“Let me know if you see a really old bald eagle, dude.”
“Bones, somehow I doubt that’s what Bache was referring to.”
“I don’t know, this mystery did involve Edgar Allen Poe. Eagle, Raven, almost the same thing.”
Dane shook his head. Sometimes it was better just to ignore him.
Before long, they came to the cave that Kelpius was said to have used for meditation. Outside about a four foot square entrance low to the ground was a stone marker. Bones read the following on it:
Johannes Kelpius, Ph.D. A.D. 1673-1708
“The Contented of the God-loving Soul”
Magister of the first Rosicrucian AMORC
colony in America which arrived in Phila
delphia, June 24, 1694, then known as the
Monks of the Ridge. Fra Kelpius used this
cave as shelter and as a sanctum for
his meditations. Lovingly erected to his
memory by Grand Lodge Rosicrucians
A.D. 1961 in cooperation with
The Supreme Grand Lodge
AMORC
Dane moved in closer. “You see that Bones?”
“You mean the cross?”
“Yeah. Sort of like the symbol the Sons of the Republic. Or the sign of the Lord referred to in the riddle.”
“Maddock, you know I’m all about conspiracies and secret societies, but crosses aren’t exactly thin on the ground. And this wasn’t put here until the sixties. The Rosicrucians are into all kinds of weird stuff, though. Maybe Ben Franklin’s secret is how they’re taking over the U.S., infiltrating every level of government.”
“How about we look inside the cave?”
Bones had to fold his frame nearly in half to get inside. Calling the structure a cave wasn’t really accurate. It had a dirt floor, but the walls and curved ceiling were built with a combination of stones dirt and some sort of mortar. The area was large enough for a number of people to gather.
Dane and Bones turned on their flashlights and examined the walls and ceiling with care. Neither saw any sign of a noble bird or even a cross other than those spray-painted in the twentieth century.
“Looks like a dead end, bro.”
“True, but the ruins of that cottage are what we need to find. We should be pretty close.”
Bones grimaced. “That parks commission report said that they had filled in the area after demolition. It was a long time ago, but it still ought to look different than the surrounding area.”
“I don’t think it could be the cottage itself. The clue said near the spot.”
“Best clue we’ve got, though.”
They tried to follow the river, but several times they had to detour backwards or away from its meandering course to avoid wading in the near-freezing water. They didn’t cover ground very fast, especially not knowing what they were looking for. After a bit, they sat down on a flat, bluish slab of the schist which made up much of the rock formation in the area.
“It’s not looking too good, Maddock. We need more to go on. I bet some of those local Kelpius society people know where the ruins of the cottage are.”
Dane couldn’t argue with Bones, but he wasn’t willing to stop yet. “I bet they do. But let’s take a step back. What are we looking for?”
“My question exactly.”
“Well we’re probably looking for the Library of Congress.”
“Bache’s letter didn’t exactly say that. It talked about a clue to Ben Franklin’s secret. For a secret, there seem to be an awful lot of clues floating around. It’s just that most of them suck.”
“If it’s not the lost Library of Congress we’re looking for, it’s hopeless. We’ll have no idea. So let’s assume it is. Why would they have hidden it somewhere in here?”
“No idea.”
Dane sighed. “I think we’re back to trying to find the ruins of the cottage.”
“Since you ruled out my ancient bald eagle idea, yeah.”
Thirty minutes later, after searching by walking parallel tracks thirty yards apart, Dane stumbled on one of the ever present stones. He avoided a face-plant, but when he put out his hand to steady himself with one knee on the ground, something sharp sliced through his glove and gouged his palm. A curse had barely left his mouth when he realized it was a brick. He jumped to his feet.
“Bones, I’ve got something!”
Bones came over and looked at the brick. After scanning the area, he slapped Dane on the back. “Paydirt. See how the contour of the land is smoother, like a mound?”
Dane scanned the surrounding area. “Yeah, so we’re now looking for a noble bird.”
“Don’t forget the sign of our Lord, too.”
“Right. So we need to start walking some grids out from here. How about we start with about four hundred yards?”
They had already been at it for almost three hours, but finding the clue energized Dane. And this time, they didn’t have to go far before they found something else. On their second grid out from the center of the mound, near the river, Bones found an old grindstone. He and Dane zeroed in on the area and it became clear that they were standing amid the ruins of one of the many old mills that had once dotted the landscape.
Their initial search revealed three grindstones. When Dane caught sight of the third one, he sucked in his breath. Chiseled near the hole in the center of the round stone slab was a cross with each of its four points wider than the center.
“A Celtic cross.” Bones looked at Dane, eyes wide. “I gotta admit I thought you were leading us on a wild goose chase.”
Dane grinned. “Not a wild goose. We’re looking for a nobler bird than that.”
Bones squatted down and wrapped his fingers around the edge of the three foot diameter stone. “First place we look is on the other side of this bad boy. Give me a hand, Maddock.”
Dane joined him and they attempted to turn the stone over. Between the two of them, Dane estimated they could probably lift at least seven hundred pounds off the ground in a weight room, but their first attempt with the grindstone didn’t move it at all.
Bones snapped his fingers. “I know what this is! This is Thor’s hammer. Only someone worthy of Thor can pick it up.”
Dane raised an eyebrow. “Thor’s hammer was round with a cross in the middle?”
“Those old myths usually get some details wrong, it’s true. Let’s give it another shot.”
“Sure, but I’m betting you’re not the God of Thunder.”
“Are you kidding? You’ve been around me after I’ve eaten Mexican food.”
They tried again, this time straining with everything they had. Dane felt it shift slightly to the right then back to where it started, but it was a sliding motion, it didn’t come even a millimeter off the ground.
“Did you feel that, Bones?”
“Yeah, this thing must be made of some alien element with the density of a neutron star. No other explanation makes sense.”
“I thought it was Thor’s hammer. But I meant how it moved to the side.”
Bones raised an eyebrow. “The side? How about we trying rotating it rather than lifting it?”
They squatted back down and were able to spin it about an inch in either direction, sort of like turning a massive steering wheel. After a few attempts to get it to move further, Bones dropped onto it, elbows on his knees.
“I hate to admit defeat, but we need to try something else. Maybe that noble bird is somewhere else around here.”
“Agreed,” Dane said. “It’s odd that the grindstone is set up like this, though. Flat on the ground, it wouldn’t be any use for grinding, yet the little bit of rotation and lack of movement in other directions suggest it was done on purpose.”