Man rescued from quicksand in Zion NP

I ran across an article about a man rescued from quicksand in Zion National Park. Although he wasn't hiking in the Narrows, he was hiking a similar hike known as the Subway. Although some readers think that experience in the book was fictional, it was actually based on my own foray into quicksand in the aftermath of the flood. Here is the link.

Recent Flash Flood in the Narrows

I just saw a news article on a recent flash flood in the Narrows. Luckily, it was mainly water or the results could have turned out much different, but a group of hikers formed a human chain to help everyone get out. Here is a link to the article with the accompanying video: https://www.ksl.com/?sid=45282380&nid=148&title=man-recalls-narrows-flash-flood-caught-on-video

The Case of Buried Treasure Chapter 9

     The mystery comes to another "happily ever after" style ending, with the thieves safely in jail, the stolen loot returned (of course the police were able to track down all the victims of the pickpockets and return their stolen goods to them), and the DTB Cousins receiving a bonus for their efforts - tickets to Scotland where they would become involved in the Loch Ness Monster Mystery. Although we had the foresight to set up the next adventure, it never got written. After writing four books, without any of them getting published, I guess we kind of got a little discouraged. We started a few other partial stories, but this was our last complete one until The Narrows Escape. I hope you've enjoyed reading the story:

Chapter IX - The End of Another Mystery

The DTB Cousins made their way over to the old mansion with Cheif Harper. On the way, Troy asked, "Where do we look for the money?"

Brad was thinking of the same thing.

"Don't worry," said Darin. "When I was tied up they said something like having money hidden somewhere in that main cavern."

"It must be all that lute that was the money they were talking about."

They opened the trapdoor and went down the steps. They came to the main cavern and everyone started searching for places where the money could be hidden.

Finally, Brad got kind of worn out and leaned against a stalagmite to rest a little. It triggered part of the rock wall to slide open and inside was a safe.

Cheif Harper took out some equiptment to open safes and in no time they had the money.

They went back to the police station and Chief Harper had his men return the money to its owners. The chief gave the DTB Cousins three free tickets to Scottland for an extra treat for solving the case and then they went home to tell their moms and dads.

A couple of days later they decided that they would use those tunnels and caves and put their private office down in there. They bought a lot of nice new equiptment to go in their office with the treasure money.

The End

The Case of Buried Treasure Chapter 8

I'm not sure why we thought that the treasure should belong to the government. In fact we never figured out a back story - where the treasure came from, how it got there, who buried it and made the map. Actually, we never planned out our stories at all. We just took turns writing whatever popped into our minds as we wrote. The interesting thing is that with three different authors taking turns writing, the story often went off in different directions. It is surprising that they had any cohesiveness at all. Enjoy!

Chapter VIII - The Explanation

The DTB Cousins were back in the police station with the treasure.

"How did you know that there was a treasure down there and how did you find out how to get down there?" asked Chief Harper in astonishment.

"Oh," said Brad. "I'll start from the beginning and tell you the whole story. We went over to the old mansion yesterday to see if we could find something because you said that if you found something in there you could keep it. When I was looking in the attic, I found a treasure map concealed in a secret panel in a chest along with a few other papers which I think are documents.

"Oh that reminds me. Here are the papers. Anyway I heard a yell for help so I ran down the stairs to see what had happened. When I got down, I found Troy there but no sign of Darin except for his pocket camera which was lying on the floor. It didn't take me very long to figure out what had happened. Troy and I began looking for clues. I found a trail of torn notebook paper leading to a closet and Troy just happened to stumble upon the trapdoor."

"That's fantastic boys. We have been looking for this treasure for years, but all our searches were fruitless. Finally we gave up. These papers say the treasure belongs to the government to spend how they want. I guess part of it rightly belongs to you fellows," said Cheif Harper.

"Thanks a lot!" chimed the DTB Cousins.

"I guess those crooks were lookings for the treasure also," said Cheif Harper.

"No," said Darin. "They didn't even know about the treasure until they saw the map. They were pickpocketers who had found a torn peice of the map that showed the secret entrance. When they investigated it, they discovered it was the perfect hidout. I found this out while I was captured."

"Heah, let's go recover their stolen loot," said Brad.

The Case of Buried Treasure Chapter 7

     The DTB Cousins' relationship with the police was patterned after the relationship that the Hardy Boys had with the local police. We were young and naive enough not to realize that real police officers probably wouldn't give much credence to what a few ten-year old boys had to say if they called up the station asking for "backup." Of course, the DTB Cousins didn't just have a connection on the local police force, they were on a first name basis with the police chief himself. Chief Harper appears in most (if not all) of the original DTB mysteries we wrote. He was loosely based on Ron Harper, a friend of my parents who was a real police chief. Of course, he had no idea that he played such a crucial role in these literary masterpieces. Enjoy.

Chapter VII - Arrested

"We're lucky they left the equiptment," said Troy.

"Yeah, but they took the map," said Brad.

"They are probably looking for that treasure right now," said Darin.

"Don't think about that," said Brad. "We got to be thinking of how to escape."

They thought hard. Finally Troy came up with a great idea.

Brad was tied to a weaker one. He shoved against it as hard as he could. He tried again and finally the stump of it broke. Brad could walk around but their was still a stalagmite tied on his back. He waddled over to the shovel. Then he rubbed the rope that tied his hands on the sharp tip of the shovel. Finally the rope snapped.

Then he ran over and untied Troy and Darin.

"I better radio Cheif Harper," said Darin. "We'll need some help."

While Darin radioed Cheif Harper, Brad and Troy picked up the equipment. They waited until the police came. Then the DTB Cousins and the policemen raced down the tunnel.

The crooks heard the footsteps and hid behind some boulders just as the DTB Cousins and the police burst into the cavern.

"Where are they?" asked Cheif Harper.

"There they are," yelled Troy.

The robbers jumped up and tore down the back entrance tunnel with the police hot on their trail.

As the policemen chased the crooks from tunnel to tunnel, the DTB Cousins started digging up the treasure. The DTB Cousins dug and dug. Finally, Troy's shovel hit metal.

The DTB Cousins uncovered a valuable chest covered with diamonds and jewels. Brad opened the chest and they found millions of dollars worth of coins, gold and silver pieces.

Troy stayed and gaurded the chest while Brad and Darin ran off to tell the police. When they reached the main corridor, Brad and Darin stared in astonishment as the crooks raced toward them with daggers in their hands and the police right behind.

Darin yelled, "We are between them and the stairs and they will stop at nothing. Duck down."

Right as Darin and Brad ducked, the crooks crashed into their backs and went flying into the steps. The police came over and congratulated them and arrested the crooks.

As the crooks were being handcuffed and taken off to jail, Darin and Brad took Chief Harper over and showed him the valuable treasure that they found.

The Case of Buried Treasure Chapter 6

     As you can see, I left the spelling and grammar mistakes in the text. Whoever wrote this chapter moved from past tense, to present tense, and back to past. Also, this "chapter" could have easily been fleshed out quite a bit more, adding more suspense. Still, we were only ten, and were probably hurrying so that we could finish the book sooner. What was the rush? I guess we figured that the sooner we finished, the sooner we could publish it and make a lot of money without digging it up in some abandoned mansion frequented by crooks.

Chapter VI - The Search for Treasure

They woke up early in the morning. They had decided to go over to the mansion and in the tunnels again to look for the treasure. They ate a quick breakfast and took some more equiptment with them this time - like shovels and ropes.

When they arrived at the mansion, they cautiously made their way to the closet. They slipped through the trapdoor and down the stairs. Troy said, "That passage is the one."

Just than they hear voices down the corridor. The DTB Cousins quickly dodge into the passageway and start sneaking down it.

Brad, who was in the lead, dislodged a rock by accident. The rock made a thud and the crooks, who were nearby, came to see what made the noise.

The DTB Cousins scrambled on, but were caught. The DTB Cousins were tied up to stalagmights in the main corridor.

The robbers started to take their equipment when one of them spotted the map. The crooks took the map but forgot all about the equipment. They left the corridor.

The Case of Buried Treasure Chapter 5

     I don't remember who's idea it was to have all the DTB Cousins live in the same house, but for some reason we felt that it would be easier to have them all living under the same house. I don't know if it is true of my cousins, but I know that in my mind, I always pictured it to be my house. We never really described it in any of our adventures. In any case, we usually only mentioned our moms and dads. In only one book did we have any siblings. Well, here is chapter five. 

Chapter V - The Discovery

The DTB Cousins walked into the house and closed the door. Their moms were sitting on the couch.

"You have been gone almost the whole day. Where have you been?" they asked.

"Oh, we've just been at the old mansion looking around," replied the DTB Cousins.

The DTB Cousins couldn't tell their moms everything that happened because their moms might not want them to go back again. They would be worried about them getting hurt.

"Why don't you sit down and eat. We have some dinner for you," said Brad's mom.

After a dinner of steak, potatoes and jello, the DTB Cousins went to their room. They studied the map and discovered there was a part of it ripped off. Then Darin said, "It's ripped off because the crooks have the other part! That's why they knew where the trapdoor was, and that's how they got down in the tunnels."

"But that part of the map doesn't do them any good," said Brad, "because we have the part that has a buried treasure marked on it."

It was getting late so they got on their pajamas and went to sleep.