Eastover Treasures

by Dawn Brotherton

  Aury’s stomach turned. She wasn’t sure how she was going to break it to the others.

  “I’m worried about you in the motel without power. We can gather blankets from the other rooms.”

  “Ah, about that.” Aury hated to add more bad news to his day. “The hotel took quite a hit from the trees.” She told Scott about their adventures in the storm and how they ended up at the manor house.

  When she finished, Scott’s face was drained of color. “But no one’s hurt, right?”

  “No, we’re all fine. In need of coffee perhaps, but not hurt.”

  “Good.” He ran his hand through his hair. Aury noticed the stubble covering his tanned face.

  “I can do something about the coffee, at least. Are you up for a detour?”

  Aury agreed and followed him back the way he had come.

  “We have a few other cottages on the property. We usually stock them with goodies to welcome guests. Let’s see what kind of shape they’re in.”

  They picked their way down another path Aury hadn’t noticed before. Trees crisscrossed the road, some holding each other up like drunken sailors. They came to a clearing in which three small cottages sat. One now sported a thick tree trunk across the roof.

  “Damn,” Scott said quietly. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Let’s see what we can find.”

  In the first cabin, Scott unlocked a closet filled with cleaning supplies. He pulled out empty grocery bags that were hanging on a nail.

  Aury opened a bag and held it while Scott opened another cabinet, emptying the shelves of everything useful he could find. There was coffee, sugar, creamer, snack bars, peanuts, and pretzels.

  A thorough search through the cabinets revealed other things previous campers had left.

  Scott and Aury searched the other cabins as well and were loaded down as they headed back to the manor house.

  Chapter 13

  The ladies jumped up as Aury entered the room.

  “Where have you been?” Deb asked.

  “I come bearing gifts,” Aury replied. Scott followed in behind her. “And news from the outside. Let’s move into the kitchen.”

  The ladies crowded close behind as Aury and Scott dumped their bounty on the countertop. Debbie picked up a small bag of coffee and kissed it.

  “Scott, you are my hero.”

  Pat snorted. “What good is that going to do you? Hard to run a coffeemaker without electricity.”

  Scott was rummaging around in the pantry. “Ah ha!” Triumphed, he held high an old, beat-up metal pan with a spout off one side.

  “And?” Deb asked, waiting to see why he was so excited.

  “This is what Grandma used to make coffee over the fire when we camped.” He opened the lid. “The wire mesh is here but you may get grounds in your mug.”

  Debbie took it from his hands. “More fiber. It’ll work.”

  She grabbed a few bottles of water from their stash and the bag of coffee. “Find us some mugs,” she directed to no one in particular. Carla began searching the cabinets.

  Linda was looking out the window. “Where’s your car?”

  “Miles down the road. The way is blocked, so I had to hoof it. I wanted to see if you all were still at the motel.”

  “Are you taking us out of here?” asked Suzanne.

  Scott shook his head. “Sorry, it’s a mess between here and my car, and I don’t think you’d want to make that hike. It’s best for me to head to town and find others to help me cut through the debris. Then we can get more vehicles closer.”

  “We’ll have to walk quite a way though,” Aury added. “The road is washed out, so they won’t be able to drive down here.”

  “I can take a few of you now, if you feel up to the hike. Then I can return for the rest later,” Scott suggested.

  Aury looked at the ladies. Three of them were in their seventies, and Debbie had bad knees. She couldn’t imagine them climbing over the fallen trees like she had done.

  Pat must have been thinking the same thing. “Or we can just camp out until you get things cleared away.”

  Carla smiled. “We can rough it for a few days. I doubt things are much better on the outside.”

  “Scott says the power is out all over the place. The roads are in bad shape. We’re so deep into the woods, the downed trees have us isolated.”

  “And just think, we thought the solitude here was a blessing,” Linda said.

  “I’m sorry, ladies,” Scott said. “I’ll refund your money, of course.”

  “What are you talking about? You didn’t cause the storm,” Carla said.

  “This is going to make for one hell of a story at the next guild meeting,” Pat chimed in.

  “Good news is the hurricane has run its course and the worst of the storm is over. This area got hit with a lot of flooding and high winds though. It’ll take a while to recover,” Scott said.

  “Come have some coffee with us,” Aury offered Scott.

  “No thanks. I should get moving. Why don’t you all write down phone numbers of people you need me to contact when I get to town? No guarantees though. Towers are down in places, so getting through might be difficult.”

  Linda went to get a phone number from Deb. The others wrote their information on an old paper bag that had been wedged between the stove and the cabinet.

  Aury walked with Scott out to the path leading through the woods. “Great job getting them all into the manor house,” Scott said. “I owe you big for that.”

  “Sorry there’s so much damage on your property. It’ll be a mess to clean up.”

  Scott shrugged. “What’s done is done. I’ll have to see what the insurance is willing to do for me. This might be the end of Eastover.”

  “Don’t say that,” Aury said. “There has to be a way to rebuild.”

  “I appreciate your interest.” Scott smiled. “Oh, I guess if you’re staying, we should try to get the pump working. You’ll need access to water to flush the toilets.”

  “I meant to ask you about that.” Aury blushed. “We’ve been sneaking outside, but I’m sure we would all prefer something a little more civilized.”

  She followed Scott to the yard behind the house. Pushing aside some bushes, he revealed a hand pump that looked to be fairly new. “We keep this active and use it to water the plants. You just pump this handle.” He demonstrated, then motioned for Aury to try. It took all her strength in both arms to pull the handle hard enough to make water flow, but after the initial murky stream, it was clear and cool.

  “There are buckets by the back porch. After you use the toilet, dump water into the bowl. It’ll flush on its own.”

  “Sounds like this isn’t the first time you’ve had to resort to this method,” Aury said with a smile.

  “As you can imagine, the house wasn’t built with indoor plumbing. That’s why the bathrooms jut out from the sides.” He pointed out the small rectangle attached off the kitchen. “It wasn’t until years later that they added the indoor toilet that emptied into a chamber pot underneath the hole, outside the house. Then they finally added plumbing. When my grandparents lived here, they always had problems with the pipes, so we learned this method of flushing. Hauling water in buckets was one of our chores.”

  Aury laughed. “It’s better than emptying chamber pots.”

  “Absolutely! They finally upgraded the pipes. But of course, we’ve lost electricity out here before which shuts down the water pump from the well, so I know the trick still works.”

  “Thanks for the hint. I’m sure we’ll all appreciate it.”

  Scott wiped his hands together. “Guess I should concentrate on getting you out of here. It’ll be morning before I can round up people to start clearing the road to get you out. Folks are working to clear the major roadways first. Emergency crews from Tennessee and Pennsylvania are trying to restore power. I’ll bring you real food tomorrow. Will you all be okay here?”

  “Sure. We’re a hardy bunch. Besides, it
may give us some time to find the hidden treasure.”

  “The what?”

  “I hope you don’t mind, but we’ve been rummaging through the old books in the library. I found diaries that must have been in your family for generations.”

  “Oh. I’ve never paid much attention to that stuff. Figured it was all junk if it’s been on the shelves all this time.”

  “Some great-relative of yours talked about hiding valuables around the estate to keep them out of the hands of soldiers. Have you ever found anything?”

  “It may be long gone by now, if it was ever there.”

  “Just think, maybe you’ll stumble across a treasure as you rebuild, and you’ll be rich after all.”

  Scott laughed. “Now wouldn’t that be a turn of events? I better get clearing trees and leave the treasure hunting to you. Be careful.”

  Aury waved as he disappeared around the house and into the woods. A shiver ran through her, and she realized she was still soaked from her fall in the wet leaves. Before going back into the house, she filled a bucket of water to carry inside.

  Chapter 14

  Aury joined the others in the library. The room was quiet as the ladies luxuriated in the taste of their hot coffee.

  “Now what?” Deb asked.

  The others turned to Aury expectantly. She peered out the window.

  “Looks like it’ll rain again. We’ll hunker down here until Scott comes back with reinforcements.”

  “I’m enjoying the peace and quiet,” Suzanne said, putting her feet up. “It’ll be a mess at home. No one wants to clean out the refrigerator after the power has been out for a while.”

  “Who wants to go on a treasure hunt?” Aury asked.

  “What are you going on about, girl?” Deb said.

  “The diary says Mary Townsend hid things around the house to entertain her kids. Let’s try to figure out where.”

  “I’m in,” Linda agreed. “It’ll at least take our minds off the weather.”

  Aury picked up the diary she had been reading. She flipped through the pages until she found the part she was looking for.

  “January 10, 1862. The children are restless. The weather is dreadful, and the youngest are feeling the effects of being indoors too long. It has been days since James left for town to hire more help and purchase livestock. Noah went with him, but we have heard nothing from them. I hope James gets a good price for the furniture he took to sell. He is such a skilled woodworker and now he is training Noah. Noah has his father’s eye for wood.

  “I have taken to hiding items around the house for the others to find, but they are too accomplished as seekers. They require a bigger challenge. Now that they are asleep, I have time to stretch my imagination to compete with theirs.

  “I must be clever enough to challenge Sarah, yet simple enough not to exclude Frederick. I have it!

  “Hunt around the house

  and take a good look

  for a very secret place

  you might hide a book.”

  “What do you think?” Aury asked, looking at her companions. “Any ideas?”

  “You can hide a book anywhere,” Carla mused.

  “Where do we even start looking?” Suzanne asked.

  “She said the kids were stuck inside. It would only make sense that the spot is somewhere in the house,” Debbie said.

  “And almost certainly not in the kids’ rooms, since they were sleeping,” Carla said.

  “The library is the obvious choice,” Pat said.

  “Too obvious,” Aury added.

  “Read the clue again,” Linda said.

  Aury read it aloud.

  “A secret place. Then not somewhere out in the open,” Suzanne said.

  “It’s an old house. They might have had hidden compartments almost anywhere,” Carla said.

  “Do you think she hid a book, or that was just to give them an idea of the size of the space?” Pat asked.

  “Good point,” Aury said. “The first thing we thought of when we read about a book was the library. Maybe the compartment is somewhere in this room.”

  The ladies jumped to their feet and went to separate portions of the room. They knocked on walls and pried at every seam.

  Debbie was dragging a chair across the floor to reach the higher shelves when Carla cried out from the archway between the library and the entry hall. “I found something.”

  The wall was extra thick to accommodate the fireplace that separated the rooms with ornate woodwork decorating the arch.

  Carla pushed on the smallest of the carved squares. “I swear I heard it click.”

  “Do it again.” Aury placed her hands on the wood.

  This time when Carla pushed, Aury felt the wood shift, and she applied pressure to one side. The panel opened like a door.

  The ladies let out a cry of delight.

  “Way to go, Carla!” Pat said. “What’s inside?”

  Carla reached in and pulled out a wooden box about the size of a thick book. It was built from rough wood held together by tacks.

  “Let’s see the treasure,” Debbie said.

  Carla opened the box, pulling out a yellowed piece of paper. “It’s another clue.”

  “Seek out the spot

  where the food is small.

  Expect lots of company.

  It is come one, come all.”

  “I’ll take the dining room,” Aury said.

  “I’ll help you,” Carla chimed in.

  The rest of the women split off into pairs to search the house.

  Aury started in one corner while Carla started in the other.

  “Do you really think anything is hidden here?” Carla asked.

  “I have no idea. But I can see how the hunt would keep kids occupied.” Aury got down on her knees and ran her hand along the baseboard, tugging anytime she thought she felt something loose.

  “In here!” Linda called from the kitchen.

  The ladies circled around Linda as she worked a broom handle to reach something behind the stove. They all waited in anticipation while she grunted and swore, trying to budge the stubborn obstacle.

  She stumbled backward. “Finally!” Propping the broom beside the stove, she reached down and held up her prize.

  “What is it?” Suzanne asked.

  Pat started laughing. “Great job, Linda. You caught a mousetrap.”

  Linda dropped the box and brushed her hands on her pants.

  “Not much of a prize,” Carla said.

  “I doubt that’s what she hid for the kids,” Aury said with a smile.

  The women went back to their respective rooms to keep searching.

  Daylight began to fade, prompting Pat to call a halt to their search. “I’m hungry. Let’s see if we can make a meal out of what Scott and Aury scrounged up.”

  As the ladies finished their meal of baked beans heated in the fireplace and stale crackers, they went over the clues again.

  “Maybe she wasn’t referencing food,” Linda said.

  “What else could it be?” Aury stared out the window. The rain was coming down again. In the garden, she could make out a stone basin. Her eyes lit up as a thought came to her.

  “I have an idea, but it’ll have to wait until tomorrow. I’m tired.”

  Pat stayed seated as the others rose. “I’ll watch the fire for a bit, then make sure it goes out completely before heading upstairs.”

  “Goodnight,” Carla said.

  The others echoed her, and they headed to their rooms.

  Chapter 15

  The next morning, Aury was up with the sound of birdsong.

  “Girl, what are you doing?” Deb yelled from the doorway.

  Aury raised her hand in a wave from her spot in the yard. “Pat, come help me with this,” she called.

  Pat slipped past Deb and walked toward Aury. “What’s up?”

  “Maybe she didn’t mean people food. What about a bird feeder? Or a birdbath? Do you think that could be what this is abo
ut?”

  Pat looked over the pitted and eroded gray statue. “Sure could have been. Looks like it was supposed to hold water.”

  “Help me tip it.”

  “She wouldn’t have expected her kids to tip over a bird feeder,” Pat reasoned.

  “No, but it’s shifted. Look at the rock it’s sitting on.”

  Together they moved the waist-high birdbath over six inches.

  “Doesn’t that position make more sense?” Aury said, gesturing at the pattern in the stonework beneath the base.

  “You’re right. It fits better in that circle.”

  Aury picked up a stick and began poking around the stones making up the triangle pointing toward the house. “This one’s loose,” she cried out when the blueish-granite piece gave way.

  Pat dropped to her knees beside Aury and helped her pry it up.

  “What did you find?” Linda called from the house.

  Aury reached in and pulled out a package wrapped in oilskin. She held it up triumphantly.

  The ladies cheered. Aury and Pat got to their feet. With huge smiles, they joined the others in the dining room to unveil their prize.

  Unwrapping the oilskin, Aury was surprised to find a small leather pouch.

  “That’s a strange treasure to hide for children,” Deb said.

  The ladies murmured agreement. Linda held the bag up to the light. “It might be a change purse.”

  “It has a clasp. See if you can open it,” Pat said.

  Linda used her fingernails to pry open the catch. A tiny piece of paper fluttered to the floor. Carla picked it up.

  “Listen for toads

  With water in sight.

  Find the crag in the rock

  That catches the light.”

  “Are you kidding me?” Deb said. “These kids would have lost interest by now and gone on to torture a cat or something.”

  Pat smacked her arm. “They had a better attention span than you do.”

  Linda studied the inside of the bag. “Do you think this is a picture?”