Finding Columbus’s Gold
A Grand Adventure on the Island of Hispaniola
by
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We came to a sharp bend in the road, and Benji slowed the Jeep down to shift into a lower gear. Just as the Jeep started slowing down, suddenly, from our left side, seemingly out of nowhere, a soldier pushed his rifle into the Jeep’s driver’s-side window. The gun’s barrel was right up against Benji’s head, and the Jeep lurched forward as his foot slipped off the clutch pedal. Benji instinctively put a hand up between the gun barrel and his head.
“Whoa,” I said. “What the hell is going on?”
It was a tense moment. Maxi yelled something at the soldier in patois, but then the soldier poked his rifle even harder against Benji’s hand and head.
I recognized the rifle immediately: it was an M1 Garand, the same type I had used in the army. I looked at the guy’s trigger finger. It was solidly on the trigger. Then I looked to see if he had an ammo clip in the rifle, and he did. It was obvious this guy was not fooling around. He was for real. It appeared he was probably more scared than we were, but we could see he meant business. His eyes were bloodshot and wild looking, and he was sweating profusely. I thought for sure he was going to pull the trigger, and I knew if he did that and shot Benji, he would have to kill all of us.
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About the Book
In 1966, an old friend invites Matt Vercair to Port-au-Prince, Haiti, to assist in disassembling and selling a now defunct Haitian railroad, acquired under unusual circumstances. Once in Haiti, Matt is introduced to chief archeologist Dr. Marc Blanchet. Blanchet is an expert on Christopher Columbus and everything he did on the island of Hispaniola.
According to Blanchet, the history being taught about Columbus is a fraud. Instead of exploration, Columbus’s true intentions were to amass gold and sell as many slaves as he could to finance his travels. Blanchet knows where a large cache of Columbus’s gold has been hidden in Haiti for five hundred years.
With the help of a map, Matt now embarks on an incredible journey to recover the gold, traveling across previously unexplored terrain. The railroad is of little concern as they search for hidden treasure, but it’s possible Matt is about to find a lot more than riches in the beautiful but dangerous wilds of Hispaniola.
About the Author
Howard Yasgar was born in New Haven, Connecticut. He attended New Haven State Teachers College and graduated from the University of New Haven. He moved to Miami, Florida, in 1963 and still lives there.