(3:27 pm Thu Nov 11, 2010)
[ Tue Nov 09, 2010 - morning ]
*** Wreck ***
So here we are again gentle reader, a day after the day of no development. No novel and novelling time are really out of sync, do I have any chance of pulling things back together. I may need to start putting novel time in the text to help me keep things straight.
This whole thing is liable to become a wreak if I don't take some corrective action...
"Caesar," said Zevelyn, "Interesting. Very interesting perhaps."
"What is it?" asked Stan.
"Well, it could tell us how to read the messages. As Suetonius describes it, Caesar used a certain shift cipher when wanting to communicate securely. He would substitute a letter with the one three after it so that a would be replaced by d and h would be replaced by k and so on. It would wrap around so that x would be replaced by a and so on as well," replied Zevelyn.
For you information, gentle reader, you can read about it here:
http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/6386/pg6386.txt
Search for "as d for a" to get to the general location.
everyone went silint for a minute looking a bit stunned. Slowly, smiles appeared on every face. There where a few whoops and yee haws.
"Let's try it then!" said Baldy.
"Alright, let's see," said Zevelyn, "Yv yj'i jhuqikhu jxqj oek iuua." Y becomes V and V becomes S. So Vs, that is not a word. Lets go a bit further."
It took them a while gentle reader but eventually they had written the following on the blacktop road with a chalky limestone rock:
Vs vg'f gernfher gung lbh frrx.
They discussed it for a while but didn't think it looked like any language they had ever seen.
And so their hopes were dashed. Wreaked as it were on the reefs of disappointment and growing despair
(3:57 pm Thu Nov 11, 2010)
Oops, I haven't figured out when we are in novel time yet have I? Well, now I have. I have gone back and inserted Novel times in square brackets to go along with the recording of novelling times in regular brackets.
(6:32 pm Thu Nov 11, 2010)
At what cost though. At what temporal cost.
*** Fort ***
Fort. Yes, well, there are a number of old forts or fort like structures around the island of New Providence.
Fort Nassau - not here anymore. Supposed to have been somewhere around here though:
http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=25.07888,-77.347462&spn=0.002871,0.003664&t=h&z=18
Fort Montagu - a small fort east of the town of Nassau. Try here:
http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=25.07369,-77.306671&spn=0.002872,0.003664&t=h&z=18
Fort Charlotte - Let's say this is the largest for on the island. Look here:
http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=25.076897,-77.358727&spn=0.002872,0.003664&t=h&z=18
As you know gentle reader, this is basically where Baldy went with his buds for practice.
Fort Fincastle - Overlooks the town of Nassau. Interesting ships bow type design. Try here:
http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=25.073574,-77.338396&spn=0.002872,0.003664&t=h&z=18
Fort Winton - A small battery near the eastern end of the island. Check this link:
http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=25.046128,-77.269002&spn=0.002872,0.003664&t=h&z=18
Potter's Cay Battery - small batter at the eastern end of Potter's Cay. Try here:
http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=25.076508,-77.318312&spn=0.002872,0.003664&t=h&z=18
When I was young, there was a little cay to the west of Potter's Cay. In the bushes there was some stone works. A wall / pit type thing if I recall correctly. I think there may have been a cannon there too but my memory is fuzzy. Went there in a dingy for camp breakfast with my cousin and a friend.
Then there is Blackbeard's Tower which we have mentioned and linked to earlier. Please refer back if you wish.
You can read more and find out about a few I have not mentioned at this link:
http://www.bahamas.gov.bs/bahamasweb/VisitingTheBahamas.nsf/Subjects/Historical+Forts
Some intresting old photos of the forts can be found here:
http://www.oldbahamas.com/id9.html
(7:37 pm Thu Nov 11, 2010)
What a bummer. Caesar did not come through with the important information relating to the supposed treasure. What to do. A dead end for Baldy and crew. Should they go home? Go out on some pointless random search? Take the day off and chill?
Zevelyn came up with an idea. "Baldy, why don't you go back up to the tower and see if you can find any other clues. Look especially for the words wisdom, treasure, or Caesar and if you find them, make notes of where they are and anything that is nearby."
"Do you think that might help?" asked Baldy.
"I don't know, but I don't see how it could hurt," replied the owl.
Baldy thought this over for a minute or two and decided Zevelyn was right. How could it hurt. Then he had a flash and expanded on the idea. He would round up a pack from his block and take them with him to look and to raid that pack that took his stuff on the way back. One problem would be what to tell them. He was not sure how many ways he wanted to split the treasure when he found it until he saw how big it was.
So they went home and spent the rest of the day getting their pack together.
[ Tue Nov 09, 2010 - night ]
(8:13 pm Thu Nov 11, 2010)
*** Doubloon ***
Interesting how this word comes up now isn't it gentle reader? Very interesting indeed.
So a doubloon is an old time gold coin that was used in Spain and Spain's New World interests. Also known as Spanish America. And let's just say gentle reader that these interests were extensive. Let's just say that when those lines got drawn in 1493 and 1494, Spain got the lion's share of the New World on their side of the line.
Now you may not know this gentle reader, but it is called the New World because it was built at a later date than the Old World. I know it sounds a bit strange. All these years you have probably been thinking that the whole world was built all at the same time. Far from it. You see, while the world was being built there were some problems with getting complete building permits from the department of lands and surveys and also there was as shortage of materials due to a fire at the warehouse at the building supply / lumber yard. As a result, the work stopped after the Old World was completed and things just sort of sat around for a long time. Finally, there was an election and a new government came in and put in some new cabinet ministers and things started moving on the building permits side of things and the New World finally got built.
(8:31 pm Thu Nov 11, 2010)
[ Wed Nov 10, 2010 - morning ]
Baldy and his pack headed east to the tower early in the morning. It was a dangerous trek as the cars were flying west on the eastern road with people trying to get to work before the bumper to bumper traffic built up.
"OK guys, we need to sneak in without being seen. Everyone keep quite."
So they all went up the hill and sneaked onto the tower property. They formed up by the door.
"OK guys, remember, we need to look for the words wisdom, treasure, or Caesar. Let's check the walls, the floors, the rocks outside, perhaps even the trees, especially any that look old. I don't have much hope but you never know, we may get lucky."
Over halfway to 50,000 gentle reader. This calls for a celebration. Unfortunately, I am struggling today and have not reached two thousand yet and will have to put off the party until later.
(8:46 pm Thu Nov 11, 2010) 25665
*** Gold ***
Gold. Golden. Golder dreams. Golden slumbers. And of course, gold doubloons. Where would we be in this story without gold doubloons. Fool's gold. Gems. Treasure. Pirates.
Well, they looked gentle reader. The problem was that so many later visitors had decided to scratch in their Kilroy's that there was little hope of finding some scratchings from that long ago. I mean say 1716 to 1718 or almost three hundred years ago now. That is a long time for something to go unblemished.
(9:17 pm Thu Nov 11, 2010)
And time keeps slipping away all day.
[ Wed Nov 10, 2010 - afternoon ]
Although they knew there was little chance of finding anything, they were nothing if not persistent. At about two in the afternoon, Stan called to Baldy, "Hey boss, take a look here for a second will you."
"Hey Stan, what is it."
"Well, look right here and tell me what you see. It's very faint but I think you can make it out."
"Julius, Tiberius," read Baldy.
"Right and tell me who they were," said Stan.
"Stan! You are the man! You know who they were. So we may have been on the right track. Sweet."
They decided that they had covered just about everywhere they could for the day and that it was time to head out for the second phase of their plans. They headed west with Stan in the lead.
They adjusted their plans on they way after Cooper had a bit of a bright idea. Everyone held back and let Baldy enter the seedy part of town on his own.
"Hey! You come around here again? Did you bring us any more goodies today?" taunted Prince.
"Yeah! We really liked that your brought the last time the rest of the pack chimed in."
Baldy smiled, he noticed they were all wearing doubloons on their new collars. It was a funny thing how pot cakes liked to roam free and easy but as soon as their number dropped or they got adopted or came into a little something in any way they ran right out and got themselves a new collar.
"Nah, I just came to give you all a chance to give me my stuff back," said Baldy in a low, cool voice.
The pack started laughing and herding Balto towards the same wash house where they had mugged him previously.
"Now Stan!" called Baldy.
Well, I am packing it in for the night now gentle reader. Sweet dreams. Until then.
[ Wed Nov 10, 2010 - afternoon ]
(10:02 pm Thu Nov 11, 2010) 26102
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