chapter 114
AFTER TRAVELING LESS than a quarter mile, the grave robbers checked the GPS to make certain they hadn’t gotten off track. They could hear a tugboat pushing a barge down the river. Since the constant drone of the diesel engines was going to make it difficult for them to hear anything for several minutes, they decided to sit on a log and wait.
Although these men were not easily spooked, the presence of the vehicle and the screams had them very much on edge. At times, the searchlight of the tugboat reflected off the water into the air, briefly creating the appearance of an aurora. Each time the captain panned the several-million-candlepower light on their side of the river, it created hundreds of eerie, quickly moving shadows though the woods.
“It seems extra dark out here tonight, don’t it?” Trance observed.
“Moon’s underfoot; that’s why. Darkest nights are when the moon’s underfoot.”
The men simultaneously pondered the idea of chasing a screaming sound in a river swamp on a dark night. “It’s gonna take at least ten more minutes for that damn boat to get by us,” Yancey said, watching how deeply the light penetrated the woods.
“I know, I know, but I swear I heard somethin’.”
“I believe you heard something; we just don’t know what.”
“Maybe it was that campground.”
“Coulda been anything, the way sound travels over water.” Yancey paused and added, “Well, you ’bout ready? Your ex-wife will be pissed if we don’t find some artifacts to sell.”
“Look at that!”
“What? Where?”
“Right there. Almost at the far edge of the water. It looks like a light shining straight out of the water into the fog.”
“Well, I’ll be damned.”
They watched in amazement as a narrow column of light went straight up out of the water into the fog and then disappeared. The light returned in a few moments and then went out again.
“What the hell is it? That’s just too freakin’ weird,” Trance said, trying to focus his binoculars on the light beam.
“It ain’t the tugboat. He’s searching past us now.”
“I’ll tell you what…if I was out here by myself, I’d be running like crazy to get as far away from whatever in the hell that is.”
“There’s gotta be an explanation. Come on.”
“Are you out of your freakin’ mind?”
“Oh, hell, come on. After years of digging in graves, you ain’t gone and got scared of haints on me now, have ya?”