LAST ASSAULT ON OAK ISLAND 30

Chapter 30

If you’re just joining this story, you may want to start from the beginning.

---

Just after noon the following day came more news on the Money Pit, but it was far from what Lauren and Carlos had expected. The front page of the Bay Coast Star was not smeared with pirate stories or legends involving a lost Indian connection to the island. Instead, the thick black letters read four words.

"Oak Island Treasure Found."

Maruso skipped the article's preliminary history on the pit to where Lucy Yearbright was quoted, feeling the three people in Rudy's kitchen staring at him expectantly.

"'The area the first two core samples were taken from was below bedrock,'" he read aloud at the table. "'We encountered the first obstruction in Shaft 11D, one of two we started earlier this week. It took a sixty-millimeter bit nearly an hour to go less than twenty millimeters into the obstacle. The metallurgy lab in Ontario reported the sample to be iron fillings.'" He raised an eyebrow. "Lucy must be well-connected to get results so quick."

Carlos nodded, his tea untouched before him.

"'An independent steel company also analyzed part of the core sample and both reports concluded it was . . .a low carbon material, extensively corroded with a definite salinity factor. The independent report concluded the material was drawn between the years 1500 and 1800, by cold workings. The Ontario lab agreed with the method of working, but gave the dates 1600 to 1800.'"

"Close enough," Rudy said.

Lauren leaned closer to Maruso, trying to see the article.

"She doesn't say what depth the samples were taken from," Maruso said, setting the newspaper on the table. "That would make working too difficult, considering how close she must be to the Clemens' operation. He'd probably try to bore sideways into it."

Lauren studied the article's bar graph of both lab tests as he read on.

"'After the sample was secured, the drill resumed boring through what many in the operation were calling a metal plate. After two hours of consistent but slow progress, the bit met with a softer material, which yielded easily. Another core sample was taken, this one shortly after noon.'" He turned to the page where the Yearbright story continued, handing the page with the graph to Lauren.