Elusive Hope

Elusive Hope by MaryLu Tyndall Page A

Book: Elusive Hope by MaryLu Tyndall Read Free Book Online
Authors: MaryLu Tyndall
Tags: Fiction, Romance, Christian
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their way.
    “We’ll catch up,” Blake said before he faced James and whispered, “And Eliza saw her dead husband.”
    Heart tightening in his chest, James gazed up at the knotted canopy. “What is going on?”
    “You’re the preacher. I figured I’d ask you.”
    James wouldn’t tell him he was no better preacher than he was a doctor. “You think this is something spiritual?”
    “What else could it be?”
    Planting the barrel of his musket in the dirt, James leaned on the butt. “When we stood on the beach right before we entered the jungle, you said you felt something strange. I’ve felt the same thing since we arrived. A heaviness. Something oppressive…dark.”
    “Indeed.” The lines on Blake’s forehead deepened as he squeezed the bridge of his nose. “And Eliza has sensed the same.”
    A lizard scrambled up a tree trunk. Sunlight shimmered a rainbow of colors on its slick skin as it stared at James with one eye. “Perhaps this ancient temple will give us some answers.”
    But all the temple did was cause James’s stomach to convulse. While Thiago stood guard at the entrance, refusing to enter, and Dodd, with a glimmer in his eyes, went in search of gold, sounds from within the building drew Blake, James, and the rest up the stairs and through the front porch.
    James covered his nose against an unidentifiable stench as they passed broken tables, chairs, pottery, and a steaming pool of water on their way to the back of the large open room. A glimmer drew his gaze to a golden crescent moon and stars embedded in the back wall above a stone altar. To their left, the sounds of digging and a man’s grunt lured them through an opening into a tunnel that led downward to the distant flicker of a torch. Bracing against stone walls on either side, James groped his way over the uneven ground. By the grunts and moans coming from in front and behind, the others seemed to be having the same trouble keeping firm footing.
    Finally they reached stairs that descended with ease to a place where the tunnel widened. Two lit torches hung on the wall. A pile of rocks and dirt sat off to the side.
    Graves emerged from a hole to their left, a shovel full of pebbles in his hand. At least James thought it was Graves. His normally stylish shirt was torn. Sweat-caked mud splattered over his arms and face. Dust speckled his waistcoat and grayed his black hair, making him look older than his nearly thirty years. James had never seen the posh politician so out of sorts. Nor had he ever seen him smile.
    “Ah, you’ve come to see for yourselves.” Torchlight glimmered over rows of white teeth that stood out against his filthy face.
    “See what? What are you doing down here?” James asked, wiping sweat from his neck. “It’s hot as Hades.”
    “Digging.” Tossing the pebbles onto a pile, Graves set down his shovel—the one that had been missing from camp for days.
    “For what?” Mr. Lewis finally caught up to them, the smell of alcohol following the old carpenter in his wake. “Gold?”
    Graves snorted and ran a finger over his once cultured mustache that now hung in muddy strands. “Nothing so meager. I assure you.” He leaned toward them, his tone spiked with glee. “Can you feel it? Can you hear it?”
    All James felt were a thousand invisible spiders crawling on his skin.
    “I don’t hear anything,” the colonel said.
    Graves gave an exaggerated sigh before his brows lifted and he held up a finger. “Shh.”
    Nothing but the drip of water and the moan of wind sounded through the dank tunnel.
    “There! Did you hear them?” Graves said.
    James shook his head. Colonel Blake crossed his arms over his chest. They shared a look of agreement that the man had gone mad.
    “You still can’t hear them?” Disgust weighted his voice as Graves’s thick eyebrows dipped together. “Of course not.” He waved a grimy, bruised hand through the air. “Go back to your farming, gentleman. I will find them. I will dig them

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