out in the road in front of him and just stood there barking
at him. Linc stopped, and pulled off the road. The dog just stood
there beside the truck and barked, then ran off into some bushes. It
looked back and barked at him again. Linc figured it wanted him to
follow, so he pulled off the road farther, got out and followed the
dog.
It led him through the rocks, bushes and trees. Linc could hear
someone yelling, "Grandpa, Help me," then crying. He came upon a
little girl, sitting on the ground, crying her eyes out. The dog went
over to her and stood close to her. Linc watched the dog, then went
over to the little girl and asked her what was wrong, "I think I
broke my leg, and I can't walk on it", she cried. Linc knelt down
beside her and said, "Lets have a look at it". He pulled up her pant
leg and couldn't see anything wrong with it. He asked her to wiggle
her foot, and she did, He asked her if she could wiggle her toes, and
she said she could, so Linc figured her leg was just fractured. He
told the girl he would fix it the best he could until he could get her
home. Told her to just sit still until he went back to his truck to
get something to fix her leg with. Back at the truck he got a roll of
duct tape and ran back to her. He found two good straight sticks and
pulled her pant leg back down and put the sticks on each side of her
leg and told her to hold them while he tore off a couple of strips of
tape. After securing the sticks, he then wrapped tape all around her
leg, foot and sticks until he had her leg completely immobilized.
"Are you a doctor," the girl asked. "No Linc said, my Mom is." "My
name is Linc, what's your name." Linc asked. " Oh! I'm Jenny, and
this is Bessie" she said as she patted the dog. " Well Jenny, I'm
going to have to carry you over to the truck to get you home, Ok!".
Linc said as he scooped her up and started off to the truck. He stood
her down by the truck as he opened the back door and Bessie jumped in,
then he put Jenny up in the front seat. He asked Jenny where she
lived, and she told him, "down the road a mile or so". It was really
only about a quarter mile when she told him where to turn off on a
road to the right. As he drove into the yard, he could see and old
man chopping wood.
The old man held onto the axe as he started toward the truck. Linc
got out and the old man yelled, " what the hell is going on here, why
is my Grand Daughter in your truck ? " Jenny yelled out of the
window, " I broke my leg Grandpa, and he helped me home. Don't be
mad at him." Linc went around the truck to get Jenny out. Linc told
the old man, "I'll get her out so you can take her to the doctor to
get her leg put in a cast." "Good Lord man , I can't take her to
town now, my old truck wouldn't start so Jake the mechanic towed it
into town this morning. Said it might be the alternator." "Well in
that case, climb in and I'll take you into town." Linc informed him.
He opened the back door, the dog jumped out and the old man climbed
in, and the drove out of the yard.
" Much obliged. My name is Ben Carter. Who are you if I may ask.,
"said the old man. " My name is Lincoln Hanks", answered Linc. "
Well, I'll be darned. My late wife Becky was a Hanks. Claimed one
of her old ancestors that came from England, was an inventor.
Claimed he invented a water powered loom to weave silk fabrics. Said
her ancient family had a silk mill."
Linc recalled reading about that family in family papers.

Hanks Silk Mill Before 1800, most of the silk made in America was
exported as thick cocoons spun by silkworms, in its raw state. Two
innovative brothers, Rodney and Horace Hanks of Mansfield,
Connecticut, built this tiny water-powered silk mill in 1810 and were
the first to began processing silk fiber from cocoons.

The cocoons were produced by silk worms, a caterpillar, fed from the
adjoining mulberry grove. One cocoon contains a single strand of silk
up to 1,000 yards long.

This mill is believed to be the first water-powered silk mill in the
United States. The silk thread produced at this mill was sold across
the country. Soon other American silk producers followed this trend.

The Hanks later moved into a larger mill, where they continued to make
thread until the 1920's. He told Ben and Jenny about this.

"How in the world do they get silk from a worm, that sound's silly"
said Jenny.
Linc explained to her and Ben about how this happens..

"Silkworms are the larva of a moth (Bombyx mori) native to Asia that
spins a cocoon of fine, strong, lustrous fiber that is the source of
commercial silk. The culture of silkworms is called sericulture. The
various species raised today are distinguished by the quality of the
silk they produce. Silkworms feed on the leaves of the mulberries
(genus Morus) and sometimes on the Osage orange (Maclura pomifera).



Silkworms are soft-bodied, slow moving and can grow to 3 inches in
length. They are also relatively fast growing, reaching about 3 inches
in length and ready to cocoon in as little as 25 - 28 days.


Silkworm and Cocoon Silkworms go through four stages of development,
as do most insects: egg, larva, pupa and adult. The adult (imago)
stage is the silkworm moth. The larva is the caterpillar (not really a
"worm" at all). The pupa is what the silkworm changes into after
spinning its cocoon before emerging as a moth.


Silkworm moths emerge from their cocoons after spending about two to
three weeks metamorphosing. As moths, they do not eat or fly. They
will usually mate, lay eggs and die within a week. Fertile eggs turn
from yellow to gray or purple in a week or so. If the eggs don't hatch
within 3 weeks, they usually will not hatch until the following year."

"Wow! I never knew that said Ben. Learn something new today.
Anyway, Becky was awful proud of her Hanks family, and now I can see
why," "I'm proud too, even though I hardly knew Grandma before she
died. I was too little." Claimed Jenny.

When they got into town, Ben directed Linc to the clinic where the
doctor had only good comments about how Linc had splinted Jenny's
leg. After x-ray's and a cast, two furry booties, a wrap-a-round
plastic boot and a pair of crutches, Linc was able to take them back
home.

At the farm, Bessie bounded out to greet them as they drove into the
yard. Linc carried Jenny over and sat her on the edge of the porch
next to big box. Bessie stayed right next to Jenny's side. Linc
reached over and patted Bessie and told Jenny what a great dog Bessie
was. Jenny asked Linc if he had a dog, and Linc confessed he didn't.
Jenny reached into the box and pulled out a chubby, wiggly puppy. It
was a cutie that had white markings on it's face. Jenny handed the
pup to Linc, and said, " This is Angel She has an angel on her face.
She is two months old, and even though she is the runt of the pack,
she is the smartest. She will make you a very special dog. I want
you to have her." Linc was astounded. " I don't know what to say,
except thank you."

He hugged Jenny, shook Ben's hand , and with the pup, he got into the
truck and left for home.

To be continued.