When I woke up, I found myself in what appeared to be an abandoned well. Lucky for me it was dry. It was late January and very cold, I would have frozen or worse drowned. As soon as I collected my senses I began to survey my situation. At first it seemed grim, I was about twenty feet down and far enough off the paved road that no one will hear my screams for help. I sat down and tried to relax but I started to notice how close quarters the narrow well really was. The only thing that would relieve my panic was looking up. As I watched the clouds roll by through the small well opening I felt a sense of calmness and was able to relax.

      While looking up the well shaft, I started to remember how I ended up in the well. I love exploring some of the old abandon houses in Ware Neck. The more dilapidated the better. Unfortunately most of them have wells that are hidden and not easily located. If you are not careful you could end up in one. I’m usually aware of the wells but this one fooled me! It did not have the tell tail signs that most wells have such as an indention in the ground or signs of a decaying well house. I must have blindly walked right over it. 

      It didn’t take me long to notice that the bricks that made up the circular wall of the well were staggered, rough and possibly climbable. I could wedge myself against opposite sides of the well and inch my way up. So I started up the well, Inch by inch, brick by brick. I was doing fairly well, about eight feet up when the bricks my feet were on gave way and sent about ten bricks and me to the bottom. Man that hurt, but I seemed to survive. Nothing broken! After rubbing a few bruises I started back up the well. I got to the spot where the fallen bricks had come from and noticed the dirt that was behind the bricks seemed to be smooth instead of rough like it was behind other missing bricks. By now my physical strength was failing and down I went again. This time with no bricks! 

      I sat at the bottom of the well for about twenty minutes or so after making myself a more comfortable seat out of the fallen bricks. I started to wonder how long the well had been there? Was it over a hundred years old or maybe older? I also started thinking about that smooth dirt. I just could not keep that out of my mind! Once again, I started back up the well. This time with two goals, Escape and curiosity! I had to find out why that dirt was smooth! When I made it to the spot it was a little hard to see in the dark shaft. I wedged myself more securely and reached toward the smooth dirt. Just then, a fairly large frog, about a half-pounder jumped from a hole in the wall, hit me in the shoulder and down I went! On the way down, I started to wonder if I was ever going to escape the well? 

      So there I was, at the bottom of the well again. This time I had company, a half -pound frog had dropped in. The frog an I got to know each other over the next hour or so however I found that we did not have much in common. I have to admit though, I thought I heard that frog say “BUD”! 

      I started to notice the time. It seemed to be around four o-clock. I could see that the brightness of the sun was starting to fade. I had been in the well for about three hours now and did not want to be in here after dark. So the frog and I both decided to try climbing out one more time. I decided to forget the smooth dirt that had so puzzled me and concentrate on escape. So up I went once again. Not worrying about any smooth dirt, I managed to climb out in a matter of minutes. The frog seemed to be as happy as I was to be free of the well. Who knows how long he had been down there? 

      When I returned home, my wife was spitting nails! She demanded to know where I had been for the last several hours? As soon as she stopped chasing me around the house, I sat down, showed her my bruises and I had some doozies, then explained to her what happened. My wife of course apologized and tended to my bruises. After a while I started thinking about the day’s adventure and could not get that smooth dirt out of my mind!  I told my wife that in the morning I am going back to the well and check out that smooth dirt. She told me I was crazy! 

      The next morning I could not get up early enough! I was definitely excited! This time someone would know where I was, I had a good size rope, and some light.  When I got to the well I could not get started fast enough! To be honest, I could not explain why my curiosity was so intense towards that smooth dirt. Something about it just did not seem right! I tied the rope to my Wagoneer and started down the well. The well seemed more interesting this time. With a little light the well seemed to take on a mid-evil look. I slid down the rope to the spot and tied myself off. I shined my light toward the indentation in the wall and saw that the smooth spot was a lot smoother than I first noticed. It was also a different color, a rusty color. I reached out and touched the area. I tapped on it. It sounded metallic! My heart started to race! I became very nervous and almost ended up at the bottom. That’s when I realized that whatever it is, it was placed there. I went back up the rope and to my Wagoneer, found something to dig with. I went back down and started to work. What I uncovered really surprised me! It seemed to be a large metal box. In fact, it will take some time to dig it out especially hanging from a rope! All I had to dig with was a large screwdriver, which worked rather well. The box seemed to be in rough shape and falling apart. Who knows how long it had been there. I tried to keep the box in tact. I finally freed the box from its hold and tried to slide it out. The box seemed to weigh two hundred pounds and promptly fell to the bottom of the well. I heard a crash that sounded like bags of coins hitting a concrete floor!

      By now I could not stand it! I also had to take a break! I had been hanging on the rope for over an hour. I went back up and sat at the top of the well with my light for a while trying to see something, but dirt and dust obstructed my view. Now I have to figure out how to get what ever it is out of the well? I decided to use a five-gallon bucket and a rope to retrieve the contents of the well. When I reached the bottom of the well, I could hear the jingle of coin beneath my boots. I could not believe it! I found buried treasure! And by accident! I started frantically filling my bucket with handful after handful of coins. Coins that appeared to be gold! The first bucket was filled to full, when I tried to raise it the handle broke right off. I rigged the rope and emptied half the bucket and tried again. I finally got the first part of my treasure out of the ground.  When I finished retrieving the treasure, I had recovered two five-gallon buckets full of gold coins and a small handful of precious gems. 

      I was quite pleased with myself after all the hard work was done. I had found a large fortune but what was I to do with it? Who should I show it to? Who would try to take claim to it? Did I find it legally? Maybe for now I could just keep it to myself for a while and weigh my options.

      I decided to do a little research to try to determine just what I had. The coins were dated 1701. They weighed two ounces apiece. At today’s market, the coins were worth nine hundred and seventy bucks each but could be worth more due to their age. I have over four thousand coins. I figured my treasure is worth about three and a half million dollars. Not bad pay for one days work. The coins have foreign writing on them that I do not recognize. They could be French or Spanish. I will have to eventually show one of them to some one soon to determine where they came from but who? Who could I trust? I mean it’s not easy hiding two hundred and fifty pounds of gold. I think it would be to my advantage to go underground and try to sell my find to some mysterious International gold dealer who would be discrete with his business but where would I find such a buyer? 

      I decided to go to the only place I knew of that might have the information I need. The only pawn shop in town. I knew that someone there would know of a gold dealer. I was right. An employee named John saw one of my coins and flipped out. I told him I only had the one coin and had found it on the shore. He told me of a man in Deltaville who would definitely be interested in my coin. 

      The man was foreign and very mysterious. His name was Ferkieart Adrior. I think he was Swedish and was a little intimidating though pleasant enough. I showed Ferkie, as he liked to be called one of my coins. He could not believe what he saw. He recognized the coin right away. He said it was part of a pay shipment that belonged to Napoleon’s army.  It had disappeared with the ship that was carrying it along with supplies for his troops. The ship and its cargo were believed to be lost at sea. It is now obvious that pirates may have played a part in the ships disappearance. That would explain how the gold got into the well. As a matter of fact, I’ll bet the well was dug years after the treasure was buried and they just missed finding it by inches.  

      Ferkie made me a fairly good offer for my coin. A thousand bucks! I went ahead and sold that one coin to him for some pocket money. I hesitated telling him about the rest of the treasure until I could feel him out. It seemed to me that if he wanted my treasure he could very easily take it. I didn’t quite trust him yet. I decided to bring him a coin every few days to build his curiosity and force him to make the next move.

      After about a week and four more coins, Ferkie could not take it any more. He showed up at my house. This surprised me a little because I never told him where I lived. I figured a person like Ferkie had some power and could find out anything he wanted to. Would he find out about my treasure? He did ask me to take him to where I was finding the coins. This put me on the spot. I had to think about what to do next. I was still not sure about trusting Ferkie and did not know what to do. If I go to the authorities with my find I will surly loose it! I told Ferkie that I would get with him in a day or so and that I may have interesting news. He said he would be looking forward to the news.

      The next day I went about my daily business but I felt a little uneasy, as if I was being watched. I was almost sure of it. I knew that Ferkie was having me followed. I’m sure he had the resources. So I decided to end this cloak and dagger stuff before it goes to far. I called Ferkie and told him of the treasure and what I wanted for it. We agreed on a meeting at the wayside in Ware Neck. There would be an exchange. Two hundred and fifty pounds of gold coins for a hundred pounds of paper money. In large bills of course. 
I still felt a little uneasy about the whole set up and did not know what to do. Something about Ferkie still bothered me. My wife noticed that I was nervous and offered me her assistance. What could she do for me I thought? She said don’t worry everything will be all right. 

      The next day I loaded the gold into my Wagoneer and headed to the wayside with reluctance. My wife who insisted in coming said don’t worry, everything will be all right. We turned into the wayside. There was a van sitting there. The side door opened as we rolled to a stop. Ferkie and three fairly large men got out. The men were each holding overnight bags hopefully full of money. The men stayed by the van while Ferkie came over to see what I had to offer. As soon as he saw the buckets of gold coins he motioned the men to come over. They dropped their bags and started to reach into their jackets. My worst fears had come true we were going to be ripped off and possibly killed. Just then my wife leaned over and beeped my horn. I could not believe my eyes when six of the biggest, meanest looking bikers you have ever seen came walking out of the woods. All of a sudden those three men didn’t seem as large especially after Ferkie said it looks like you have the upper hand. For a split second I thought that I should teach this man a lesson and take him to the cleaners but I don’t live that way. So I told Ferkie to leave the money, take the gold and leave the area and do it fast! Ferkie looked over at the bikers and did just what I suggested. I never saw Ferkie again.

      Well I have to admit that being a player in such an adventure was exciting and dangerous. I hope that I don’t find myself in that position again, but the whole ordeal was definitely worth it because I now have the fortune I’ve always dreamed of and all it cost me was time served in a well and six brand new Harley Davidsons.  By the way, does any body want to buy some precious gems? 

© 2005 Richard Moylan, Jr. All Rights Reserved.