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.