The Jamestown Quadricentennial - Part 2

Tuesday, June 12

Bright and early Tuesday morning, we received a text message instructing us to be at the Marriot no later than 7:15. Since it was only about 5:00, we stayed in bed and tried to get a little more sleep. We got up around 6:00 and prepared to leave. We had a quick breakfast, put on our nametags, grabbed our bags, and hurried out the door.

We were one of the last families to get there. The parking lot was nearly full, so Dad dropped us off at the entrance, and went to find a parking spot. Mom, Julia and I joined the long line of families waiting to enter the auditorium. Everyone was armed with books, papers, and other material for the hunt.

The line gradually moved forward, and we soon came to the auditorium door. As each family went in, a man made sure the main sleuth was there, and then admitted them into the auditorium.

In the auditorium, the lights were dimmed. People talked in hushed voices as they tried to find seats. I didn't know if there was designated seating for the sleuths, so I wasn't sure where to sit.
Shortly, the man up on stage began giving instructions.

"Sleuths sit up at the front. Families, please find seats elsewhere. Silence in the room, please!"

"If you are sitting in the front and are not a sleuth, please find another seat. There will be no talking and no questions. Silence in the room! Thank you."

I silently made my way to the front of the room, and found my seat. I picked up the folder laying there, which was marked 'Confidential'. I opened it, and saw a message from Jack! I read it, and then prepared to decode the clues at the end of the message, feeling the familiar excitement of a new clue to solve.

The moderator came out, and spoke to the audience. I don't remember exactly what he said, but he gave a brief overview of the previous phases, and then talked a little about Phase 3. Then he gave a roll call of the sleuths. I stood up when my name was called, and then sat down and continued trying to decode the clues. They were all Caesar Ciphers, but each clue was solved with a different letter. The first clue was easy enough, but I began to panic on the second one. "I hope we don't have to solve these by the end of this meeting!" Thankfully, I realized we had all day to work on it. Whew!

We were given strict instructions not to speak to any other families participating in the hunt, and then told to quietly exit the room. Everyone went out into the parking lot, many families heading to their cars. Some sleuths decoded the clues rather quickly and were heading out. I finally finished decoding them! We weren't sure where we should go after that, but soon we decided to try the visitor's center. Many other families were there, too!

We split up in the bookstore. Each of us took a clue to work on, and began looking at books we thought might help us. We were there for several hours, and then decided to hit a local library. We were there for a while, and finally we had to break for lunch. When we got outside the building and were heading to the van, I heard a sound from my pocket. "Oh! Maybe we got a text-message." Sure enough, we did!

The text message said that Eccleston Peabody was alive! "I knew it, I knew it!" I was so happy! I know most of you don't know who he is. He's a main character in the story of the Jamestown 400 treasure hunt, and near the end of the hunt he apparently was killed by the bad guys. Many of us treasure hunters were skeptical. Now we KNEW that he was alive!
The message also said that he was at DOG street, and if we saw him there we were to identify ourselves to him (by saying, "New history for a better tomorrow", the answer to one of the clues from Phase 2) and then he would give us a hint that would help us solve one of the current clues.

"DOG street? Where's that?" I asked. "That's Duke of Gloucester street! It's not very far from here." Dad said. I was so excited! We ate a quick lunch and went to find DOG street.
We found it, and Dad dropped us off at one end of it. We kept our eyes peeled for anyone who might look like Peabody. However, we did not know what he looked like. I was fairly sure that he would be dressed in a dark suit and maybe be wearing glasses or carrying a briefcase, but we had nothing definite to go on.

We walked all the way down DOG street, not seeing anyone who looked like Peabody. Dad joined us at the other end, and we walked back up the street. We did this several times. After a while, we decided to approach men who were sitting or walking by themselves and who looked like they could be Peabody, and say, "New history for a better tomorrow." (not the thing you'd want to say to a complete stranger!) Needless to say, we got very interesting reactions! Some people smiled, shook their heads and said, "No, but good luck!" Others looked very confused. Several said, "I've had lots of people say that to me today. What is this all about?" We gave a brief explanation, an apology, and moved on.

We never found Peabody, much to my disappointment. But we did meet several families from the Quad celebration! Many of them were involved in the hunt. After a few more hours on DOG street, we decided to go back to the library and do some more searching.

Hour after hour passed by. We didn't make much headway. The library closed, so we headed back to the visitor's center which was open a little longer. When that closed, we went to another library that was nearby. We saw a few other sleuths and their families there, too!
That library closed, and we still didn't have the answers we needed. We found a large bookstore, and spent a couple hours there. I received a text message, saying that the deadline was 10:05 pm. We were finally making headway on one of the clues (we were very excited!), and then I looked at my watch. "Well, we can stop now - it's after 10:05 p.m."

We packed up and went back to our hotel room. I was a little disappointed that we didn't make it, but I wasn't too surprised. I expected the clues to be hard, and they were!
Even though we wouldn't get to search for the treasure, I was still thankful that we made it into the first 100 and could come to Jamestown.