None of the four smaller tunnels returned anything substantial. Not so much as a nail was found. It was time to search the final tunnel and live with the results, whatever they may be.
On the fifteenth day, Sam discovered something that sparkled.
Nearly a mile upstream in the largest of the five tunnels, he spotted it. His flashlight carefully filtering the area from right to left, it was so faint, for a moment he thought his mind was playing a trick on him.
The he saw it again.
Just the tip was sticking out of the sand. Sam swam towards it, his pulse quickening.
His hand reached in and pulled it from the sand. When he turned it over in the water, the sand disappeared, revealing the head of the king of Spain, Charles V.
Behind his facemask, his grin returned. It was here. The Mahogany Ship must be somewhere nearby! Sam turned to the metal detector again. If the water flowed in such a way as to capture the heavy gold coin in its sediment at this exact location, there was a good chance there would be more.
Instantly, two more sources pinged.
Following the increasing pings, he found two more Spanish coins. He inspected each carefully. All three were identical to which Rodriguez had initially introduced him. Sam was ecstatic with his find. He would finally prove the existence of the Mahogany Ship. At the back of his mind, he was surprised by the condition of the coins — the water made them look like they had just been minted.
He dismissed the thought and pocketed all three of the gold coins.
Securing one surreptitiously in a double zipped pocket, which would beat any scrutiny if required, Sam felt guilty at the thought of stealing from Rodriguez. But he needed to be certain, and this was the only way he could think of doing so.
Sam marked the spot on the sonar map, and then said, “Frank, we have a hit.”
He could hear the excitement in Frank’s voice. “That’s great! What have you got, Sam?”
“A gold coin! Two of them, actually.”
“That’s great news. Stay where you are, and I’ll return to your location. I’m a few hundred feet ahead of you.”
“Copy that.”
Sam and Frank used up the remainder of their air supplies searching the area, with no other discoveries that day. When Sam finally climbed out of the water and onto the work station in the Mahogany Cave, he was met by Byron, who’d already brought out three bottles of bubbly.
“Congratulations,” Byron said, handing him a full glass of champagne.
“Thank you. There’s our proof that the ship once entered this water system. Now it’s only a matter of time before we find the Mahogany Ship,” Sam said taking the glass. “Does Michael know, yet?”
“Yes, I’ve contacted him. He’s in Spain, but says that he will be back in a few days. He also wanted me to remind you not to enter the Mahogany Ship before he returns.”
“I still have to find it first, but you can reassure him that I won’t enter it without him.”
Frank climbed the ladder behind him. “I think we just did it Sam. We now know that she sailed somewhere upstream of that tunnel. Now, all we have to do is follow it.”
“Like I said to Byron, now that we know where to look, it’s a matter of when we find it, no longer if,” Sam replied, shaking Frank’s solid hand.
“Do you want to come into town to celebrate? I know a great pub that does fantastic food and locally brewed beer,” Frank said.
“Sure, sounds good. I have to contact my skipper and see how my project’s going in the Gulf of Mexico, but I’ll come into town after that.”
Taking one of Rodriguez’s Mercedes six-wheel drives, Sam drove into town.
He found a small post office at the end of Main Street, and walked in.
“Hello,” he said to the little old lady who operated the store, which appeared to rent movies and act as a general store as well.
“Hi dear. May I help you?”
Sam pulled out a novelty birthday card. At its center was the image of a sun and a slogan saying ‘Happy birthday, I hope this brings you plenty of luck and sunshine for your special day.’ He smiled deceitfully, and said, “It’s my daughter’s birthday tomorrow. Any chance, I can send her this card, to this address by then?”
She looked at the address, and said, “Portland, Oregon? That’s a long way from here. I suppose you’re with those mining fellows?” Sam nodded his head, as if to acknowledge her intuition was correct, causing her to smile. “It will be close, but as luck would have it, this week’s postal flight is due to take off in another hour. You might just be in luck.”
“Thank you,” Sam said, as he started to write in the card.
Dear Elise,
Happy Second Birthday, I hope it’s a great one, and I’ll see you in a few weeks. He followed the note with a number of XX and OOs. Tell mummy I’d like to know what treasures you found for your birthday. She can contact me through the normal system.
He then sealed it in an express post and handed it to the lady.
If only they knew they were handling a 2 million dollar coin.
The next morning, Sam entered the tunnel feeling pumped. Greeting Frank, he said, “You ready to find this ship today?” Somehow, he could sense the Mahogany Ship was getting near.
Over the course of the next four days, the two men searched more than 15 miles of the tunnel, with no sign of the ship. No sign of more Spanish coins, or parts of the ship.
By the end of the week, Sam walked into the tent in which Frank and Byron were eating breakfast and said, “It’s not here.”
“What have you lost?” Frank replied casually.
“Not just lost, not here.”
“Come again?”
“The Mahogany Ship, she’s not down there,” Sam said.
“Not down there?” Frank cut another large piece of meat off the steak, and continued eating as he said, “Then where’d the Spanish coins come from?”
“I’ve no idea, but a ship that large would have displaced something visible by now. If the coins were brought there by a ship, then some other remnants of that ship must be too.”
“So, you’re done then?” Frank stuffed another bite of meat into his mouth.
“Not done yet. Just haven’t worked out our next move and far less convinced that the Mahogany Ship was ever here.” Sam leaned up against the Mercedes six-wheeler. “Can Rodriguez get me access to a helicopter?”
Frank stopped chewing for a moment, then replied, “Yeah, but it will take a few days. He can bring it in on his A380 when he arrives in another three days. Will that do?”
“No, I don’t want to wait that long. I noticed a little Robinson 22 parked at the airport. Any chance we could borrow her?”
“I’m sure you could hire it. It’s probably used for cattle mustering. I’m not sure about a pilot though.”
“That’s fine, I can fly it.”
“Okay, where do you want to go?”
“I need to clear my head,” Sam said. “But more importantly, we’ve run out of ideas inside this tunnel. Now I want to see the land from above. Get an idea of where the Mahogany Ship might have once been. Those coins didn’t get there by magic. Something’s taken them there, which means that a real river must feed into these tunnels.”
“And you want to find that river?”
“That’s the plan.”
Byron stood up, looked at his phone and then started to talk to someone. Five minutes later, he returned to the conversation. “Brent Higgins is the owner of that helicopter. As expected, he owns nearly 20,000 head of cattle around these parts, and uses her to muster them. I’ve just hired it on your behalf for the rest of the month. If you head that way after breakfast, he said he’ll have one of his mechanics fill her up.”