“Well, that’s not unusual,” Ana said. “Many of these water systems are deep underground. Even in daylight you would be unlikely to see it.” The geologist in her was shining through again. She walked over and scooped up a stone the size of her fist before returning to the well. She reached her hand over the edge and released it.
Everyone held their breath and silently counted. After five seconds they heard a faint splash.
“The water level must be at least sixty feet down,” Ana said. “Maybe more.”
“But how deep?” Nate asked.
Ana shook her head. “There’s no way of telling.”
“Well, I’ve got several hundred feet of 550 cord, so we can at leastfill these water jugs up,” Shane said. Paracord, or 550 cord, was a lightweight nylon rope used in parachute suspension lines.
He tossed it to Tim, who went about tying the cans off. When he was finished, they laid one of the rifles down across the well to act as a pulley to prevent the rough stone on the sides of the well from fraying the rope.
Tim slowly lowered the first can down. It took a full minute before he finally said, “I think we have water.”
The line went taut, and Tim strained against it.
“Damn, we’ve got a live one here!”
Nate ran over and grabbed the cord. Together they yanked with all their strength and were able to ease the tension on the rope. They quickly and carefully retrieved the line and the can rose to the top, full of water.
“Any treasure in there?” Shane asked.
“Just liquid gold,” Tim commented. “It was like deep-sea fishing getting this bad boy out of there, though.”
“The current,” Nate said.
“It’s a river!” Ana exclaimed excitedly. “The amount of water under there must be substantial.”
“It’s ice cold too,” Tim said, refilling his water bottles.
“It must be very deep,” Ana noted.
“Well, I’d say this is a promising sign, then,” Tim noted.
“We’re certainly on the right track,” Nate agreed, checking his Garmin GPS and adding the location of the well in his journal. “St. John Philby found a well with a strong current farther to the north of here. It must be the same system.”
“Amazing,” Ana remarked, staring at the well. History and treasure aside, the hydrological feature had stunned her into silence.
“Let’s fill up and get these jerry cans topped off,” Nate said. Helooked over at Shane. “And who knows? Maybe we’ll find some rings to go with your chain.”
“You joke, but I’ll wear that shit too,” Shane replied.
They topped off on water and loaded up their gear.
“We’ve got about another fifteen miles to go. The sun should be up in a few hours, so we should be getting there around the same time,” Nate said.
“Where there? Ubar?” Wally asked.
“Yeah,” Nate affirmed. “Ubar. I’ve charted these subterranean water systems on the map. The addition of this well gives us two separate points along the line of the underground river, and we’re going to follow it the entire way up. When it intersects with the ancient camel trails, then X marks the spot.”
CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE
Al Hadidah, Saudi Arabia
The sun crested the horizon as they approached their intended search area. The temperature was already skyrocketing, and they were all soaked through with sweat. The whole group had declined to rest and walked the last leg of the journey without a break, the excitement building in all of them. Now, as they arrived at the area, they paused atop a large sand dune and surveyed the scene below. The dunes had decreased in size as they went, save for the large one they currently stood upon. Below them the desert floor was littered with black rocks, giving the terrain a spotted appearance.
“What is all of that down there?” Tim asked as he sat against his pack and sipped water from a Nalgene bottle.
