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They all were sat on logs around a fire. Estrella had her legs over one another as her hands laid in her lap.
"Hey, guys. So, like, my dad's already gonna kill me. So what's this mandatory meeting about?" Pope says
"Might as well tell him, man, before we're gaffed." JJ says. Estrella raises her brows as she looks to John B.
"You ready for this?"
"Yeah."
"So, the gold never went down with the Royal Merchant."
"Oh, my God. Here we go again with this." Pope sighs looking to Estrella
"No. All right, wait. Hear him out, all right?"
"It's been here the whole time. It's on the island."
"Seriously?" Estrella says
"Oh, my God." Kie chuckles
"I'd like to voice my skepticism."
"I'm sure you would, Pope, but can I please present you with my evidence, sir?"
"Proceed." Pope says waving his hand out
"All right. So, in my backpack, I have a letter from Denmark Tanny."
"Who the hell's that?" Kie says
"Denmark Tanny was a slave that survived the Royal Merchant wreck. Check this out."
"What?"
"Here you go." John B says handing Kie the letter
"Okay, slaves weren't mentioned as crew members on the ship, but my dad, he found the complete manifest. That was his big discovery. So, Tanny used the gold from the Merchant to buy his freedom."
Kie reaches over and hands the letter to Estrella.
"After that, he bought his farm. Drumroll, please, because that farm is..." The teens smack their hands against their legs, "Tannyhill Plantation."
"Tannyhill?" Kie says as Estrella hands Pope the letter. Pope immediately takes out a flashlight to look over the letter.
"Yeah. So, after that, he used his money to free even more slaves, and then he sold a shit-ton of rice, which pisses off all the white planters, and then they decide to lynch him."
"So on the day they were coming to get him, he writes a letter to his son as a farewell, and in the last line of that letter, he leaves a coded message about where to find the gold."
"Where?" Estrella says
"Harvest the wheat in parcel nine, near the water. Except... there's no wheat. You see, wheat is code for gold. Check this out." He says walking over to Pope, "The gold is in parcel nine, near the water."
