Treasure hunt.

Faulkner, John

THE FIRST OF THE TREASURE HUNTERS from town reached Little Chicago about three o'clock in the afternoon. They came in a pickup truck. There were three of them. The truck whirled onto the apron in front of Little Chicago and jerked to a stop. The three men jumped out, each with a digging tool in his hand, and rushed into the door of the frame building.

Frank was just inside the door leaning against the counter. He had heard the car coming at a high rate of speed but had not recognized the motor. He did not know who the men were.

"Where's the treasure?" one of the men shouted.

Mac, who owned Little Chicago, was behind the counter.

"What treasure is that?" he said.

"The one you fellows found out here this morning," the man said.

"Oh. That there one," Mac said. "Hit wasn't us fellers what found hit. Hit was Jones, there."

He pointed to a man leaning against the counter just below Frank.

"Where is it?" the man said, speaking to Jones.

"Why, hit's still where Jones found hit," Mac said.

"You mean he hasn't dug it up yet?" the man said, speaking to Mac.

"Well, he's been down here ever since he found hit and he ain't hardly got around to doing no digging yit."

"God-o-mighty," another of the men shouted. "It's still in the ground then. Where is it?"

"Hit's over to Jones' place where hit was," Mac said.

"How do you get there? Quick. Before the rest of them get here."

"Is they someone else coming?"

"Well yes. The whole town's right behind us."

"How did they know about hit? Us fellers never knowed hit til this morning."

"Everybody in town's been knowing about it since before noon. How do you get to Jones' place?"

"Why, hit ain't hard to find. You jest go back down the road you come about a mile or two to where you come to a side road that forks back over your left shoulder, sort of, and you lake hit til you come to where old man Lunsford's cow got caught in the wire that time and...."

"For Christ's sake we don't know anything about old man Lunsford's cow. Now...."

"Why, I thought ever'body knowed about old mini Jim Lunsford and how his cow got caught ..."

"We don't know him from anybody else's cow. How do you get there some other way?"

"Well, you kin cut straight through like Jones and them two niggers of hisn do, mostly."

"Where is straight through?"

Mac pointed out the window at a sedgefield across the road. It was beyond a high roadside bank with a barbed-wire fence on top of it. Beyond the field was a ridge covered with woods.

"Right there," Mac said, still pointing.

"Can we get through in a car? A pickup?"

"I don't know. I've never saw nair one try hit."

Just then the sound of a racing motor came from toward town. It sounded like there was more than one motor.

"Hell's fire," one of the men from the pickup shouted. "Here they come, Let's go."

He began running across the road with his digging tool in his hand. The other two followed. Mac and Frank watched them scramble up the bank, crawl through the fence and begin running across the field. Jones came up behind them and watched too. Two Negroes who had been squatting against the wall just inside the door, craned their heads against the wall just inside the door, craned their heads around the jamb and watched. They were Ex-Senator and Equator, neighbors of Jones'.

The cars coming from town could be more plainly heard now. They were getting closer. All the men in Little Chicago stopped looking at the men running across the field and began looking down the road toward the approaching sound. The men in the field were halfway across by now, still running.

Jones had not actually found a treasure that morning. He bad found a map. He poked it out of an old chimney down the road from where he lived. He poked up the chimney with a stick and a tin box fell out. The map was in the box. He did not know it was a map until Ex-Senator told him it was. Even then they did not know it was a treasure map until they brought it down to Little Chicago and Mac found the cross on it. Then they all knew an X on a map marked where a treasure had been buried. They had drunk some whiskey while they had talked about the map, then Mac tacked it on the wall for safekeeping so it would not be misplaced if someone wanted it later.

Toy had been in Little Chicago at the time. Frank had come in later and had been told about the map while they drank some more whiskey and ate sardines and crackers.

Toy had been there that morning with a log on his truck. He had a contract hauling logs from the bottom where they were cut to the logyard at the depot in town. He usually stopped by Little Chicago for a drink or two of the whiskey on his way to and from town and sometimes bought a pint or halfpint to last him til he got back. Whiskey was the main thing sold at Little Chicago.

Little Chicago was a one-room frame building built on the side of the road. It had a long counter down one side with shelves behind it. To one side in front was a Coca-Cola box. A jukebox set in the rear. The rest of the space was cleared for dancing. A block of ice was put in the Coca-Cola box each Saturday to keep drinks cool over the weekend. The rest of the time they simply sat in water. On the shelves behind the counter were several boxes of sardines and crackers and a card or two of sunglasses and pocket combs. The whiskey was kept under the counter.

Mac got his whiskey from John Cobb who operated a still down on the river. A man named George worked for Mac in helping him run the store and made regular trips to the river with a croker sack to bring back fresh supplies of drink. That's where he was now, gone to John Cobb's for another sack of whiskey.

By the time the oncoming cars from town were real close. They could be seen from the door of Little Chicago. One of the men in the first car saw the pickup in front of Mac's and recognized it. He pointed out the carwindow and shouted. The driver swerved in and parked beside the truck. The men in the car began jumping out.

"Where's the fellows that came in that?" one of them shouted, pointing at the pickup.

Mac pointed across the road toward the sedgefield. Before he had a chance to say a word the man whirled and looked the way he was pointing. He saw the three men just disappearing into the woods.

"There they go," he shouted and began running across the road. The others followed as fast as they could go.

More cars were coming in. The men in them, seeing the second group running across the road, jumped from their cars and run too. Several of the cars bumped together in stopping. One was left with its engine still running as the men jumped from it and began running across the road. One group got out of its car and left it standing in the middle of the highway. All had digging tools. Some of the tools were brand new and still had the price tags on them. They had been picked up on the way out of town.

Just then some of the boys from the pool hall drove up. They had come in a taxi. They all jumped out and began running across the road. One of them had a pool cue. Another had an empty cigar box he had found behind the counter. They were almost up to the bank to the fence when one turned and ran back to the taxi in the road. "Wait," he said to the driver, then mined and ran back to the others crawling through the fence.

Most of the men from town were out of sight in the woods beyond the sedgefield when Toy drove up in his truck. It was empty now. He had left his log in town. Two riders were in the cab with him. All three got out on the apron. One of the riders had a cant hook in his hand. Both riders were from the logyard in town. When Toy had hauled his log in after leaving Little Chicago that morning he had invited the two men from the yard to come back with him on the treasure hunt. One of them had been rolling a log. He had not put down his cant hook He had simply gotten in the cab with the hook still in his hand.

"What's all them trucks and cars doing here?" Toy said as soon as he got on the apron.

"Hit's fellers from town hunting Jones' treasure," Mac said.

"Well, I do know," Toy said. "I wonder how they knowed about hit."

"They said ever'body in town knowed about hit," Mac said.

"How did they find out?"

None of the men at Little Chicago knew how the men in town had heard about the treasure. Toy had told the man at the logyard and several people at the filling station where he stopped for lunch and to gas up but he did not know how the rest of them had found out.

No more cars seemed to be coming from town so the men on the apron went into the building. Once inside Toy bought a pint of whiskey for fifty cents and passed it to his friends and the others there. A little was left in the bottle and this was passed to Ex-Senator and Equator squatting beside the door. Mac set up the next round on the house. Just then George came in through the wall with the sack of whiskey from John Cobb's on his shoulder.

The walls of Little Chicago could be passed through at any point. They were composed of upright one-by-twelves, nailed lightly at the top and swung free at the bottom. You simply pushed a plank aside and stepped in or out.

George set the sack on the counter.

"Here's George back with a new supply of whiskey from down to John Cobb's," Mac said. "You fellers might taste hit and see ifen hit's up to standard."

The whiskey in the sack was in gallon jugs. Mac took one out and passed it around. Everyone thought it was up to John Cobb's standard.

Just then a voice was heard calling from out front.

"Poppuh, Poppuh," the voice said.

One of Toy's friends, the last one in who was against the counter nearest the door, leaned outward and looked toward the voice.

"Hit's some little niggers standing out there in the road," he said.

Ex-Senator and Equator craned their heads around the door and looked. One of the little Negroes saw them and said,

"Mommuh say, Come home."

"Tell Mommuh I be home toreckly," Ex-Senator or Equator said.

"She say, come home now."

"Whut she want?"

"Folks crawlin' und' de house."

"Whut dey doin' deah?"

"Huntin' treasuh, dey say. Done broke up de settin' hen nes'."

"Well, I declare," Toy said. "That's what us fellers come out here for, to find treasure. I had most forgot. Are you fellers about ready to go?" he said to Mac and the others in Little Chicago.

"I reckon so ifen Jones, there, is ready. Hit's hisn."

Jones was ready, however they did not leave at once. They took several more drinks and supplied themselves with a pint or two in case they ran out before they got back. Now they were ready to go.

When the men came from Little Chicago the little Negroes were still in the road waiting. When they saw Ex-Senator and Equator in the party they went ahead looking back over their shoulders.

It was almost dark when the group got in sight of Equator's house which was first in line beyond the woods. Next to him, only a short distance away, was Ex-Senator's. Farther on down the ridge was where Jones lived.

The first thing they saw as they drew closer was Padding, Equator's wife, standing in the yard with several children about her. They were smaller than the ones who had come to Little Chicago. One of the children spied Equator.

"Deah Poppuh," he said.

Pudding turned.

"Wheah you been?" she said.

"Comin'," Equator said.

"I sont fuh you," Pudding said.

"I heah," Equator said. Then, "What you doin' out heah? Why aint you got de chilluns in de house and you in deah wid 'em wheah you belongs wid awl dis goin' awn?"

The treasure hunters were over at Ex-Senator's now. They had just moved over there. They had flashlights and lanterns and all of them were on.

"White man come searchin' in my bed wid a light," Pudding said.

"What is he searchin' fuh?"

"Treasuh."

"Search our bed too," one of the children said. "An' und' hit."

Just then Georgia Belle, Ex-Senator's wife, came running out of her house with several of her children behind her. They were all screaming. Now those in the yard could see lights moving about in the windows of Ex-Senator's house. One light was moving under Ex-Senator's house. Georgia Belle and her children ran up to where Pudding and her children were standing and stopped screaming. Everyone watched the lights moving in and under Ex-Senator's house.

All at once the flashlight under Ex-Senator's house focused on a dog. The dog was in a dust wallow. It had been asleep. Now it raised its head above the rim of the wallow and looked at the light.

"Hey, fellows," the man with the light focused on the dog called. "They's a dog up under here in a great big hole in the ground."

"What's he doing?" a man from the yard called.

"He's just sitting there," the man under the house said.

"It's the treasure hole," the man in the yard said. "He's guarding it."

Several men in the yard were now on their hands and knees at the edge of the house peering at the dog in the dust wallow.

"Don't lose him," one of the men said to the man with the flashlight. "It's the treasure alright." He called to the rest of the men in and about the house. "Louis, up under the house, has found it, fellows. Come a-running."

All of the treasure hunters came running and got down on their hands and knees and peered up under the house.

"Keep shining his eyes so he wont go away," one of the men called to Louie. "We don't want to lose it now."

Some of the men began crawling under the house where Louis was. Others moved closer in and took their places at the edge of the house.

"Damn if he aint got it alright," one of the men who had crawled in behind Louis called over his shoulder to those behind him. "Look at his eyes a-shining."

All the men believed by the way the dog's eyes were shining he was bound to be guarding a treasure.

"Just look at him," one of them said. "They must be a million in it."

"Just look how steady he's setting there," another said. "He's sure guarding it, aint he?"

Actually the dog could not move. He was not guarding anything. The flashlight in his eyes blinded him and he could not see where to go.

Now most of the men from town were under the house crowding in behind Louie.

"How are we going to get him aside so's we can get to it?" one of the men said.

"Wave your light at him, Louie, and see if it will make him move aside."

None of the men cared to move in on a dog whose eyes shined the way those of the dog under the home did, especially one so steadfastly guarding a treasure as he was.

Louie waved his light. The dog did not move. The waving light was worse than the steady one had been. The man with the pool cue was up under the home now. One of the other men spotted him.

"Here. Let me have that," he said, reaching out for the cue.

"They aint no once else going to touch my cue," the pool hall man said. "It's my personal cue and I don't allow no one else to touch it."

"You poke the dog out of that hole then," the man said.

The pool hall man moved forward and began poking at the dog with his cue.

"Dey pokin' sticks at Poochie," one of Ex-Senator's children said.

"Hush," Ex-Senator said.

Blinded by the light as he was the dog could make out the end of the pool cue waving before his face. He stretched out his head and took the end of the cue in his mouth. The pool hall man released his hold on the stick as quick as he could and moved back several feet.

"Look," he said. "The son of a bitch took it away from me."

"Go get it back," the man beside him said.

"You go get it back," the pool hall man said.

Now the dog moved up out of the hollow and tried to bring the stick back to the man. It was like a game he played with Ex-Senator's and Equator's children. Though he still, could not see beyond the light he knew someone out there had had hold of the other end of the cue. He tried to bring it to him.

"Hey. He's coming after us," one of the men behind Louie said.

They all began backing out from under the home, trying to get away from the dog with the stick in his mouth. They backed clear out from under the house. The dog followed them. With the flashlight no longer steadily in his face he was beginning to see. The men, all clear of the house, rose to their feet and formed a half circle around the dog. Now the dog did not know which one to take the stick to. He stood there with it in his mouth, wagging his tail.

"Look at him twitching his tail," a man said. "He's fixing to charge."

Now Ex-Senator did not know what a pool cue was, however he did know that what Poochie had in his mouth belonged to one of the men in the circle about him. He had seen Poochie take it away from the man.

"Make `im gi' de mini back his stick," he said to one of the children.

"Poochie," the child called.

Immediately Poochie started toward the little Negro with the pool cue in his mouth.

"Hey," the pool man said. "He's fixing to give my pool cue to one of them niggers. You put that cue down," he said to Poochie.

The pool man spoke too late. Poochie had already given the cue to one of Ex-Senator's children.

"Drop hit quick," Ex-Senator said to the child.

The little Negro dropped the pool cue and all the Negroes moved back several paces. The pool man ran across the yard and picked the cue up.

"Don't you niggers never try nothing like that again," he said and moved back to where the rest of the men still stood beside the house.

In the meantime one or two of the hunters had gone on down the ridge and discovered Jones' house.

"Hey, fellows," they called. "Here's another house."

"Dat Mist' Jones' house," Ex-Senator said.

"Jones?" a man said. "He's the fellow what found the treasure, aint he?"

"Sure," another one said. "That's his name. I remember now. Come on. We been looking in the wrong place all the time."

The men from town all began running down the ridge toward Jones' house. They no longer believed the treasure to be in the dust wallow. They were sure it was in the home of the man who had found it.

The men from Little Chicago and Ex-Senator and Equator and their families moved on down the ridge behind the running men from town.

When they got to Jones' the men were all over the place. Some were running about the yard to find a good place to dig. One or two had gone on to the barn behind the house. Several were inside and one was on the roof. He was the man from the pool hall with his cue in one hand.

One of the first to enter the house ran in the room where Clytie, Jones' wife, was asleep in the bed. She was under several quilts with a boudoir cap on. When the man shined his light in her eyes she raised her head from the pillow and looked at him.

"It's a white woman," the man said to one just behind him.

"It must be a white man lives here then," the man behind him said. "We are getting warmer now. We ought to have known better than to expect to find much of anything at a nigger's house."

"We are warm alright," the first man said. "They aint no doubt about it."

All of the men believed they were getting warmer now. They began looking through Jones' house as hard as they could. They searched the room, moving the bed away from the wall so they could look trader it. Clytie screamed then pulled the covers over her head. One man ran in the door and began chopping a hole in the floor with an axe. Two men got on their hands and knees and looked in the fireplace.

"What's in there?" a third said, peering over their shoulders.

"They's a wall in back there," one of the men in the fireplace said.

"Knock it out," the man behind him said. "Walls is always good places to hide things."

"Hand me something to knock with."

An axe was handed him and he knocked the back of Jones' chimney out. They all peered through the hole he had knocked.

"Well, they aint nothing out there but outdoors," the man in the fireplace said.

"It aint out there then," one of the men behind said. "Anybody would be too smart to hide something out in the open."

Just then they heard the pool man up on the roof. He was tearing off shingles and pieces were sifting down into the room. Soon he had a hole big enough to ran his cue through. He began swinging it back and forth to make the hole bigger. At last he had a hole big enough to look down into the room through.

"It's a room," he said. Then he saw some of the men. "What are you fellows doing down there?"

"Where are you?" they said.

"I'm up here on the roof," the pool man said.

"You might as well come on down," one of the men in the room said. "They aint nothing likely to be up there. It would be too plainer sight. It's more likely to be down here where tm fellows are hunting."

The pool man came down from the roof. Several men came in from the barn. They had found nothing there. Those in the yard had come to a rest after digging six or eight holes in the ground. Several more holes had been chopped in the floor and they had knocked out the back of Jones' other chimney. No one had found anything.

"Hell, let's quit," one of the men who had been digging in the yard said. "I'm plumb worn out. Treasure just aint worth what I've been going through."

Nearly all the men were ready to quit. They had chopped and dug and ran about until they were all worn to a frazzle. They collected at the front steps to see what to do next. The men from Little Chicago and Jones and the Negroes were in a group aside in the yard. They were waiting to see what next move the men from town would make. One of the men said to the Little Chicago group,

"Is there another place around here we haven't looked yet?"

"Well, they's a old place down the road apiece," Mac said.

"Is they a house on it?"

"Well, no. They aint rightly no house there. Jest two old chimbleys still a-standing where a old house treed to be."

"Chimneys aint no good," one of the men who had knocked out Jones' chimney said. "We done tried them."

"Well, it looks like we have about done all we can for the time being, men," another of the men from town said. "We might just as well be getting on back home so's we can get what sleep we can before the rest of the night is over too."

All the men from town decided to go home and get what sleep they could.

"I just sort of hate to go home empty-handed after having gone to all the trouble of coming out here," one man said.

"I aint empty-handed now but I sure aim to be," another said. He was one of the ones who had stopped by on his way to buy a digging tool. It was a pick with the price tag still on it. "I sure don't aim to lug this son of a bitch all the way hack to town."

So saying he pitched the pick over in some bushes. Several more pitched their tools away. They all began moving down the ridge toward Little Chicago where they had left their cars. The group from Little Chicago was left in the yard.

"Are we going to try a little looking about?" one of Toy's friends said.

"I don't see no use," Toy said. "Ifen them fellers couldn't locate nothing with all them lanterns and flashlights they had I don't see how us fellers could do no big lot of good with what few matches we got."

Actually they had no matches at all. None of them smoked and they seldom carried matches to light anything with.

As they stood there they heard the first of the cars cranking up and leaving the parking lot. Soon others followed. After awhile there were none left. The countryside became quiet. All the men had gone back to town.

"Well, ifen we aint going to be doing nothing else we might jest as welst to be getting on back to my place," Mac said.

All those about him were willing to get on back to Mac's place. Pudding and Georgia Bell and their children were left in the yard. Clytie was still in the house with the covers over her head. Georgia Belle and Pudding took their children home. The men from Little Chicago walked through the woods towards the roadhouse across the ridge.