As I was leafing through the pages of the journal, I noticed a slight bulge in the center. I turned to the spot and as I did a piece of folded paper fell out. The paper was almost as delicate as the pages of the journal. It was a letter addressed to Blackjack and the signature was, Thomas Jefferson Beale! "Hey", I said to myself, "I know that name"! Beale was the name on the map I had found in the Brisbee Cemetery, and I had read about a man named Beale many times.
Mr. Thomas Jefferson Beale, the story goes, buried a fabulously rich treasure in Bedford County, Virginia way back in the 1800's and had disappeared some years later without revealing its location. He had left three pieces of paper with a hotel proprietor, and these pages purported to tell everything concerning his venture, but they were written in some sort of code. The code on one page was later broken by a local bartender, but it told only of the treasure ... not where it was located.
Mr. Beale had very cleverly based his code on a system of numbering the first letter of each word of The Declaration Of Independence, and by using these numbers he was able to conceal a message that told of his fabulous treasure.
Well now ... this is strange! What does Beale have to do with an outlaw like Blackjack Boughton and why would he send him a letter?
The letter said:
"Blackie,
I have had to postpone my trip to Brisbee as my right-hand man, Shotgun Holcomb, has become seriously ill. We are stranded in Silverton, Colorado where there is a terrible flu epidemic. People are dropping dead all around us. I can only hope that I escape the pestilent scourge myself. You saved my life once and so I am asking that you please help me yet again with something to which I can trust no other. I have written the remainder of my message in code and will have its key delivered to you as soon as possible. This is to assure that the gravely important information will not be intercepted by the wrong parties and my life's work lost. I promise a very substantial reward to you for your help.
Your most grateful friend,
Thomas Jefferson Beale
On this 13th day of January, 1838"
Hum-m-m ..... an interesting date. This letter was written under the sign of the goat! I wonder if it was a Friday? That could have been very unlucky indeed!
There was a second page with a long list of numbers, but nothing to indicate what they meant. It was going to take some time and effort to figure this out!
