Visitor.

Unwanted Visitor.

Linc smelled something acrid as he woke up the next morning. Raising
up, he looked toward the screen door. There stood a big skunk peering
thru the screen to see what was in the cabin. Oh great! Just what we
need, Linc thought. Now what? The smell was bad enough now, and he
didn't want to have the darn thing spray the place. Lucas woke up
about that time and started to move around. Linc whispered to Lucas,
"don't move, there's a skunk by the door. May be he will go away".
They lay there a while and the darn skunk finally did leave, but the
odor lingered on. Linc got up and got the fire going and the coffee
pot on as Lucas got out of bed, and went out side to sit in the sun.
Linc opened a window so the smell could dissipate. He took coffee
out and they sat there in the sun drinking it waiting for the smell to
go away. Since John had taken the table and chairs back to the farm,
they would have to eat breakfast in the cabin. Linc fixed breakfast
and after cleanup they went up to the trench and looked in. Still no
water. It was sinking in as fast as it went into the trench. Maybe
they hadn't needed a deep trench after all.
Lucas wanted to go on up to the mine so, Linc ran back and got the
flashlights and they went on up.
Inside, the trickle looked to be about the same. They looked again at
the crack. Lucas felt the wall around the crack. He mentioned the
temperature felt the same all around it and was the same as the rest
of the tunnel. " Must not be an opening of any size behind the crack.
that's good', he said.
Looking around the tunnel and offshoots, they could see nothing else
wrong. then went on back to the cabin.
Back at the cabin, the smell was stronger than ever. The blasted
skunk had dug a hole under the cabin. The cabin reeked inside. This
was not going to work. Some how they had to get that darn skunk out
of there. They decided to pack stuff up and go back to the farm. Linc
would get a trap and set it out a way from the cabin, in hopes to
catch it.

Back at the farm, John came running from the barn and Trudy rushed out
of the house. They both feared something had happened to Lucas, but
were very relieved when he got out of the truck. Lucas cussed a bit
then told them about the skunk. John said he saw some traps somewhere
in the barn and he would get them out for Linc. He said the best
thing was to get a can of the cat food he had for the barn cat and
toss a few pieces by the hole and some by at least three different
traps. Bait one with a bit of bacon wired on tight, one with a rag
smeared with peanut butter, also wired on and another with some kind
of raw meat. He and Trudy would round the stuff up for him. Linc
agreed with what John said and figured he would take the stuff back up
to the cabin early the next morning, and set the traps out.
Linc figured if he left real early, he could stop at the dump on the
way to the cabin and take care of the garbage from the retreat while
he was at it.
He and John gathered up the things he would need and loaded it in the truck.
The next morning he was up before daybreak, had some coffee and took
off for the cabin. A quick stop at the dump to get the garbage put
in the dumpster from the retreat, then on up to the cabin.
The smell was as strong as ever in the cabin, but Linc opened the
windows and the door, before finding just where he wanted to set the
traps. That done, he went to the retreat. He wanted to check out the
files on Roland's computer to see if there was anything about the
hidden tunnel.

On the computer, he didn't find anything about the hidden tunnel, but
he did find a file labeled LT. In it he saw where Roland purchased a
gold and turquoise necklace from a tomb robber, who also gave him a
small wooden statue of Anubis, in Egypt. From Japan he acquired a
sword with a golden hilt, in a sheath, from a dealer of antiques
Roland went to an archeology dig in Peru where he was watching a
dig, and saw as they uncovered a skeleton of some dignitary, as there
was a breast-plate of gold and jade on the chest and a bracelet of
gold and jade on one arm. As these were being removed, he could see
one of the team had partially uncovered a jade encrusted dagger under
the fingers of the other hand. He watched as the worker slipped the
dagger out from under the fingers and quickly put it in his tool bag.
The others in the team were unaware of it. Roland waited until the
worker left to eat lunch, then he took the dagger from the tool bag
and left the dig, knowing the worker could never accuse any one of
taking it from his tool bag.
That was all that he could find. But, Linc thought. Where are they?
He didn't see them around the house. Are they in the hidden tunnel,
he wondered. Well maybe there was something in the desk at the cave.
He will have to wait on that.

Back at the cabin, he checked the traps. No skunk, but one rat in the
one with the meat. He re-baited it. He looked again at the trench
and saw no change there. As he was getting ready to go back to the
farm, he noticed the door to the mine was open. What the heck was
going on? He went up to the open door an looked in. He saw a blue
glow in there. He stepped inside and found himself back in Egypt.
Oh boy! Now what?