The Treasure of Ecarte Island

The Walk

         The next morning, Hilary Baugainvillea was up early, but not as early as both his parents. Gilbert was off to the winery to oversee the sorting of the harvest, a technical skill Hillary knew little of, but found extremely tedious all the same.
         His mother was at her own sorting task of mail and parcels at the lighthouse post office. A pot of hot coffee sat ready for him to take a cup. Hilary did so, preferring coffee over tea.
         There was no point in awaiting his uncle who had yet to leave the sleeping quarters Violet and Gilbert had arranged for him. 
          The meeting the previous evening had continued into the night, but only among Dietfried, Hilary, and Petrich.  Violet and Ellenora had seen Jenna home and Gilbert had gone to the observatory construction site where Casper had set up his own accommodations.
           Listening to his uncle converse with Petrich sometimes aggravated Hilary. It usually involved the business of celestial documents, which was, in Hilary's unspoken opinion, an archaic religion that held no real purpose  in the modern world. 
           Hilary held no issue with the birth and death celestial documents, but How?? how could the placement of stars hundreds of millions miles away hold the answers to who should marry whom? Or which kingdoms proved best allies?   
Yet, somehow, these contract documents held strong among the most powerful of houses.
           Tonight, however, the conversation had not yet ventured from the possible presence of Rextheia Crystal, which greatly interested Hilary.
           "For what it's worth," Petrich reached into a pocket of his vest and brought out three smooth stones, all of differing colors. He laid them on the table for Dietfried and Hilary to inspect. "These I had seen while in the north cave with Casper. I thought them pretty, but surely they are nothing more than quartz or feldspar. Very common. There was one more I had come across. No bigger than my smallest finger nail. It gave off a very soft greenish sheen with my lantern light on it."
            "And where is it?" asked Dietfried.
            Petrich grinned. "Well, Nora took a liking to it, and made it into a pendent she wears on a chain about her neck."
            "I saw her wearing no necklace," said Dietfried, who tended to notice such things.
             "Oh, well, it was most likely hidden beneath her blouse. I even forget it's there until she mentions it as being her talisman whenever something a bit out of the ordinary happens."
           This piqued Hilary's interest and he leaned closer. "Out of the ordinary?"
            "Well, when Nora began wearing the pendent, the mother of her bottle-fed lamb suddenly started producing ample milk. That sort of out of the ordinary."
             Dietfried chuckled. "I'm sure Ellenora was happy to not have to bottle feed it anymore."
             "No!" Petrich right out laughed. "She was offended that the ewe had waited to produce just as the lamb was becoming a much loved pet!"
              Their conversation quickly turned to the construction of the observatory and how Dietfried must take time to come to the site. Hilary left them to it and retired to the room he slept in as a child, still decked out in all of its nautical decor.  It was a far cry from the opulent quarters he had been occupying at his uncle's estate Koi House, a villa overlooking the port of Leiden.

               After his coffee and a bit of sweetened breakfast bread and butter, Hilary headed toward the lighthouse. 
               "Anything for Captain Baugainvillea?" Hilary asked, in as easy a tone as he could muster. He had noticed his mother was out of the office at the moment, which was to his advantage. The young man behind the partition was more likely to let him hand deliver Dietfried's sealed telegrams.  His mother, however, would have strictly prohibited such a thing, and had probably taught this policy to her underling. But Hilary bit the bullet and attempted it anyway.
             The young man, whose name tag read, R. Templeton, eyed him thoughtfully.
            "Ah! Well, if it isn't Hilary!" he greeted with a wide smile. "Haven't seen you since you left for the mainland to attend academy! It's been a while!"  R. Templeton, shuffled through the arrived sealed telegrams. "Your mother decided to deliver mail today. Sometimes she'll do that just to be outside.  Now, you know I can't even disclose if Captain Baugainvillea even has a telegram, but," He lifted a sealed note and slid it over the countertop to Hilary. "One arrived for you early this morning."
            "Oh? For me?" Hilary took up the telegram, thanked R. Templeton, whom he did not remember from his youth, then exited the post office.
            Once he was at a safe distance, Hilary broke the seal and read the telegram Daphne had sent to him personally.
It read:

Hilary-  You have been threatened by an unknown messenger at Borameer's masked ball. Be aware. Being an associate, I have been threatened, as well, but I am taking care.  Tell the captain at your own discretion. Daphne

Hilary stopped dead in his tracks, reading the telegram a second and third time.
He was running out of fingers and toes counting how many times Daphne had warned him about visiting the gambling parlors that Season.
"I hope you're better at cards than you are at waltzing." she had chided, to which he had merely rolled his eyes and reminded her in so many words that it was none of her concern.
But now it was her concern.
It was true that Hilary had recently gotten in over his head with the gambling, and with people who were not to be toyed with. He was, however, working himself out of the accumulated debt, but very much needed at least the next two social events (not to mention luck at the cards) to set it right.
And then his uncle had blindsided him with this impromptu trip to Ecarte Island without any explanation. Hence, the irritable mood Hilary had no talent at hiding very well.
There had been many, many instances throughout The Season that Daphne Piermont could have simply voiced her real concern of Hilary's gambling to his uncle. It was not as if he had specifically warned her against telling Dietfried. Apparently, she had understood the importance of letting Hilary learn from his own mistakes and try solving them himself. Hilary appreciated this. If he could pay back his accumulated gambling debt himself, then his pride could remain intact, and possibly divert his uncle from reconsidering Hilary's role as heir. If he could have only stayed on for the rest of The Season and continue at the cards. . .
Hilary continued walking, but not back to his parent's bungalow, but more along the beach. As a child, he spent lots of time here, either with the other local island children, or with Ellenora during her holidays from school. 
          There were many times he came to the beach to merely think. The crashing sound of the waves against the rocks and sand tended to open the flow of thoughts Hilary would have  not recognized anywhere else. 
           Today Hilary had a lot of thinking to do. Paying his debt just might be possible without revisiting the gambling tables. If he could just bring back just the tiniest piece of the rare Rextheia Crystal, the debt would be paid several thousand times over.
           But even if a piece could be found, letting it be known was the very thing his uncle had warned against.  Personally, Hilary thought Dietfried's caution a bit excessive. It wasn't as if Ecarte Island could not use more commercial appeal. 
            His father even brought up war over it all. War?? It all sounded a bit too heavy handed.  True these were people who had seen the destruction of the most recent war, but the fear of it happening again should not hinder the progress of an underdeveloped area. . .right?? Of course, right, his mind confirmed, know, how it lay hands on a piece of that crystal??
           As discussed the night before, there was already proof  that someone had already let the proverbial cat out of the bag. That someone was believed to be none other than Casper Bridges. He just might be one to consult to find more, but Hilary was not at all familiar with the man who had left the island before Hilary was even born. Given the events of the previous evening, Hilary just did not know where to place Casper Bridges in expectation.
          Of course, there was another option. . .
          Every child growing up on Ecarte had an interest in spelunking at one time or another, but when Hilary was only four years old, a local child of eight had entered into one of the beach caves, only to be found covered with land crabs three weeks later. 
           The horror of it seared into Hilary's memory and left him almost speluncaphobic. So, sourcing the crystal by just meandering about in a dark endless cave was simply out of the question.
          Hilary continued along the beach, pondering, keeping his eyes on the ground.  The sandy beach was beginning to give way to a beach of small rocks, many smooth and actually quite beautiful.
         Hilary stopped, toeing a smooth pebble the color of a rose wine. Last night Petrich Hollenburg had shown them pebbles he had found in the north cave. It was true those stones were of the common fare found anywhere.  Then he mentioned the small greenish stone Ellenora had fashioned into a necklace. She called it her talisman. . .
          It was an extreme long shot, the pendent of Ellenora's necklace being an actual Rextheia Crystal, but what if. . .
             Hilary began heading further north, toward the shepherd's cottage built into a hill.  It was about time he paid a visit to Ellenora Baudelaire-Hodgins.