Amston Gold

By Larry Zimmerman

Arriving from Ohio, Stillman Wilcox enlists Dirk Adler’s aid to help him find bars of gold that he believes Revolutionary War soldiers hid near Amston Lake over three hundred years ago. Dirk and Margot decode the symbols on a strange map that Stillman found hidden in his chimney after his house burned down. The search for gold results in unforeseen danger for all involved.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Larry Zimmerman
• Release date: Mar 5, 2013
• ISBN: 9780988754645

Larry Zimmerman

Larry E. Zimmerman graduated from the University of Hartford with a major in mathematics and a minor in literature. He worked for IBM as a Technical Industry Specialist and retired after 25 years. During that time, he taught programming classes, wrote many application programs and manuals for the banking industry. In retirement, he teaches poetry and short story writing to adults and senior citizens. Larry has won a number of awards for his poetry and short stories. He is known in Amston CT, for his mystery books that take place in the local environment.

Book preview

AMSTON GOLD

by

Larry E. Zimmerman

Book 7 of the Amston Lake mystery series

* * * * *

Published by: Blue Pinion Enterprises at Smashwords

Copyright 2013 by Larry E. Zimmerman

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This book is available in print from Blue Pinion Enterprises. Order books from:

http://www.amstonbooks.com

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you are reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

All rights reserved. The characters and animals in this story are fictional and bear no resemblance to people or animals living or dead.

Amston Lake Map

Gold will be slave or master.

Horace BC 65-8

The gold I sought in secret cache,

Was hid in nature’s store,

The mother world disguised the port

From accidental bore.

From The Water Bible

By Larry E. Zimmerman

Table of Contents

Title Page and Front Matter

Map of Amston Lake

Quotes

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

About the Author

Booklist

Chapter 1

After the victory at the battle of Yorktown, that essentially ended the Revolutionary War, General Rochambeau took his army to their winter quarters in North Providence, Rhode Island, where he had wintered previously. Rochambeau was a prudent general, and when he was told that in Providence the dealers of forage had raised their prices to extravagant figures, he decided to send his cavalry unit, under Duke de Lauzun, south to cheaper quarters in Lebanon, CT. After the cavalry departed, word came to Rochambeau that a shipment of gold was coming from France as a loan to help the fledgling republic become established.

The gold arrived in Newport, Rhode Island, in May 1781. Rochambeau was anxious to return to the fighting and was elated when General Washington ordered him south to clean out areas in New York, Virginia, and North Carolina. With three wagons loaded down with heavy gold, Rochambeau arrived in Lebanon on June 22. To protect the gold from falling into the remnants of the British army that were still in the New York City and Long Island areas, Rochambeau sent the gold with Lauzun’s cavalry unit directly west toward Poughkeepsie while his army went south to White Plains. Eventually, they were to meet in Philadelphia.

Lauzun decamped late (due to the weather) from Lebanon and only traveled as far as North Pond where he stopped for the night. During the night, the three soldiers who were driving the wagons, decided to steal some of the gold. They figured that they could take two bars from each wagon without them being missed. In the dark of the night, they carried the six bars of gold to the shore of a pond and buried them. Returning to the wagons, under the light of a candle, they drew a map of the gold’s location. Then they made a pact to return after the war, retrieve the gold, and divide it equally, each man receiving two bars. To seal the agreement, each man cut his arm and pressed the blood to the others arm and then to the map. Thus the pact was consummated in blood.

The pilfered gold was not missed and Lauzun continued his march west. The cavalry arrived at the Hudson River in early July. Finding the wagons too heavy for the ferries, and not wanting to handle and unload the gold, Lauzun waited for three barges, large enough to carry a wagon and two horses, to come down from Albany. In a few days, the barges arrived. Then Lauzun made a bad decision. He sent the barges with the wagons containing the gold across first, with one driver on each wagon. The wagon, two horses, driver, and two oarsmen, were the limit that each barge could support.

The crossing went without incident and the barges docked safely on the western shore. What they didn’t know was that a band of British Patriots, foraging for food and supplies, saw the crossing. They waited in ambush until the barges were unloaded and were returning to the eastern shore. Then they attacked the three drivers. The British assumed that the wagons contained guns, ammunition, and possibly food. The three drivers were taken completely unawares. Two were killed instantly, and the third, a corporal Ephraim Wilcox, sustained a bullet to the head that rendered him unconscious. He awoke to the ministrations of the medical aide, head caked in blood, disoriented, and with a severe headache. Lauzun could not wait for a wounded soldier. He had to recover the gold. He told Wilcox and the aide to catch up to the main body when Wilcox was able to ride. Lauzun left two horses for them.

Taking advantage of a perfect situation, Wilcox shot the aide, recovered the map from the pocket of one of his dead conspirators, and deserted. He chased one of the horses off, and mounting the other, headed west. He had to shed his uniform as quickly as possible, and did that at the expense of some laundry hanging out to dry. Working his way through New York State, mostly at night, stealing food from gardens and storehouses, in ten days, he crossed the border of Pennsylvania into Ohio.

Wilcox’s farm was two days ride from the Pennsylvania border. On the morning of the third day, he rode up the long dirt road to his farm. Seeing his house, barns, and land, the war immediately dissolved into the dumping ground of the mind. He was still smiling as he tied his horse to the porch rail and went up the steps. On the porch, he stopped and looked around. Home, he was home. The war was far away and he had survived. Sure, he had a bad bullet wound on his head, a minor inconvenience. After healing, the scar would provide him with lies about valor on the battlefield. As far as the army was concerned, he was assumed dead. No one would be looking for him. And the war was over. Cornwallis had surrendered and the British army was heading back to England. It was a beautiful day and he was home – HOME!

As he opened the door to enter his house, a shot was fired and a bullet caught him full in the chest. He was propelled backwards, down the steps, and wondered why? as his life bled out of him. Mildred, his wife, thinking he was a marauder because of the beard, filthy appearance, and ragged clothes, was protecting her children and homestead. She never expected her husband to return in that condition. Actually, she did not expect him to return at all. The casualties were high in that war.

After overcoming her initial shock and grief, Mildred realized that if she had not recognized her husband, probably no one else did either. She decided to bury him and remove any evidence of the terrible crime she had committed. She went through all of his pockets and removed any possession that would identify him. She cried as she found a letter she had written to him and the chain and locket she had given him to wear as a token of her love. She went to the fireplace and removed the metal box she kept hidden there behind a loose stone. It only held a few precious coins that she now removed. She would hide his possessions there. Her crying increased as she realized how little Ephraim had retained: his pocketknife, cavalry insignias, pistol and ammunition, his lucky (?) rabbit’s foot, a few coins (which she kept), one of her letters, and the locket she had given him when he was called to war. There was also a folded piece of paper that he’d carefully wrapped in a small piece of oilskin. When she unwrapped it, there was a paper that looked like a map of some sort. He must have thought it was important to take such care with it; so she rewrapped it and placed it in the box with his other possessions. His powder horn and gun would accompany him into the grave since they were marked as army property. She didn’t want to explain any army possessions. Then she began the hard task of dragging his heavy body