CHAPTER TWO

Dr.Tom sat at his table with a pipe in his hand when I arrived his office, he looked up abruptly and gave me a cursory look before saying anything.

Young lad, what brings you to my tent?

Doctor, I'm Jim from Treasures Inn and as I speak to you, a man is as good as dead there.

He brushed his moustache and sneered, what's a fine young lad like you doing in a place meant for base fellows? He asked.

Doctor, by the powers I've lived there with a man as noble as The Pope, I answered slightly irritated.

And whose this man whom you compare to The Pope? He asked rising and clenching his fist. I noticed for the first time that he was rangy and not a man of pleasant airs as doctors were wont to be.

By the powers, he's Kyle, a man of honour. I answered flinching backwards.

He looked me in the face and said, let's see who this man is, the dead man. I turned on one foot and walked out of his office, he followed closely behind then we mounted his stallion, it was a fine sturdy one.

On our way, we never said a word to each other and by the time we got to the inn, the man was feared dead.

The doctor looked at me and asked;

What happened here?

There was a fight, I answered; my uncle and this man had a fight, he killed him. I added.

I'm an officer of the law and I won't tolerate lies, the doctor warned eyeing me surreptitiously.

His body will be taken to the morgue but you and I have unsettled business. This man called Kyle must be arrested, the doctor took his leave.

I climbed the stairs to Kyle's room to retrieve the chest which he had told me about and I saw it placed defiantly on an old mattress stuck in between two weather-beaten boxes, a note was attached to the chest and I took it, it read " son, I have loved you all this while and by now I have to let you in some of my secrets. Tonight, they'd come for me for that chest's sake. The chest contains treasure. Seize it son, it's yours. My life is over and your's just begun. Make sure you don't spend a night there. You'd be dead before Dawn

Kyle ( Black Dog)".

I didn't need a clairvoyant to tell me that staying there spelled danger and the doctor was gone. He asked me to meet him up when I was done ransacking the house, the chest was locked with an iron key and there was no sign of the key around, I looked fazed for a moment. I seized a crowbar from the kitchen and with all my might altered the keys and the chest swung open.

There was nothing really interesting in it at first sight. There were some fine clothes neatly folded and placed on the top, I put them aside, then I found some gold coins, probably 500 pounds, I placed them in a bag but I sensed this wasn't the treasure he talked about. Then, I saw a sheaf of papers, I opened one of them and found out it was a map, I couldn't read maps but I knew I'd find a cartographer.

I heard it loud and clear, several horses approached the door of the inn, I smelled a rat, something was obviously in the offing which I was ignorant of.

Then, I heard a voice, small, distinct and precise.

Find Kyle, search the house. Find the boy, find the chest, stop humping around lads, Oh my eyes, by the powers, when I was a whole man, I wasn't scared of Kyle, by the powers...

I seized the crowbar once more and shattered the window to smithereens, there was a ladder there, then I took the bag of money and folded the map in crisp quarters and placed it in my pocket, I went through the window and let myself down to safety.