Treasure Hunt
It is the spring of 1956; Alyssa and Gracie Watson are sisters, who live on Ridgeway St. in Mount Holly, NJ, just off of High St. They are close in age, 11 and 12 respectively. However, Alyssa has always been told that she is mature for her age, 11 years old going on 30. Their mother is Italian and works part-time as a substitute teacher at the local elementary school. Their father is from the U.K. and the CEO of Howard Watson's Shoe Factory on Rancocas Road. Most of their friends: Melissa Dole, Shayna Nally, Billy and Alan McHill, and Frankie Russo live close by and attend the same school.
Melissa's father is a banker, Shayna's parents are both music teachers, Billy and Alan's father works at the local pharmacy, and Frankie's dad owns a bakery. All of the children have younger siblings under 5 years old. Alan and Alyssa are the same age and youngest of the group. They find it difficult to get along with each other.
"Hey kid are you the kid that told the kid that I'm the kid who hit the kid around the corner kid, huh KID?" Alyssa and Gracie both sang and chanted as they made their way to the candy store down Ridgeway St. towards Mount Holly Ave.
"You wanna play marbles?" a tiny voice whispered from under a grape vine along the way.
"Who said that?" Alyssa shouted.
Out from under the vine sprang her arch enemy, Alan McHill, one of the neighborhood boys, who has had a crush on her for the past two years and occasionally pelts her with acorns. She can still feel the sting.
"No, thank you!" she responded. "Gracie and I are going to the candy store for licorice and chocolate, and don't tag along!"
About halfway down Ridgeway St. Alyssa noticed that either Alan went home or found another hiding spot.
"Hey kid, wanna go to the Mount first?" Gracie asked.
"Um, OK" Alyssa said.
So, off they went up Cherry St. towards the mount.
"What do you want for your birthday?" Gracie asked Alyssa, as they climbed up the steep hill.
"I dunno," she mumbled. "A sling-shot to get Alan with when he bugs me?" they both giggled.
Almost simultaneously, the girls spotted something glittering in a pile of wet leaves. Alyssa grabbed it first, as they slid on the ground like two ball players trying to steal home base. Both of them were covered in mud from head to toe.
"Oh, my God! Mom is going to kill us! Look at my dress," cried Alyssa.
Then, she opened her hand and there in the middle of her palm was a gold object glistening in the sunshine. It was a shiny golden nugget.
"I wonder how it got here?"
"Do you think it's real?"
"I dunno, maybe there are more of them too."
"Let's get Melissa and Billy up here to help us dig."
"No, not Billy, he'll tell Alan and then it will be all over town."
"OK"
The girls ran down Mount Holly Ave. to Ridgeway and knocked on Shayna's door.
"Hey, can you keep a secret and does your dad have a shovel that we can borrow?"
"Why? What's going on, did your boa constrictor with Alan's name on it die or something?" Shayna asked.
"No!" they all laughed.
"We found a golden nugget and we need you and Melissa to help us dig up the ground where we found it." Alyssa responded.
"Maybe we need three shovels." Shayna said.
The girls headed down Buttonwood to Broad St. and knocked on Melissa's door.
"Can you come up to the mount with us?" Gracie asked. Melissa eyeballed the shovels.
"Why, did somebody die or something?" She responded.
The girls explained the situation and all of them headed back to the mount.
"OK, Einstein." Alyssa said sarcastically to Gracie. How many paces from the old altar did we find it? I told you to mark the spot.
"I didn't have anything to mark it with, so I stuck an old tree branch in the ground.
"Here it is!" Gracie shouted a few minutes later.
The girls started to dig.
"Shayna, you stand watch over by the path in case a park ranger shows up. Whistle if you see anyone at all." Alyssa instructed.
The girls worked for what seemed hours and still nothing was found.
"Listen, my mom is going to be furious if I don't go home now." Melissa said. "How about we finish this tomorrow; you know, start early in the morning and bring a lunch?"
"Sounds OK to me." Alyssa said. "All agree?"
"Yep"
"Uh Huh"
"OK"
As they walked home, after hiding the shovels in Shayna's garage, Gracie turned to Alyssa and said "What are we going to tell mom about the mud?"
"Nothing" Alyssa said.
"What do you mean nothing,' I even have earth worms in my socks." She replied.
"Look, we go in, hide our clothes in the cellar and get changed. Trust me, she won't know. Later, we can wash them with the scrub board when she goes out."
"OK, do you still have it?"
"Have what?"
"The nugget silly"
"Of course!" Alyssa said
The girls quietly opened the outside doors to the cellar behind the house, went inside, and hid their clothes in the old empty coal bin. Then, they snuck upstairs and changed into shirts and jeans.
"Are you sure she won't know what we were wearing this morning?"
"If she does, we'll just tell her that we changed earlier before we went out." Alyssa said.
The girls helped with the dinner dishes, played 500 Rummy, and went upstairs to bed. The moon was full that night, so Gracie opened the French windows and looked at the shiny nugget they had found.
"Hey kid," she said. "Do you really think we will find more of this up on the mount? I don't remember anyone telling stories about lost treasure or pirates up there except once when old Mrs. Schaeffer told dad about an underground tunnel out on Route 541 that the guys who owned the old abandoned speakeasy used to hide stuff in sometimes."
"Well, I'm sure we'll know tomorrow. Now go to sleep before mom comes up here and makes you spill your guts."
"Kid, tomorrow is Sunday, how are we going to wake up early without asking her to set the alarm?" Gracie added.
Alyssa threw a rolled up tissue at her and said "Melissa has an alarm clock at her house and promised to wake us up early. Now, go to sleep" she whispered.
Early the next morning, Melissa threw a few pebbles at the bedroom window to wake the girls up. They dressed quietly.
"How many peanut butter and jelly sandwiches do you want?" Alyssa asked.
"Three. How many Butterfingers?"
"Two"
"Do you think she'll notice 12 slices of bread are missing?"
"Yeah, leave the bag open and lay it next to Buddy Dog's bowl."
"Shayna is bringing pop."
"OK, we're all set." Alyssa said.
The girls set out for Shayna's house to get shovels from the garage. Shayna met them at the breezeway.
"What did you tell your mom?" Melissa asked.
Shayna explained that she could stay out all day with no problem, since both her parents were down the shore.
"I brought lemonade instead of pop." Shayna said. "It was easier to fill these two thermoses and we can each have a Dixie cup. Just keep reusing them."
All the girls headed up Ridgeway St. to Mount Holly Road and made their way to the mount. As they approached the foot of the hill, Alan jumped out of the bushes all decked out in full head dress and yelled, "GERONIMO!"
"Oh my God, he's back" Alyssa said.
"Hey, what are you squaws doing with those shovels, did you kill Cochise? Do you have his scalp?"
"Alan, vamoose!" Alyssa responded.
"I hear that your friend, Sitting Bull, is having mutton stew over at his house today. No wampum required. Why don't you volunteer to be the main course?"
"So, what are you really doing with those shovels?"
"None of your business." Melissa chimed in, "This is girls only, so please leave us alone."
"No I won't" Alan replied.
"Oh yes you will, or I'll have your scalp on this here shovel." Alyssa yelled back. "I'm Annie Oakley!"
"OK, Calamity, see you around." Alan replied and ran down Mount Holly Ave. doing his Indian calls and yelling "GERONIMO!"
The girls got to the dig and began working in a fury.
"Your watch this time, Melissa." Alyssa said. "Look out for Geronimo too!"
After several hours, Shayna hit a hard object. "I think I found something!" she shouted.
"Shhhh" Alyssa said. We don't want anyone to hear us.
"Well, Look! It seems to be a wooden box or something. Help me dig around it."
The girls worked feverishly exposing a wooden chest measuring about 3' x 2' x?
"Try to find a lock or a hinge that we can break. It will be much too heavy to lift." Gracie said.
The entire top was exposed and a latch on the front of the lid. Two of the girls broke the latch and lifted the lid.
"Wow!" they all exclaimed.
"There must be hundreds of them in there!"
Sure enough, there were literally hundreds of golden nuggets inside the chest. On closer inspection, the girls found a piece of canvas that was fashioned into a pair of men's pants. It had "Los Angeles 1845" stamped on it and a leather pouch containing more than 2 dozen $20 gold pieces inside one of the pockets, as well as a claim.
"My God! We're rich!" Alyssa shouted. "Now the problem is getting all this stuff out of here."
"Should we tell our parents? Maybe we should hide it for a while." Shayna added.
"Hide it." Gracie said.
"Ditto." Alyssa concluded.
"But where? How?" Shayna said. "We can't carry it all. What time is it anyway?"
"I'm wearing a watch. It's 11:30." Alyssa said.
Melissa whistled. The girls could hear "GERONIMO!" off in the distance.
"Quick!" Alyssa said to Shayna and Gracie, "Take these two shovels beyond that incline over there and act like you are burying a parakeet or something. He is coming from that direction. Then, walk back down with him telling him that we already left."
The girls complied, and returned a few minutes later after Gracie bribed him with an old arrow head.
"This stuff is going to weigh a ton!"
Shayna said. "Wait here while I go get my little brother's wagon and a blanket."
The girls sat around eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and butterfingers, and drinking lemonade.
"So, where do you think we should hide it?" Melissa asked.
"Probably at my house in the old coal bin. No one ever goes in there." Alyssa said.
"Good idea." Melissa responded.
"I have to go to the bathroom. Did anyone bring tissues?" Alyssa asked.
"I have some in my pocket, but don't use it all, split it in half. It's going to be a long while before we get off this mount. Gracie said.
Clickety clack! clickety clack! clickety clack!
Shayna walked up the path with the wagon and blanket.
"I ran into Geronimo again on the way here. He and Billy were asking me all kinds of questions. So, I told him that we buried Melissa's parakeet and were up here for an all girls meeting and to just butt out. He finally took off that silly head dress."
All the girls giggled.
"I still can't believe we found all this treasure." Alyssa said.
All of them formed a circle and jumped up and down squealing with excitement.
"We shouldn't make too much racket, or we might wake up that parakeet." Gracie said.
More giggles.
"OK, we'll split all of this up evenly after we hide it and have a chance to find out what it's all worth." Gracie added.
"Just one more thing," Alyssa said, as she pulled a big yellow diaper pin out of her pocket. "We have to become blood sisters and promise not to tell anyone what we have found."
The diaper pin belonged to Gracie and Alyssa's younger brother, Nick.
"Say, did you wash it first?" Melissa asked.
"You bet." Alyssa responded.
They each took a turn sticking their fingers, sat in a small circle, and sealed their secret.
Slowly, they began to load up the wagon with the contents of the wooden box. They counted 800 golden nuggets of various sizes, 50 gold coins, and at the bottom of the box 100 silver dollars. They covered the stash with an old blanket, filled in the hole, and headed off the mount.
"It's harder getting this wagon over the rocks, when it's full. You push from the back, Melissa. Gracie, you run up ahead and make sure that Geronimo doesn't see us." Shayna said.
"Is anyone home at your house?" Shayna asked Gracie and Alyssa.
"Not till dinner time." Alyssa answered. "Mom and dad went to visit my grandmother in Burlington. They probably won't be home until around 6:30 p.m."
"Luckily, the girls made it all the way to the back of the house without Alan pestering them.
"Whew!" Melissa said. "Good thing you have a lot of trees back here, so we can open the cellar doors and get started without anyone seeing us.
Alyssa went down into the old coal bin and swept one of the back corners. The girls unloaded the stash and camouflaged the spot with a blanket and some old boxes that were lying around. They each kept only one nugget.
"Who do we know and trust that can tell us how much these are worth?" Melissa asked.
"I'm not sure." Alyssa responded.
"Let's just sit on them for a while and before we ask anyone at all, we discuss it among us blood sisters first. Agreed?"
"OK" Melissa said.
"Agreed" Shayna added.
"Ditto" Gracie said.
The girls were tired, so Melissa and Shayna left and Alyssa and Gracie went upstairs to wash up and sleep.
"Pillow, blanket, pillow, blanket" Gracie monotoned, as they walked down the hallway. "Do you feel like a prospectress?"
They giggled and then fell asleep.
The next day, Gracie and Alyssa were outside playing badminton in their yard, Frankie asked if he could play the winner.
"Sure" Alyssa said.
Shayna stopped by, "meeting" she said.
"What?" Alyssa asked.
"Don't ask; just be at my house in a half-hour."
The girls let Frankie play first, since they had to cut the game short. Then, they went over to Shayna's.
"The meeting is in the garage" she said when they arrived.
All the girls huddled in the corner of the garage.
"I heard something interesting that might explain how the gold got buried up on the mount." Shayna said.
"What?" Alyssa whispered.
"You know that old historic house with 1724' on it near the end of Cherry St. at the base of the mount?" she said. "Well, my dad was talking to the guy over at the real estate office and he said that an old prospector used to live there. He moved here from California in 1890 and lived in that house with his wife until around 1920. After he died, they donated it to the Historical Society because it was built before the Revolutionary War. Anyway, rumor had it that the guy struck it rich during the California gold rush. When they were restoring that house, nothing was found and they looked everywhere, even in the walls. My guess is he buried his stash up on the mount. What do you think?"
I bet he did. That canvas had Los Angeles 1845' on it and my history teacher, Mrs. Findley, said that the gold rush ended around 1850 or so." Alyssa responded.
"Why don't we take some of it over to that pawn shop down on High St. and see what they say about it?" Melissa said.
"Come on, Melissa, we're just kids, we need to get an adult to do that and, well, we can't trust them not to steal it." Alyssa said. "I think we should wait. Agree?"
"OK" everyone agreed.
"Uh OH" Alyssa said as she and Gracie walked into the house and saw their mother waving a sock with a dead dried up earth worm hanging off of it by a skin.
"What is going on here young ladies?" their father interjected. "Are you trying to get us all into trouble? Explain where these came from." About five golden nuggets rolled across the coffee table.
Dazed, all the girls could hear was water rushing in their ears and the Mickey Mouse Club's Jimmy Dodd on the TV vaguely singing "Today is Wednesday, you know what that means?"
"Oh my God!" Gracie shouted. "How did you find it?"
"YOU FIRST!" dad yelled.
The girls fessed up about finding the golden nugget, told their parents that Melissa and Shayna helped, and explained the entire event up to hiding the stash in the coal bin.
"About two hours ago, Mr. McHill came over here babbling about a dead body up on the mount. He said that Alan was hiding in the trees out back and saw you hiding something in the basement. Your mother and I went down there and found all this. We were waiting for the McHills to call the police. I asked him not to do that until I spoke with you first.
Mr. Watson got Melissa and Shayna's parents on the phone and invited them all over the house to decide what to do.
The Nally's were at a loss for words after Mr. Watson related the events of the golden nugget. However, Mr. Dole, who was a banker, burst into loud laughter and said that the girls have actually secured their college educations.
"You see, Watson." Mr. Dole said. "In the State of New Jersey, buried treasure is finder's keepers. However, if they had found it at Long Beach, the government would have stepped in and claimed part of the value. Now let me take it over to the bank and set up a trust fund for each of the girls. I will let you know the final tally."
"Fine, Dole" Mr. Watson said.
After the Dole's and Nally's left, Mr. Watson sat the girls down and sternly instructed them never to keep such an important secret from their parents ever again. He said they were lucky not to have landed in the detention center and sent them to bed without supper.
"I think I wet my pants when Dole started laughing." Gracie said. "See?"
"Turn around." Alyssa said.
A huge wet stain was on the back of her jeans and down the whole side of her pant leg.
"I won't tell mom." Alyssa said. "Take them off and I'll go over and wring Alan's neck with them."
A few days later, Mr. Dole called to tell the parents that each girl had a trust fund worth over $125,000. He asked them all to come down to the bank to sign papers and invited everyone to a celebration dinner at Levis' Garden Restaurant. "It's an ivy league college for all, Watson," he chuckled.
The End