RIVER | JJ MAYBANK

TWENTY NINE

CAMERON'S

"Hey, guys, so like, my dads already gonna kill me. So what's this mandatory meeting about?" Pope questioned as JJ poked the fire.

River sat around the fire with a smile. She loved camp fires. When both her and JJ have had a bad day at home they'd sleep under the stars with a fire burning next to them. JJ had given her his button up shirt in attempts to keep warm.

John B fired finger guns at JJ, allowing him to explain. "Might as well tell him, man, before we're gaffed."

"You ready for this?" John B questioned looking at Pope and Kie. He had already explained it to River on the boat ride to her house.

"Yeah." Kie said impatiently. River nodded, ready to hear the story again. She was a history buff and loved shit like this. River rested her head on JJ's shoulder and waited for him to tell the story.

"So, the gold never went down the with Royal Merchant." John B stated, he paused and waited for their reactions.

"Oh my God. Here we go again with this." Pope let out a frustrated sigh. He was sick of hearing out the Royal Merchant.

"No. Alright, wait. Hear him out, alright?" JJ looked over to Pope.

"It's been here the whole time." John B said. He took a brief pause. "It's on the island."

"Are you serious?" Kie questioned. Half believing, half not.

"As a heart attack." River mumbled, Kie looked up to her shocked.

"Oh my God." She whispered excitedly, if River believed again then maybe-

-just maybe it was true.

"I'd like to voice my skepticism." Pope said pointing to John B.

"I'm sure you would Pope, but can I please present you with my evidence, sir?" John B stood up with a smile.

"Proceed." Pope said dismissively. River chuckled at the boys.

"Alright, so, in my backpack, I have a letter from Denmark Tanny." John B said holding up the letter.

"Who the hell's that?" Kie questioned looking up to John B. River grabbed JJ's hand and intertwined their fingers. JJ couldn't help but smile.

"Denmark Tanny was a slave that survived the Royal Merchant wreck. Check this out." John B unfolded the letter.

"What?"

"Here you go." John B handed they letter to Kie. "Okay. Slaves weren't mentions as crew members on the ship, but my dad, he found the complete manifest. That was his big discovery." He paused. "So, Tanny used the gold from the Merchant to buy his freedom."

Kie handed River the letter, she tried to hold on to it, to read it again, but JJ knowing she had already seen it, took it off her and handed it to Pope.

"After that, he bought his farm. Drumroll please, because that farm is..." The four of them began to slap their knees with excited smiles on their faces. "Tannyhill Plantation."

"Tannyhill?" Kie questioned.

"Yeah, so, after that, he used his money to free even more slaves, and then he sold a shit ton of rice, which pissed of all the white planters, and then, they decided to lynch him." Nobody said a word, so John B continued. "So on the day they were coming to get him, he writes a letter to his son as a farewell, and in the last time of that letter, he leaves a coded message about where to find the gold."

"Where?" Kie whispered like an excited child, sharing secrets.

"Harvest the wheat, in parcel nine, near the water. Except there's no wheat. You see, wheat is code for gold. Check this out." John B grabbed the letter from Pope. "The fold is in parcel nine, near the water."