LAST ASSAULT ON OAK ISLAND 29
Chapter 29
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Through the course of the morning Carlos looked over the notes he and Lauren had made on the diary. By the time they found their position in the journal it was nearing ten o'clock and Lauren was eager to begin work on the new sections.
Carlos was nearly as impatient.
Brielle's next entry was dated early July of 1777, and began with the admiral complaining about the pit level settling to seventy feet, leaving a full six feet of empty space between the level of dirt and the oak logs above.
At this point Brielle demanded Stuart find a solution to remedy the settling so they could be done with the affair and leave the island. He had sent Williams to the mainland to purchase rum for the crew, and was using only natives as a work force. They had raised a black flag on the dry-docked vessel, but there were bound to be curious mainlanders suspicious of the ship. He was anxious to uncover the Lady Grey where she was hidden with all British flags wrapped while dry-docked in the cradle of South Cove. Twice already curious mainlanders had been run off or killed and even a pirate flag may not be enough to deter further investigation.
Both Carlos and Lauren made notes of the mention of the appearance of piracy in their notebooks.
Stuart's answer to the pit's problem was to relieve the ship of its coir dunnage, which would not only absorb any water seeping into the pit, he pointed out, but also resist settling as it was lighter than loose soil. This worked well for two days, until ants overtook the pit and had to be exterminated by fire, which also ate up much of the dry coconut fiber.
Again the ship was drained of dunnage. The next two days of work were dismissed as rain poured from the skies. Brielle sent Williams to the mainland once more for liquor as the crew showed signs of sobriety. Brielle reprimanded Stuart for not having the operations completed. Already the Lady Grey had missed her rendezvous point in Port Shannon and was two months late in returning to its home port in Britain. Stuart promised the ship would leave in no more than another two weeks.
"Brielle is getting nervous," Lauren observed as she took notes.
"He has a good reason to be," Carlos agreed. "He can get rid of the slave labor easily enough. He's already proved no remorse in slaughtering the Indians, but he can't very well kill off the entire crew. He needs at least enough to sail back to Britain."
She nodded, finishing the updates in her notes.
He read on silently for a moment. "He says Stuart's plans are not as ingenious as he first thought. The coconut fiber is soaking up a lot of water and he's afraid it will settle too far down in the future, below the logs. He demands Stuart find a cork for the shaft so they can fully complete the task. Stuart brings in loads of grayish blue clay from the waist of the island to act as a stopper in the pit.
"Another problem with ants, and this time it's so bad even the natives refuse to work. Stuart has the ants burned out again, but they're an airborne breed and they get into the ship and food, too." He chuckled at the thought. "The pit is filled to the forty-foot mark with putty. Brielle seems to be losing interest in the pit, but he writes he 'must maintain a cautious demeanor.' I think we're getting close, dear."
Lauren, and now Rudy, who had awoke and come in an hour into their study, leaned closer.
"Three more mainlanders row out and question Stuart about the operation. Brielle has them killed and their dinghy set adrift." Carlos shook his head. "No wonder the island had the reputation of being haunted. No one ever came back alive."
A dull whine filled the air from outside and grew to a high pitch. It immediately screeched to a halt, as did the steady grind of the drill motor.
"That was Lucy's drill," Rudy determined.
Lauren nodded. "They hit bedrock."
"Not this soon," Carlos said. "She only started the new locations Monday. She wouldn't hit bedrock until at least 140 feet."
"It could be a boulder," Rudy suggested. "Clemens hit a couple last summer and they sounded like that. Actually," he reconsidered, scratching his stubbly chin, "she wouldn't have to go too far to get to bedrock. Not now. The elevation in that area is about thirty or forty feet lower than it was when McGinnis found it."
"That's only a hundred feet or so to bedrock," Lauren mused. "Could she drill that far in three days?"
Rudy shrugged. "That would depend on what size drill she's using. She has the best engineer on the province. If she's using a small bit, like a seventy- or eighty-millimeter, she might be able to get that far already. But if it's a 2200 or larger—big enough to send a camera and man down—I doubt she'd be past twenty meters or so."
"Which do you think she's using?" Carlos asked.
"I'd put my money on a smaller bit. Why sink a large hole if you don't have to? You can always bore out a small hole. Most test borings are done with the small bits," he explained. "Just big enough to bring up a core sample. 'Course, she may be sending down an unmanned camera. That'd be about a 250-millimeter radius."
"She couldn't bring up a sample of a boulder. The bit would break," Lauren said thoughtfully, tapping her notebook with her pen. "Wouldn't it?"
"Depending on the bit and the boulder, probably. Then they'd have to run a magnet down to clean out the broken pieces of the bit. That's always tricky," Rudy said, sighing. "Last summer Saul hit a boulder three times. He kept moving over and drilling into the same rock."
Carlos started to speak, but was interrupted by a series of tight, stunted shrieks from the drill.
Rudy closed the windows, which did little to deaden the shrill noise. "Well, they're going through it, or at least taking a sample," he said with a heavier sigh. He sat down and resumed dealing his card game at the table.
Carlos replaced his glasses and looked at the diary again. "I suppose we'll read about it in tomorrow's paper. How long will it take?"
Rudy frowned at his cards. "If it's only a sample, maybe a couple hours, considering what they've hit. If they're going through it, a day or two. Or until they break enough bits to decide it's better to go around."
"Too long," Lauren groaned. "Do you want to wait until this evening, Carlos? It might be quieter then."
He shook his head. "I don't think you want to, either." He turned to the next page and showed her. Here the penned writing was in the same code Stuart had used on the inscribed stone found in the pit.
She copied it down carefully and translated it from the deciphered inscription. "'Northwest Cove. Port Gloucester, Mecklenburgh. Little sister in the Atlantic. Walls of jasper. Floor of water to terra. A cubit dry port and two rods secure my future.'"
A wave of giddiness start in her stomach. She looked to Carlos.
Dusk was settling as Lucy Yearbright examined the pound of mostly dry clay and silt sample. A dull gray caught her eye.
She turned the office fan away from the desk. With a wooden ruler, she divided the sample into two piles. A trace of copper tinted the piles.
The seismograph proved worth waiting for. Speed was essential now. After the test results confirmed her suspicions, there would be no stopping Saul. She had learned that much of him the last few years.
Lucy looked to Robbins across the desk. "We're ready."
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