The Double Cousins and the Mystery of Custer's Gold

By Miriam Jones Bradley

The plan was to have a quiet Christmas with extended family and NO mystery or adventure. But things rarely go as planned when the Double Cousins are involved. After finding an old diary under a loose floorboard, the Double Cousins uncover a slew of new questions in their latest mystery at the Old Sawmill Guest Ranch in Nemo, South Dakota. What happened to Sophia, the diary’s owner? Where was the mysterious gold coin mentioned in another found journal? Could all their discoveries be clues to help answer the historic Black Hills puzzle and reveal where Custer hid his last payroll? Will the Double Cousins be able to answer all these questions and more and bring closure to a long-gone and far away family? With only a few days to their vacation and the threat of snow, the Double Cousins race against the clock in their most recent mystery.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Ambassador International
• Release date: Nov 22, 2016
• ISBN: 9781620204467

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The Double Cousins

And the Mystery of Custer’s Gold

© 2015 by Miriam Jones Bradley

All rights reserved

Printed in the United States of America

ISBN: 978-1-62020-538-9

eISBN: 978-1-62020-446-7

Cover Design and Page Layout by Hannah Nichols

Ebook Conversion by Anna Riebe Raats

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Dedication:

This book is dedicated to my children (my twelve nieces and nephews)—Kari, Megan, Melissa, Andrew, Mandy, David, Jon, Ben, Julie, Billy, Katie, and Nathan—all double cousins. You inspired me to write these stories in the first place. You have provided a powerful accountability team, as well as inspiration and editorial help. I wouldn’t want to do this without you. I love you! You are my sunshine! Live for Jesus!

Author’s Notes

Last summer our family had the privilege of spending two days at the Nemo Guest Ranch, in Nemo, South Dakota. At the time I believed the next Double Cousins Mystery would occur in Denver, but as I spent time there with my nieces and nephews, I realized something. This was the perfect research trip and this would make an awesome place for a mystery! My sister and her children cleaned for the Nemo Guest Ranch, so we were given access to many of the cabins as they cleaned. They related history and stories that set my mind whirling. So that is how this book came to be.

When I began working out the plot for this book I remembered a little Bible my aunt and uncle showed me when I visited them. The Bible belonged to Uncle Tom’s great-grandmother who emigrated from Sweden. I called him and he agreed to send a photo of this book. In our conversation he mentioned the names of his grandparents, Sophia and John Peter Swanson. He has allowed me to use those names as well as the exact inscription from the front of the old Bible. Thank you, Uncle Tom and Aunt Twyla!

While I found no direct evidence of any deaths in Nemo during the Spanish Influenza epidemic, it is quite possible there were some. The facts of life in Nemo are accurate and based on my research from Nemo, South Dakota: One Hundred Years, 1889-1989, collected and edited by Elton and Norma Adams.

In doing research for this book, I ran across this article online that was particularly helpful. You will find information in this link regarding the survivor of the Battle of the Little Bighorn: http://www.deadwoodmagazine.com/archivedsite/Archives/Windolph.htm.

The belief that Custer left his payroll buried in South Dakota has never been proven one way or the other. However, I think I took a pretty good crack at it!

The map of the Old Sawmill Guest Ranch is an edited version of one provided by Troy and Willie Saye, current owners of the Nemo Guest Ranch. For more information about the guest ranch go to www.nemoguestranch.com.

When writing about a weather event, it is useful to have a meteorologist for a friend. Thank you, Chris Orr, Certified Consulting Meteorologist, of Rapid City, SD, for your insight into what weather pattern would give me the event I wanted. Authentic detail is important in a plot!

Finally, I want to thank those people who took time to read my manuscript, under a tight timeline, and gave me invaluable help in finding those pesky plot holes and things that make you say, What? Thanks to my husband, who as always provided plot development help, was my perpetual listener as I processed, and provided help editing!

Table of Contents

Title Page

Copyright Information

Dedication

Author’s Notes

Chapter 1: Behind the Wall

Chapter 2: Not Another Mystery!

Chapter 3: Mr. Dilbert Decides

Chapter 4: Why? Why? Why?

Chapter 5: The Missing Graves

Chapter 6: Trapped!

Chapter 7: Brandon’s Birthday Surprise

Chapter 8: Custer’s Gold?

Chapter 9: Shadows in the Storm

Chapter 10: Powerless

Chapter 11: A Dangerous Mission

Chapter 12: Tea and Teamwork

Chapter 13: Triumph and Disappointment

Chapter 14: Hits and Misses

Chapter 15: A Ray of Hope

Chapter 16: A Happy Homecoming!

Others In This Series

Contact Information

CHAPTER 1

Behind the Wall

November 29, 1918

SOPHIA SET THE LAMP CAREFULLY on the chest opposite the hanging clothes, clutched the little Bible to her chest, and slid down the wall into the corner of the closet. Sobs wracked her body as she hugged herself. She rocked back and forth, her chin-length blond hair falling across her face. When the sobs subsided, she reached into her dress pocket for a handkerchief. She wiped her face and leaned back against the wall, so glad for the privacy of this refuge. Her fingers caressed the cover of her mother’s Bible. Reaching over to her right, she lifted the loose board and pulled out her diary and the pencil lying beside it. Sophia opened the diary and hesitated, then squared her shoulders, pushed back her hair, and wrote.

We buried my best friend and double cousin, John Peter Swanson, today. I don’t know how I’ll live the rest of my life without him here. Tears dripped from her chin, but she continued to write. I told Mama I didn’t think I could go on, and she sent me up here with her Bible to look up Psalm 61. She said I am to write verse two in my diary.

Sophia opened the Bible and found the verse. From the end of the earth will I cry unto thee, when my heart is overwhelmed: lead me to the rock that is higher than I. She read in Swedish first, then mumbled the words in English. I will write in English because Mama wants me to keep practicing my English.

She continued to write. In the morning I will have to get the gold coin we found in the cave and give it to Papa. I promised John Peter I would right before he died . . .

She closed her mother’s Bible and caressed the soft cover. She must be careful, for it was one of the few treasures Mama still had from Sweden and she had promised to take it back downstairs in the morning.

Footsteps clattered on the stairs. Sophia pushed the two books behind the loose board, jumped up, grabbed the lamp, and hurried out of the closet. By the time her little sister entered their room, the bedcovers were turned back. Sophia rubbed her forehead. Her head was aching horribly, probably from crying, but it made her stomach churn. John Peter got a headache first. Within hours he was dead from the Spanish Influenza.

We’re going upstairs to look around, Dad. Carly paused with one foot on the steps of the old house and looked over her shoulder at her dad and uncles. Her cousins, Max and Brandon, waited behind her.

That’s fine, Carly. Mr. Johnson smiled at the three ten-year-olds. It will be colder up there since there isn’t any heat. That’s why we will be insulating this old house.

Carly climbed the steep staircase, the boys right behind her. The old house, called the Circle 6, reminded her of Grandpa and Grandma Johnson’s ranch house. The top half of the staircase was open, and to the right identical double beds were tucked under the eaves in what really couldn’t be called a room. It was more like a wide hallway. At the top of the stairs, a door opened into a room with another double bed.

There’s a lot of rooms up here. Max’s voice echoed. I’m kind of surprised. You could sleep a bunch of people.

I guess that’s a good thing for a guest ranch. Carly wandered through the open area, her footsteps loud on the wood floor. She found two more rooms at the front of the house, each with another double bed. She entered the one on the left and stood imagining what it would be like to live here. The bed frame looked handmade with beautiful carved wood. The flowered bedspread shouted GIRL ROOM. She turned in a circle and took in the details. There wasn’t much in the room, no toys or bookshelves, only the bed and a chest of drawers. A faint smell of moth balls tickled her nose. Ruffled curtains framed the window which looked out on the front yard and the rest of Nemo, South Dakota.

The huge closet surprised Carly, since the other old houses at the Old Sawmill Guest Ranch had such tiny ones.

Look at this.

Max and Brandon entered the room and followed Carly into the closet.

Brandon whistled. Wow! It’s a palace compared to the one in our room over at the Ranch House.

Carly nodded. She slid down into the corner, shivering in the cold air. I think someone could actually sleep in here. From where she sat her eyes took in the dilapidated, unpainted walls. It looked like the closet hadn’t enjoyed any of the renovations which the current owners were undertaking. Maybe when they helped paint this house they could do something about that. A loose board near the floor caught her eye.

Look at this. We’ll have to fix it. Carly tugged on the board and she noticed a flash of color behind it. Hey, there’s something in here. She reached in and pulled out

Reviews for The Double Cousins and the Mystery of Custer's Gold

[homeschoolbookreview · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

How do you think that you would feel if there were some possible suggestion that an ancestor of yours was a bank robber? In the debut novel of this series, The Double Cousins and the Mystery of the Missing Watch, double cousins Max, Dorie, and Chad Rawson, and Carly and Molly Johnson, along with another cousin Brandon Johnson, solve a mystery on their annual summer visit at the Nebraska ranch of their grandparents, Milton and Georgia Johnson. Grandpa’s grandfather, Isaac Johnson, had a twin brother Zachary, who went west in 1890 and was never heard from again. All they know is that he had an engraved pocket watch just like one Grandpa has from Isaac. The kids find out that he was attacked, had amnesia, and settled in Colorado with a made up name, Zedekiah Lee Jay, from the initials on his watch. They also find out that the drifter named Slim, who works for Grandpa and has a similar pocket watch, is really Justin Jay, a descendent of Zach/Zedekiah’s and thus a relative. In The Mystery of the Torn Map, Slim, who has returned home, e-mails to ask if Grandpa, Grandma, and the kids can come to Lamar, CO, and help him solve another mystery related to Zach/Zedekiah. His dad had bought an old clock and found a torn piece of a map that matches another piece that had been left by Zach/Zedekiah. After talking to the former owner of the clock, Miss Belle Cox, whose grandfather Matthew Stover was a partner with Zachary Johnson, and her great-nephew Dexter, off they go to Creede, CO, where she tells them that the two young men had once lived. However, while looking for information about Matthew and Zach and seeing a newspaper report about a bank robbery in nearby Pueblo, CO, in 1891 by two young men, they find out that someone in a blue pickup truck is following them, spying on them, even steals Carly’s copy of the map out of her Bible in the van, and then throws the Bible in the trash. Who is he? What is he up to? And will they ever find any more information about what happened to Zachary? Was he a bank robber? The plot of this book is well thought out with good suspense, and youngsters, especially mystery fans, will find it exciting reading that is hard to put down. It is always a pleasure to read even fiction stories where people’s lives and actions are guided by their faith in God. It’s also nice to read about children who are mannerly, polite, and well-behaved. Oh, these kids aren’t perfect. They get impatient, pout a little, and make other mistakes, but Grandma and Grandpa are there to help remind them what’s really important. As a result, they learn some valuable lessons. Indeed, the portrayal of intergenerational relationships in this loving family is quite commendable. And there’s an added bonus. The reason that the kids can go on this mystery-solving trip so late in the summer is, as Max’s dad explains, “We weren’t going to start with your home school until after Labor Day this year.” Isn’t it wonderful not to be tied down to some schedule worked out by an educational bureaucrat? This is a great read!