So now we’re gearing up to go find the treasure.

‘Where is it?’ I asked.

‘They dropped the cargo at Boat Basin, and moved it into the mountainous region a little Northwest of there, ’ Bubba replied.

‘Who’s land is it on’? I asked.

‘If it’s in the mountain area, it’s ours,’ Raven said. ‘That’s a tough trek to move cargo through.’

‘The information’s based on a diary found of one of the surviving seamen. It was his final entry. It says they took the cargo into the mountainous region’.

‘Well then,’ Raven replied. ‘That’s our land’.

‘Who do we have to talk to about us going to get the treasure?’ I asked.

‘Bill’.

‘Ah come on. Not Bill’?

‘Afraid so’.

‘He won’t let us do shit’.

‘He might if it’s in the council’s best interest. It’ll probably cost us though’.

‘Yeah, we’re going to need a plan if we’re dealing with Bill,’ I said. ‘We’re going to have to be shrewd. He’s pretty crafty’.

What we decided to do was just go up to him and offer the First Nations 25% of everything we found. Hit Bill with such a big number he’d have to take it back to the Council of the Chiefs. This would take some of the negotiating out of his hands, because Bill was a tough negotiator.

‘What is it?’ Bill asks.

‘Cargo,’Bubba replied.

‘Or treasure,’ I added.

Bill looks at Bubba and then me with this unaffected way he has. Kind of like we were two tree stumps.

‘10%’, he says.

‘That’s all you want?’ I asked. ‘We’re willing to give you 25%’.

‘That’s what you’re getting’.

‘What’?

‘10%. You wouldn’t get that much if we didn’t know you’.

‘Wait a second, Bill,’ I said. ‘That’s the whole thing. We’re just like family. I’ll tell you what, 50-50. What do you say? Look, we even have Raven with us. Really, we’re family’.

‘Raven’s a dumbass. 10%.

‘Bill,’ I said. ‘Did you miss the part of the conversation where I told you we hold all the information as to the whereabouts of this treasure’?

‘I didn’t miss the part where you told me you don’t even know if it is a treasure’.

‘You know, there’s government land down that way,’ I said. For all we know the treasure isn’t even on your land. Still we’re willing to cut you in. Like I say, we’re family’.

‘10%,’ Bill replied, ‘And that’s only if you don’t use any of our equipment to excavate it. Otherwise, the number changes’.

‘Why you...’ I jumped off the end-gate ready to give Bill a piece of my mind, but Bubba interrupted me.

‘Bill, we appreciate your offer. ‘The thing is, we need some money to pay for a music-related thing Ethan got us into’, he said. Bill looked over at me like he wasn’t surprised. ‘We have to come up with some cash fast. You’re aware I’ve been poking around in that area for a while now. I think there probably is hidden cargo somewhere by Boat Basin. Through the process of elimination, I know if it’s there, it’s Northwest. That’s about all I know though. We’re just hoping to find something with enough value to help pay for some of the expenses we have coming up’.

Bill looks at us warily. ‘That’s rough country out there. What do you know about that country’?

‘Not much,’ Bubba replied. ‘Just that it’s forest land’.

‘Turns mountainous too,’ Bill added, and he gave Raven a peculiar look, and Raven shrugged.

Bill thought about it for a minute and then decided to change the conversation.

‘A band hey?’ he says. ‘I heard about the band. When are you guys going to get it going? I don’t know if you know this, but I play the fiddle’.

‘Well, we have our instruments now, but no-one knows how to play them. If you want to come round and give us a few pointers you’re welcome,’ brown nosed Bubba, which I am strictly against in negotiations. It shows weakness.

‘How much do you need?’ Bill asks.

‘Maybe a hundred grand. Maybe more’.

Bill whistled. What the hell are you doing, Throwing a party’?

‘A festival,’ Andy blurted.

‘A festival,’ Bill replied. ‘You’re going to have a big festival on the commune’?

‘Raven says we can hold it on your land,’ Andy quickly replied, always ready to be the first to know something.

‘Oh did he?’ Bill says, looking at Raven.

‘I was going to talk to you about it,’ Raven said, looking down. ‘I just haven’t had a chance yet’.

‘Uh huh. Well boys, I’ll tell you what. I’m all in favor of this band thing. Why don’t you go see what you find? Raven, you go with them, and when you come back, and we know what it is, we’ll talk…

‘You know Bill,’ I interrupted. ‘That boat was from the early 1800’s. Bubba thinks it’s a merchant ship, I say it's a pirate ship.

‘Now, think for a minute if it is a pirate ship?’ I went on. ‘There might be a diamond bigger than the hope diamond buried out there. That’s what pirates do. They plunder gold and diamonds. We’re talking billions here Bill. The hope diamond; $300 million for that one diamond alone, and there’s probably a whole handful of them out there waiting for us to find. I think you should take the 50% and be happy with it. Don’t forget. We have the map’.

‘We don’t have a map,’ Bubba said.

Bill sat looking at me, like he was done talking.

‘Alright,’ I said. ‘See me walking here Bill? This is me walking away. Final offer, 50-50. Take it or leave it’.

‘Yeah, we’ll I’m late for a council meeting’, Bill says, and he jumps into the cab of his truck.

‘Your loss Bill,’ I shouted as he drove away.

‘What the hell’, Bubba says. ‘He was going to help us out’.

‘He was angling to steal our treasure. If we don’t get it, he doesn’t get it either. Once he realizes we’re not going to budge, he’ll come back. You just wait and see. He’ll be back. This is just one more of his negotiating tricks.

‘Because it’s a pirate’s treasure?’ Bubba says a little snarky.

‘That’s right’.

‘Just so you know,’ Bubba says. Pirating ended by the 18^th century. This ship we’re talking about showed up in the 19^th century’.

‘Well, I didn’t know that’.

I suppose if you look hard enough you can assign blame to anyone, and the guys were kind of pissed off at me for awhile, but I was just trying to get the best deal, now that I’m the unofficial leader of the band. What we ended up doing was we sent Raven to the council to formally request use of First Nations land for the festival, and also be allowed to search for the cargo with remuneration on their terms, and also to apologize for my behavior.

So, we’re sitting there waiting for the okay on everything from the Chief’s council, when Tasha comes into the shed one day.

‘I hear you guys are going to look for treasure?’ she says.

‘Treasure!’ I said, effecting surprise. ‘What gave you that idea?’

‘Paul’.

‘Paul?’ I said. ‘What does Paul know about anything?’.

‘I hear everything you guys talk about,’ Paul says from his workbench.

‘Yeah, well, be that as it may Tasha, maybe this is something that doesn’t have anything to do with you’.

‘I’m coming’.

Now see, this is what I didn’t want. I don’t know. I guess this was something I had in my head, but it was us five guys who had started the whole thing. The band. The search for treasure. I’ll just come out and say it, we had this sort of Bro thing going on.

‘You’re not coming with us’.

‘Yes, I am, and I’m joining the band too’.

‘No you’re not. The band’s already formed,’I said.

‘Oh yeah,’ Tasha says, slowly staring at each one of us, who quickly looked to the ground except for me.

‘Yeah,’ I said.

Tasha continues staring me down, and walks right up to me, right into my private space, and presses her chest against my chest, thinking that’ll back me up. Like I’ve never had women place their titties against my chest to try to back me up before.

I stood my ground. ‘We are not holding auditions for my band at this time,’ I said.

‘Wait a second,’ Bubba says. ‘Your band. Who said this was your band’?

‘Well, we haven’t discussed it yet, but I thought it was pretty obvious I’d be the leader. After all, I’m lead vocalist and lead guitarist,’ I said. ‘And don’t forget who got us our first gig’.

‘Tasha, do you mind if we talk this over for a minute’?

‘I guess,’ she says, still eyeballing me.

‘Ethan,’ Bubba says as we huddled into our little sidebar. ‘What’s going on with you? You’ve got us into this impossible situation with a festival. You’ve pissed off Bill. Now all of a sudden, you think you’re in charge of everything’.

‘Hey,’ I said. ‘All I know is I get things done, but I see what’s happening here. You’re challenging me for the position’.

‘No I’m not,’ Bubba says. ‘I want it run where we all have a say and vote on things, and don’t arrange huge festivals without talking with everyone first’.

To that, everyone else agreed with Bubba.

I guess I had been acting like a bit of a hammerhead lately. I do that sometimes. I like to take control of things, especially when I can look like a big shot and order people around. I think it’s something I haven’t let go of yet, from a past life.

‘Alright, what?’ I say.

‘I don’t know. Is it such a bad idea to let Tasha come?’ Bubba says. ‘This is tough terrain we’re going into. Anything could happen, and Tasha’s very resourceful. She damn near killed a boar. I wouldn’t mind having her along’.

‘Me too’, everyone else said in unison.

‘What if she goes loopy on us?’ I said.

‘We have at least two weeks before the full moon,’ Bubba says. ‘She’s fine’.

‘Well, it would be good to have her around if we get attacked by a bear or something,’ I admitted. ‘But what about letting her join the band?’

‘She should get a chance to try out at least. Doc says these aren’t just our instruments. Whoever wants to play and participate, gets to’.

‘Yeah,’ everyone else said.

‘Whatever,’ I said, so I go back to Tasha. ‘Okay Tasha, I accept your terms’.

‘I’ve given none’.

Nevertheless, you may accompany us on the treasure hunt, and try out for the band. No guarantees on the band, mind you’. Then to make it sound more officious, I said, ‘This is our final decree on the matter’.

We want this expedition underway, because we want to get back in time for Christmas which is only a few weeks away. We sent Raven over to talk with the Chiefs, but they hadn’t decided anything yet, so we all went over, with Tasha now, and talked with each of the Chiefs individually, and they said they’d call a special meeting in the morning to decide what to do. The meeting wasn’t too hard to arrange, as they meet for coffee every morning anyway.

We all attended the meeting so the Chiefs wouldn’t forget to hold it, and they decided pretty quickly, as we were cutting into their shooting the shit time. What they agreed on was basically the same thing Bill was going to offer in the first place. We can go look for treasure and if we find anything, we’ll get a cut, but they’re going to decide how much when and if we come up with anything. They’re also allowing us use of the land for the festival, and in addition, they’ll think about lending us some money if we don’t find treasure.

Still a little weak on the details for me, but everyone else seemed happy with the arrangement. As we were leaving, Chief Dan said, ‘Watch for Wild Eyed Jack, Raven. You mind him’.

‘What? Who’s Wild Eyed Jack?’ I asked.

‘You’ll see’. You’re going right into his territory. It might be harder to get at that treasure than you think’.

It turns out Wild Eyed Jack is this hermit type guy, and he lives in a cave out by Boats Basin. He, like many First Nations people, experienced the abuses of being brought up in the residential school system they had in place here in Canada. Now he doesn’t like to be around people. Raven says he always has a hunted look in his eyes, and therefore the moniker. The bottom line is he’s a bit wild, territorial, and dangerous if he doesn’t trust you.

‘Well, is he going to attack us or what?’ Bubba asks.

‘I don’t think so,’ Raven says. ‘I’ll go talk to him before we enter his territory’.

‘Have you ever talked with him before?’

‘Yeah. I think it will be okay’.

We decided to take one big tent that holds six people comfortably, even though Raven plans to sleep outside with no tent and act as a kind of a sentinel. ‘How are we going to hear anything coming if we’re all snoring away in a tent?’ he asks. Tasha will sleep in the big tent too, but she’s used to hearing us fart all the time.

We’re only taking Bowie knives. That’s the only protection the Chiefs are allowing us to take.

‘What if we get attacked by a bear?’ I asked. ‘We’re going to need at least one gun’.

‘If Raven can’t live peacefully with the animals, you shouldn’t be going,’ they replied.

‘We’ll be okay,’ Raven said.

So we’re heading off tomorrow at the break of dawn, and for the last couple of nights, we’ve been sleeping out in our tent to practice, and make sure we have everything we’ll need. There’s a lot of things people forget, like padding for when you’re sleeping on rocky ground and stuff like that. We set up next to the canteen.

We built a great big campfire right in front of the tent, roasted hot dogs on a stick, and told campfire stories. All the non-transients from the commune are coming to sit with us. These are the people who have made the commune their home and they’re all peace loving hippie types. I think I heard it said, they’ve come so they can channel their positive energy to us so we have a safe journey.

It’s pretty fun telling stories, especially with the hippies. The good thing about a hippie is you can tell them anything and they’ll believe it. They’re all into this, ‘everyone has their own reality’ thing. You can tell them you killed a moose with your bare hands and they’ll believe you. What better audience to have sitting around a campfire while you’re telling tall tales? The light from the fire glowing on your face, and all eyes on you. A lot of drama can come out of a good fire. Bubba tells a mean story.

We’ve also talked a lot about what we think we’re going to find out there. Bubba doesn’t think it will be anything. He figures it was probably a cargo ship filled with produce, and all we’ll find is a few casks of wine or something. The rest of us think it’s going to be treasure. We’re talking diamonds, gold coins, some of those tiara things women wear, all crusted with jewels. We figure it’s all hidden in one of the caves up there at the foot of the mountain. That’s where I’d hide a treasure.

‘You know guys,’ Raven says. ‘Now that you guys think we’re going to end up at the mountain, I feel I owe it to you to tell you the legend about it’.

‘Oh yeah, what’s that?’ I asked.

‘The legend is that’s where Sasquatch live, and Jack’s up there to protect us and them from each other’.

‘Sasquatch!’ Andy says. Sasquatch are as real to Andy, as werewolves are to Jason. As far as either is concerned, they exist. ‘No one mentioned anything about Sasquatches’.

To be truthful, all of us are, let's say, not entirely convinced Sasquatch do not exist. Living out there in the wilderness, you see things. The truth is, we’re living on its doorstep out here in the wild’s of BC if there is such a creature. It’s kind of like the monster under the bed. None of us are fully convinced it’s not there. Especially because the First Nation guys are always scaring the crap out of us with their Sasquatch stories.

‘You don’t think we’re going to run into a Sasquatch do you?’ Andy asked.

‘I’d say our chances are pretty good,’ Raven replied. ‘You’re planning on searching through their homes. Those caves are their settlement. That’s why Wild Eyed Jack’s up there. He's the protector of the covenant’.

‘The covenant!’ we all say. ‘What covenant?’

‘The covenant Aboriginal people all over the world have entered into with the Sasquatch. We protect them and they protect us’.

‘From what?’

‘From what?’ Raven replied incredulously. ‘We protect them from you. So called civilized man. 10 minutes with you guys and they’d all be hanging in your trophy room. You know, these creatures are at a very delicate time in their evolutionary development. They cannot be disturbed. They’re evolving into a superior being with abstract thinking just like we did. Aboriginals honor and are protecting the process’.

‘How come the chiefs are letting us go up there?’ Bubba asks.

‘They’re not. They’re giving us permission to meet with Jack. He will decide if we’ll go into the territory or not’.

‘Let me get this straight,’ I say. ‘You’re telling us there’s Sasquatch living in the foothills.

‘At the foot of the mountain, yes’.

‘And that’s where we’re going’?

‘Yes’.

‘Bullshit. You’re yanking our chains Raven’.

‘Well, I guess you’ll find out’.

‘Yes, we will,’ I say. ‘But let’s just say for a moment there are Sasquatches out there, would we be able to protect ourselves with Bowie Knives’?

‘From a Sasquatch?’ Raven laughed. ‘A silverback gorilla is the closest relative to a Sasquatch and it’s a third of its size. A silverback can pull your arm off and stab you with your Bowie knife if it wants to’.

‘I told you we need guns,’ I said, even though I didn’t fully believe in the Sasquatch.

‘That wouldn’t make any difference. Sasquatch are very intelligent. As big as they are, they’d be up on us before we even knew they were there,’ Raven said. ‘I doubt we’d get a chance to use a gun. It was wise of the Chiefs not to allow us to take guns’.

That set everyone to thinking.

‘Well, are these things going to kill us, or what?’ Andy finally bursts out.

‘No,’ Raven says. ‘Probably not. Sasquatch are generally the most peaceful, gentle creatures who ever walked the earth. They’re right in the middle of a huge time of self-discovery, and this has made them very sensitive and respectful to other forms of life. That plus they’re always on mushrooms. We think they’re using mushrooms to kind of catch a wave into an elevated state of consciousness. Whatever the reason, they’re totally chill’.

That made sense to Bubba, as this was his own practice, and in his opinion, it had served him well.

‘You said they probably won’t kill us,’ I said. ‘What do you mean by that’?

‘Well, that goes back to the beginning, when we entered the covenant. We alert the Sasquatch whenever someone’s approaching our territories where they live. In exchange, the Sasquatch makes us aware of any of their Mark-Stepper’s’.

‘What’s that now?’ I asked.

‘Mark-Steppers. The descendants of Cain. They have the cunning of the abstract mind, but act without conscience. They’re consciousness is neither human nor animal. They inhabit the Borderland. Other than humans, the only other known species to produce Mark-Steppers is Sasquatch.

‘Mark-Stepper Sasquatch are very dangerous. They usually start off as young males approaching maturity and wanting to challenge everything in sight. Because they’re so aggressive, they often win, and become the Alpha male. When this happens there is great disruption in the Sasquatch community. Many males can be killed off and the females are bullied and beaten. The Mark-Stepper tends to go rogue over the lands they inhabit as well, often attacking our communities.

‘We protect the Sasquatch from the brutality of the Mark-Steppers. To do this, they allow us to place one of our people near their settlement. Our guardian will kill the Mark-Stepper if it tries to descend into our settlements, or if it becomes too big of a problem for the Sasquatch community and they request we remove it.

‘In the legend, there is always someone like Jack standing guard against such a beast. He will kill it, and it’s mother too, if need be’.

‘It’s mother?’ I asked.

‘Yeah, it seems behind every Mark-Stepper, there’s a mother saying, ‘Not my baby? He could never be a monster and she fiercely protects it. When you try to kill her baby, she gets pissed, and you might have to kill her too’.

‘This is starting to sound like the epic poem Beowulf,’ Bubba who actually reads, said.

‘It is the story of Beowulf,’ Raven says. ‘Grendel was a Sasquatch’.

‘But that story was written only a few centuries after the death of Christ’.

‘Like I say,’ Raven answered. ‘Our covenant goes way back. Back to the original twelve tribes’.

‘Are there any mark-stepper’s in our caves?’ Andy asked, looking like he was about ready to shit himself.

‘I don’t know. Only Jack knows and maybe the Chiefs.

‘And you’re trusting someone by the name of ‘Wild Eyed Jack’ to protect you from such a monster?’ Bubba asks.

‘Yes. Jack is trapped in the Borderland due to his upbringing. It is there he will meet the Mark-Stepper and kill it before it can harm our lands’.

‘What makes you so sure someone who must obviously be fragile himself, can defend you’?

Jack carries the axe the Archangel Michael used to banish Satan to earth. He is well protected’.

‘Oh, so there’s a dragon in your legend too,’ said Bubba, who like I said, read Beowulf.

‘There is’.

‘Well?’ Bubba pressed.

‘The legends of our covenant tell of an evil not yet known to mankind. It lives in the bowels of the mountain. It is a serpent. It covets gold, treasure, and human lives’.