Cabin.

Up At the cabin.

They got everything unloaded and stowed away, then sat out under a
tree drinking Ice tea and rested a bit before going up to the mine.
Lucas was surprised to see that it wasn't caved in from the blast, and
that Linc had cleared the entrance out. They looked at the trickle of
rusty water and saw that it was real bad. The rust wasn't settling
out like it should, even after running the length of the tunnel.
Linc ltt the lantern, and they went inside. He had brought a strong
flashlight and played it on the crack at the end of the tunnel. Lucas
gasped when he saw it. Since Linc had seen it last, it had made a
big pool of rust that looked almost like blood. John dipped a finger
in the pool and rubbed his finger and thumb together. "Pretty
gritty", he said. Lucas bent and looked closer at the crack. Said,"
I'm glad you didn't decide to pick at it. I think it's best left
alone". They walked on back out of the mine.
John was concerned about the rust going into the creek, and said, It
may be a good idea to bring the front end loader and make a trench
back away from the creek. Let the rusty water drain into it and
settle out the rust before it is let into the creek. He said he
hadn't seen any sign of rust in the stock pond, but then he hadn't
known about it and looked. Lucas and Linc both thought this was a
good idea. Linc was glad he decided to ask him to come on up to the
cabin.
Trudy said, "while John is digging that trench tomorrow, I'm going to
go down there where those wild blackberries are growing and pick a
bunch for some jam". Lucas told Trudy there were some old lard
buckets in the cellar on the floor beneath the shelves, that they used
for picking fruit in. They used to pick blackberries, gooseberries
and wild currants in them every year when the kids were home. Linc
said he would help since he grabbed the last bottle of blackberry jam
to bring up here to the cabin.
John went to his truck and started to unload a folding table. Linc
hastened over to help and they took out four folding chairs too and
set them up under a big oak tree that grew along side the cabin.
Trudy was bustling around getting things ready for the picnic. Linc
was going to fire up the BBQ, when Trudy said she had everything they
needed to eat in the coolers they brought, and a feast it was too.
After they ate and cleaned things up, they sat around, drank coffee
and recalled old times.
John asked Linc what his plans were, as he said that he and Trudy
would like to take a week off and go visit her folks before the cold
weather set in. Linc told about the job offer, but said he would
rather spend more time with Lucas. Said his finances would permit it,
so he was going to do it. He had no other responsibilities right now
any way. He said to just let him know when they planned to go. Linc
figured since the farm was legally his anyway, he had best spend what
time Lucas has left, with him. He was still young, and anyway he and
Lucas got along fine together. He Hadn't told Lucas yet about the
time masters and what they wanted from him. He planned to tell Lucas
all about it later and wanted to take him to the retreat. He would do
it as soon as this business with the trench was taken care of. And
too, he wanted to spend a bit of time at the retreat getting it
cleaned up and find out a bit about Roland and his family before he
told any one else about it.
Trudy told Linc not to make any plans for the next days meal, because
she had that all planned out in her mind. All she needed from him was
the BBQ fired up for supper the next day.
The sun was beginning to go down when John and Trudy piled into their
truck and went back to the farm.
As Lucas was getting ready to go to bed that night, Linc gave him a
small flashlight and told him to put it under his pillow in case he
had to get up at night.
Linc puttered around the cabin a while before he got into bed. He
wanted to go to the retreat as soon as Lucas fell asleep.
An hour later, he got up, put his jeans back on and went outside,
touched the broach in his pocket and said, "retreat".
Linc walked in the house and marveled at all the real "modern"
conveniences Roland had put into the place. The solar panels and the
two wind generators seemed to power every thing here. He wondered why
Roland's father had picked this particular time period to make his
retreat, and why Roland kept it instead of making one of his own. A
lot of things had to be sorted out in his mind yet.
He went around doing things while all these thoughts filled his mind.
He stripped the beds in both bedrooms and tossed the bedding into the
washer. Then he picked up all the dirty clothes lying all over the
house, then got a garbage bag and collected all the trash laying
around. He was going to have to figure out just how he was going to
dispose of all the garbage piled up in the shed in back of the house.
While things were washing he cleaned up the kitchen and took stock of
what supplies were in the place, to know what he needed to bring back
with him. After taking the bedding from the dryer he put the clothes
he had washed in the dryer and remade the beds before going into the
office. There was a very weird painting on the wall Looked like a
very disjointed woman smoking a cigarette or something. Real strange.

The office equipment was very up to date. State of the art computer
system was installed.
Linc sat down at the computer and switched it on. No password need to run.
He went thru some of the files, but looked for a file on Roland's
family. He didn't find one right off hand and switched the computer
off and went on doing the chores needed to be done. He figured the
clothing left in the bedrooms could wait, he removed the clean clothes
from the dryer and left them in a basket to deal with later.
He left the house and went on down to the cave. The cave had not been
modernized. There was still kerosene lamps in use here. He wondered
why. There seemed to be a good supply of it, so he lit a lamp and went
into the grotto where the coffins were placed. He read on the top of
one that had a brass plaque, Marchand Raul Hancks., and on the other
coffin plaque, Estelle Bonde Hancks. Hmmm! Linc thought. Those names
sounded French. Was it possible Roland's parents were French? Were
they any relation to his family tree? Then he began wondering just
where this retreat was. What country was it in? All the equipment he
saw looked American. The electric power at the house was most likely
American. A lot of questions yet to be answered.
He went back out into the main room. Behind the sofa was an awful
painting of what he really didn't know. An animal ln parts, separated
by squares. Real strange.
He went into a bedroom and saw that the bed had been carved out of the
wall, as were the closets. There was a fur spread on the bed, and a
fur rug on the floor by it. A small table with a bowl and pitcher on
it and behind it hung a small mirror. A kerosene lamp was on a table
by the bed, and a large dresser. The room was otherwise bare.
Going into the other one, He saw a much larger room had been carved
out and had a very ornate double bed, side tables, one with a
kerosene lamp, dresser and tall chiffenrobe were definitely French
furniture. Clothing was still in them. There was a big roll top desk
and bench also in the room. He looked in the drawers, but all the
papers he saw were in French so he didn't understand them. He knew
Lucas could read and speak French because Grandma Hanks was very
fluent in the language and had taught it to Lucas. Just wait until he
got here to explore this place.
Linc remembered a roll top desk his Uncle Vernon had and also
remembered that there was a hidden compartment in it as well. Linc
went around to the side of the desk, removed a waste basket and looked
down at the back leg. Sure enough there was a hinge there, very hard
to see, but Linc felt around the leg and found the catch the held the
hidden door close to the bottom of the desk. The hidden door popped
open and Linc reached inside. He pulled out a packet tied with a
purple silk cord and a case of some sort.

First he opened the case, and in it lay two very fancy dueling
pistols. Wow! Linc thought. How very fancy, and very old as well.
Wonder about the history behind this. The Packet contained a couple
of large keys and a bunch of legal looking documents in French. Also a
thick packet of French money.
Instead of putting them back in the hidden compartment he laid them
inside the desk to show Lucas when he brought him here.
Linc looked around the cave for a bit longer. Saw there were quite a
few staples in the large pantry. He then went back up to the house.
Inside, he found the list he started and looked around to see what
else he might need here. He knew he had the farm as his own home, but
he also knew since this place was his too, he might spend some time
here as well. He wanted to get to the bottom of just who Roland and
his Parents really were.
He added a few more things to the list, then putting it into his
pocket he went outside and back to the cabin. He saw he was only gone
for a couple of minutes cabin time, so he climbed into bed and fell
sound asleep.

To be continued.