Chapter 16

I could smell coffee when I opened my eyes. I opened the tent fly and looked toward where the fire pit was. John was sitting there on his bench. I crawled out and headed for the bushes. He motioned toward a coffee pot sitting over the coals. I met Emmy coming from the outhouse. She was more than half asleep. I was glad she was up.

John began talking when I came back, “Pete, tell me something, knowing Miriam like you do, you had a very long conversation with her last night. You were in a trance for several hours.”

“Yeah, I’ve had dreams coming from her for eighteen or so years. I never really knew why either. She told me most everything why. There is some that I’m not aware of and she told me we wouldn’t be speaking to me again. Agatha, the woman with my wife, is an Archeologist. She is going to take over from me and see if what we suspect is true about there being a cave behind those tumbled down rocks.

“Different subject, John, I have some questions for you, Do you own these buildings? If you do, there will be workmen in around here for awhile.”

“I only have a deed on the house and the land. The rest of the deeds I have in my possession, but not in my name. They were signed with the owner’s names and I have considered them mine. I’m not sure they are legal. They were handed to me as the people moved away. I guess you can say the houses were abandoned. My land goes as far as where that pile of small stones you came by getting here. That was the edge of the village.”

“What about where the burial ground is? Where is that located?”

“I can show you where. My land surrounds it. Are there going to people digging that up?”

“I believe they won’t be disturbing the stones and markers, just removing the sand and dirt that is covering them up. Miriam and Peter the Scribe have a monument that was put there before they died. Hopefully, it is still there and can be found. She wants their bones buried inside the tomb. When that is done that should be the last change that is done here.”

“Pete, I doubt that. Her husband may be someone who is famous or will be and then there will be people crawling all over the place wanting to view it.”

“That could happen. John, if it looks like that is going to happen, I’ll buy you a place to live in and give it to you.”

“You got money? You don’t act like you do.”

“I believe I have enough to see Miriam’s bones buried.”

Just then, Agatha crawled out of her tent. “Morning, I didn’t sleep well last night. I thought about last evening, I don’t know as I believe any of this. I wouldn’t even consider this if it wasn’t for Mary telling me of her dreams. I need more convincing, so who is going to do that.”

Everyone turned and looked at me. “I guess it is on me. There is only one way that I can see to make sure that there is a cave behind that pile of stone on top of the house where Miriam made her life. Supposedly this was her father’s house. I’ve talked to John here and he says, it is said that it belonged to the Nickolia Family and the village was named for them.”

“To be certain about there being a cave, Agatha, can we legally get a construction outfit to bore a hole through the rock and see if there is an opening going into the mountain? A camera could be inserted if there is and it is an entrance to a cave.”

“Who would pay for this? I don’t think the University would put up the money on so little evidence.”

“I will pay for finding out if there is really is a cave. That should take only a few hours and then we would know. That would be the time to take it to your university and talk to your department about continuing with the funding to open up the cave entirely. I would donate some money, but I don’t believe I can finance all of it. You would need professional help in opening up the cave and cataloging the contents.

“There may be some legal problems to be resolved that I wouldn’t know about. It would be better to have those taken care of and any roadblocks identified before we get too far into this. I also will want a detailed record of this.”

“Pete, why that? Oh yes, to promote yourself to become famous, I suppose.”

Mary exclaimed! “Agatha, how can you think that? Pete will only be named as an unnamed donor and maybe not even that. That is the way he has always been. I have five brothers and myself and Pete. We are called the Gooddell Group and involved in a lot of good works. If we get involved in something, it is always Pete who figures out the best way to get it done and also the cheapest and most effective. He helps people when he sees a need. Ask Ricky, Emmy’s husband, what kind of a person he is.”

“Okay Mary. I may have made a wrong assumption. It seems as though even here in the Holy Land there all kinds of promoters and braggarts who want to stick their chests out and say, ‘Look what I have done,’ especially if anything comes close to something Holy.

Mary was shaking her head, “To give you an example what Pete is like: When my five brothers hired Pete to keep me safe while digging for Gems on a mountain, we had been there about five months without much success. Because Pete had read a book about gems, he suggested I dig next to the wall-face of the mountain on the upper edge of my diggings.

“Within a short space of time I discovered a beautiful Smoky Quartz Crystal Gem set. The only problem, it was encased behind a lip of granite in the ledge. It looked as there was no way the fragile gem could be removed without damaging the whole. Pete went home that night and went into town and bought enough tools to work on getting it free.

“The next day he was successful! That Gem today is in a museum and rated one of the best examples of its kind. It is named the “Mary Goodell Smoky Quartz Crystal Gem set.” Pete wouldn’t let me put his name to it even though he was the one who set it free.’’

“Mary, please stop. Agatha gets the idea that we love each other. That’s important, but there is no need to say more on the subject.”

“Okay for now. Agatha and I will talk about this at some other time. Agatha, suffice to say if Pete doesn’t have enough funds to complete this project, I can ask my family to get involved. Pete, please lay out how this project should go forward. Agatha’s university is the needed vehicle to direct this project and we know the world will demand to know more as soon as the cave is opened.

“The university is needed to become the face of what is a major find stretching back to when the Lord walked the earth. Remember that you and I have been the main characters of Miriam’s agenda. We can now recede into a normal life among our friends and family just as soon as someone, hopefully Agatha’s university, will be the one. I feel that is where we are at present.”

“I think that says it all. Agatha, why don’t you and I sit by ourselves and talk over what you think the university will do if you can convince them to follow up on what we believe is behind the wall of stone?”

The next morning Mary helped John make breakfast. Eggs and sausage and she made pancakes on top of that. Emmy and Ricky decided if they weren’t needed, they would climb the mountain. Agatha had a folding chair and desk. I was going to sit on the ground, but John went in and brought me out a kitchen chair.

“Okay Pete, I’m going to list some of the things the way I think opening the cave should proceed. By rights we should talk to the person who gives the right to dig for Antiquities. Shall we go to him and tell him a ghost told us there was a cave behind those stones and we want permission to find out if there is?”

“How much trouble would we get into if we go that route?”

“He’d think us crazy and probably think we were crazy for asking to have this done with so few facts.”

“I agree. Actually, I was joking. I think we could risk at least finding out for certain before we tell anyone anything.”

John spoke up knowing about what we were up to. “This is my land and I can drill into the mountain if I want to. I want to find out more than anyone about a cave. You have my permission.”

“Fine. Pete what are your thoughts?”

“Agatha, you must have used some construction company who is tied with the university?”

“I do Pete. I was going over in my mind after going to bed last night about what our first moves should be. Can you estimate how far we have to drill? We know that pile of stone is about forty feet to the edge of the mountain and may go inside a ways.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t think they would drill through from the front. I think they would start at the back edge of where the stone is piled up and drill at an angle. It might even be only twenty or twenty five feet to hit the original opening if there is a cave there.

“I walked around yesterday while waiting for you and Mary to get here. Ask John if it wouldn’t be better to start work on the other side of the next house on the left and not around back of his house. We don’t now how stable the stone of the mountain is and we don’t want to destroy his house.

“I suspect that Miriam’s house was backed right up to the wall of the mountain. From our dreams, that would be the only way that the opening from the house to the cave would be hidden from view.”

Agatha nodded to John and he agreed with me. He said it would be nearer sixty feet if they had to drill straight in from the front wall. “We should get someone from the construction company out here to look at it the first thing before anything is attempted.”

“Do you want me to call them today? They may be backed up with work and not able to do it right off either. I can get their number by calling the University.”

“Sure, why not. They will have the job of making sure a new entrance is safe if there really is a cave and personnel will be going in and out, but first is to find out if what we hope for is there.”

“I’ll call.”Agatha picked up her phone.

Mary came and joined me. “What’s going on?”

“Agatha is calling a construction company that the University uses and can do what we want. I’m hoping they can do it soon. Maybe we can get an estimate of how much this will cost and when they can do it. If it takes very long before they can, I think we will head home and we can leave Emmy and Ricky here to see to things. What do you think?”

“It sounds like a plan to me. Are you going to subsidize Emmy and Ricky? How much are you setting aside to finish up what Miriam is costing us? Have you talked that over with Agatha yet?”

“Wow, that’s a lot of questions. How much do you want to spend on this whole project?”

“Pete, thanks for including me in this decision. I’ve thought about this some. The money that we received for the mine is what we can use for this. Miriam said she was the one who located it for us to find. Do you agree?”

“I do. Yours and my living expenses aren’t that much with us still living in the house we purchased soon after we married. Our three children have a good work ethic, so they don’t cost us too much. The new baby is an expense, but with both of us working and receiving a good salary from the nonprofit we set up, that more than pays for our living expenses. Money from the leases and rental properties costs us a lot in taxes. That can’t be helped, but Kenny lining up that financial advisor for us has that under control.”

“I know. The account where you were stashing the royalties from the mine has done well. That advisor that we hired on our own for that one account is right on top with that basket of stocks and bonds in portfolio. Hard to believe we were almost broke at one time. That is the account where we will be paying from for the cost of everything here where the cave is, right?”

“Yes. Mary you know if there isn’t a cave where we suspect, we are going to be terribly disappointed, aren’t we.”

“Pete, I just know it is there and I won’t be disappointed. You will still be looking for Peter and Miriam’s grave monument aren’t you? She can’t have been wrong about that, can she?”

“I don’t think so. She did fool us about a lot of things with her manipulations. The painting was the biggest one. She just spent her time manipulating us all. I think you were the one who was caused the most pain by being marked as you are.”

“I don’t know, maybe Chloe had the most guilt to deal with, or maybe it was my mother. She paid dearly when she had a baby marked the way I am and didn’t know why. We can attribute that to Miriam as well.” Mary looked around and saw Agatha heading toward us.

“Pete and Mary, I’ve had some luck. The man who does the estimating will be here this afternoon. He will have some of the work crew with him to look over the situation. After the weekend they will be here on Monday to set up. Two things: I mentioned the search after I gave him some details of what was required for drilling through the stone, and then looking for the graveyard monuments.

“He said if we can point out where we think it is, it won’t take long to find what we are looking for. He has one of those land based sonars that a person pushes across the landscape looking for anomalies below the surface. It shouldn’t take long if this was a small village cemetery. He does want some money up front, because people do get excited about what they think is a bit of history and it turns out to be nothing.

“Pete you said you would pay for this, didn’t you?”

“I did Agatha, and I will transfer it from my bank to the company when they hand me a contract. That is usually a third of what the estimate is.”

“I guess we are all set. Just think, you may have some information about what you believe by sometime Monday. You have me believing now and I certain hope we are correct in our assumptions. I know the man that is coming with the equipment. He is very accommodating.”

John Bergholtz was sitting on his bench, “Hey, John can you show me where you think the cemetery is?” It was a good thing for me that Agatha was near enough for me to ask John for she repeated my question to him.

John’s answer was, “Sure. There is still some indication of where they are. My father asked about them from his grandfather who came here before the First World War. That would be in about 1900. I think Jordan is the country that claimed this part of old Judea at the time. Jerusalem wasn’t even a recognized state at the time this land here was made into a state until after the six day war. It might even have been claimed by Egypt at that time. I wasn’t even born.”

“Is there anything I should know you can tell me?”

“A couple of things. If you go digging into those burial sites they may collapse or have already. That has happened to other sites I’ve heard of when they were exhumed. That outfit you have coming can verify this. Come on, I’ll show you were I think they are anyway. If these are like I’ve seen that have been dug into at times they usually don’t survive for long.”

“I guess they better be looked at carefully before that is attempted.”

Emmy and Ricky didn’t get back until after lunch. “How was the climb, easy?”

“Not at first but it wasn’t so bad near the peak. Sorry we are late. We took a nap.” Ricky’s face flamed as he said this.

“Uh huh, no problem. That construction outfit will be along shortly. Mary made sandwiches so you had better grab one.” We sat waiting for the construction company vehicle in our camp chairs. John fed the fire in the fire pit one piece of brush at a time. There was a cold breeze that took the smoke away. There was little of this to bother.

Finally a pickup was seen coming, and parked beside our two vehicles. One man jumped out. Agatha apparently knew him. He hugged her and she hugged him, blushing much. What do you know, maybe Agatha had a life outside the university? She introduced us and to me personally, as I was going to pay for the work. His name was Gene. He had a decided Boston accent.

I took a chance, “You from Boston?”

“Yeah. Agatha got me the position here, working for the University. She’s from the area in Boston where I come from.”

“Would you happen to know Geno and Guido Capparelli?”

“I sure would, Geno just came back from out west someplace and Guido married a woman from the same place and stayed out there with her. I met her one time. She’s a beauty.”

Ricky spoke up, “Careful what you say about her, She’s my mother and Guido adopted me when they married.”

“Well what do you know? I meant no harm, just that she was pretty.”

I added, “For your information, Geno started a business and I went in with him. We hired Guido and when Geno left Guido took his place, so he and I are partners now.”

“Great. I started out working for old man Capparelli and he taught me the construction business. Now show me what you need done.”

We all walked toward the house that we thought Miriam lived in that was covered with stone. “This is the house that we believe has a cave behind it. First off we want to find out if there is a cave. If there is, then we want to open up an entrance so we can get in and out. We want the opening to be closed up solidly with a door and maybe some other things done inside.”

“God, that means there is fifty or sixty feet to bore through. That’s going to cost a bundle.”

“I have a different idea how to approach this. Follow me.” I walked past the front and down between these remains and the next house. “First I want a big enough hole bored through the mountain to get a wire in where it is solid. Bore it at an angle to see if there really is a cave. I figure maybe twenty to thirty feet should do it. I pointed out where I thought Gene should bore the first hole, “If we don’t find anything on the first hole we’ll try it again at a different angle.

“If there is an opening, then we’ll remove enough of this stone and shore it up with stone and cement to make a decent entrance.” I stood looking at it until Gene got through his mind what I wanted done. “What do you think?”

Ricky had been sketching on his paper pad and drew the details. He tore of the page and handed it too Gene. “I see what you mean. Looks like a good plan.”

“Have you a camera lead that we can see inside if there is a cave?”

“I do. Let me think what I will need for equipment. So Pete today, you just want to see if there is a cave there, is that it?”

“That’s correct. If there isn’t, I’ll be all done here. How soon can you do this?

“Well, I’m on a job all next week and Monday and Tuesday the following week. I suppose you want it done as soon as possible. Tell you what, I don’t often do this, but if I can get two of my men to help, I could do it tomorrow. It shouldn’t take more than the one day. I’m not above working on Sunday if the pay is right.”

“Make it right. Get your bank’s tracking number and I’ll have the money transferred. I think we are ahead one day here so that wouldn’t be tomorrow, but one day after. I’m hoping that Agatha and the university will handle all the details after we find out for sure. I’m making a sizable donation there anyway.”

“Well, I’ll go get my equipment together. I’ll need a compressor, a generator, and a tank of water. I’ll need a laptop to go with the camera lead if we find out for sure about the cave.If there is, I’ll be back in ten days to get us into it. Will that satisfy you?”

“That will be great. I think I’ll take my crowd into Beersheba and get a couple of rooms so we can get cleaned up. Agatha, do you want to go with us?”

“No, I’m going with Gene and we’ll be back about seven-thirty tomorrow. I’ve done that before.”

“You’re sure?”

Gene spoke, “Yeah, she’s sure.” He grinned and Agatha did too.”

“Mary, ask John if he wants to go. If he doesn’t, ask him if there is something we can bring him back.”

“John says nah, someone has to keep the fire going; Besides his granddaughter might come before it gets dark. If she is here, you might keep that beer you are buying, hidden until she goes home.”

“You got it.”

We hadn’t been back in the morning only twenty minutes when we saw three pickups coming. There was room for all three to park. One was just pulling a small tank full of water. One had the generator and the other was the drilling rig which was what Gene was driving. Agatha got out of this one before Gene backed it in close to where he was going to drill. They slid the rig down onto the ground and wrestled it into position.

The pickup was driven out and the one with the generator was backed in and that was unloaded. The gas was checked and the man that was pulling the water tank brought two five gallon pails of water up and filled the water tank on the drilling rig. Gene commented. “We may not need to use the water. I’m using a hammer drill that’s one and one quarter inch in diameter and we’ll see how it goes. This will be loud and hurt your ears, so stay at a distance.

“Pete, give me your best guess of where the opening should be if there is one.”

“Okay, the distance between this house and the one back of us is closer to this one than the one on the other side. Say the opening to the cave is four feet wide and I’d guess right in the middle at the back of the house. The house is twenty eight feet wide so a half of that is fourteen feet minus two feet each side for the entrance.

“I’m hoping that you only have twelve feet of solid rock to drill through. I guess with the angle you are attacking this I don’t know but what you might have to go sixteen feet before giving up. The height of the opening is unknown as well so you might miss it either going past the opening too high or too low.”

“Pete, I’ll go with your guesses for now.”

The generator was started and hooked to the air compressor that was driving the drill bit. Gene handed me a set of sound suppressors for my ears and put a set on himself. The drill bit was horizontal at three feet off the ground. Gene had a lever that forced the bit against the rock and the bit started hammering. The bit turned just a little and there was bits of rock came away and fell to the ground,

It didn’t look like it was doing anything to make a hole, but then I realized the head of the drill where it flared had disappeared. Two inches done and maybe sixteen feet to go.

Gene worked for three hours. “You know Pete, we are close to the minimum you estimated. I think we’ll stop and have some lunch and rest a bit.”

“How far have you drilled?”

“Eleven feet so far and that’s quite a ways. I think we’ll hit the cave in another couple of hours, anyway. What’s your guess?”

“I sense we don’t have much further to go. Ricky wants to sketch you and the drill rig while you eat. That will be for Agatha to show the University. She is hoping the University will back her in what she finds here.”

“They should, she is very dedicated to her work. I’ve been over here for three years. You know she and I did some talking. If this is a major find I may talk to her and make our association more permanent than it is now seeing her only occasionally.”

“Go for it. I think my Niece and Nephew will be staying here for awhile. That’s also up to Agatha if we find what we are looking for.”

Gene and his two men relaxed for an hour, finally observing, “Well let’s wind this up. If I have to reset and start over, I can get quite a way into finishing up another hole”

I was turning away from watching the drilling action after fifteen minutes when the compressor changed by speeding up and it was a lot quieter. The hammering noise disappeared. “Okay Pete, we are through the rock and into an open space. I won’t know where I am until I clean up and insert the camera lead and a light to see what things look like. Another half hour and you should know where we are.”