Here is the URL for Fort Marcy letterbox placed by the Doubtful
Guests.
http://wildwinds.tripod.com/tdg.html#fort
Thank you!
Shell
Knights of Columbo
--- In letterbox-usa@yahoogroups.com, "thedoubtfulguests"
> Only one month after I made it the snow finally melted enough for
me
> to place it. Not that I couldn't have placed it during the snow
but.
>
> Knights of Colombo, Please up date the Doubtful Guests' website and
> send the URL to the VA webmaster. Thanks
>
> Scarab of the Doubtful Guests
>
> Fort Marcy
> Fairfax County
> Northern Virginia
> Nearby town withheld
> Placed by Scarab of the Doubtful Guests
> March 13, 2003
> Dogs ok.
> Tools required: flashlight; long, untwisted wire coat hanger.
>
> This is not particularly a mystery letterbox but then again Call
it
> a small mystery. As always, please do not root around cluelessly
in
> the underbrush disturbing the flora and fauna. When you figure it
> out it will be pretty obvious. Please be discrete as this is out
in
> the open somewhat and replace it carefully with its black camoflage
> cover.
>
>
> "Easy fella. Now what's happening at the bridge? Could
they
> have heard about my troubles in Washington already?"
> Harrison Raines slowed his horse and looked ahead at the
> soldiers guarding the bridge to Virginia.
> Son of a southern plantation owner, now Washington resident,
> horse trader and sometime reluctant spy for the Union, Harry was
> fleeing the city once again followed by the suspicions and
> misunderstandings of lower level Washington authorities. Pinkerton
> and Lincoln himself had recruited Harry to work for the Union
cause,
> and the suspicions of local Union authorities only made Harry even
> more useful for secret enquiry's in the South. Unfortunately, it
was
> often very inconvenient.
> "Halt!"
> Earlier that morning across the river and high on the hill at
> Fort Marcy there was no traffic in sight, "Men, this morning we
will
> conduct some range tests on the bridge down there. If we're to
> defend the Capital, we have to be ready to shoot rapidly and
> accurately. Damn the quartermasters for not supplying enough
powder
> and shot for drills but I'll pay for it myself if I have to. Ready
> your cannon to fire alongside the bridge and be sure you don't hit
it
> this time. Sargent, send word to the sentries to halt any traffic
> until we give the all clear signal."
> "Yes Sir."
> Harry sauntered his horse up to the sentry post trying to
> look as nonchalant as he didn't feel.
> Boom!
> "Heeyah!"
> The horse bolted.
> "Hey, stop! Wait."
> Harry used the excuse to charge past the sentries and gallop onto
the
> bridge.
> Boom! "Good Lord they're firing on us!"
> The artillery man's accuracy was misinterpreted as damn close
> near misses.
> "Cease firing! What's that idiot doing down there! Sargent
> get down there and arrest that man!"
> "Bugler, sound arrest and detain", shouted the Sargent
> running for his horse. Instantly the bugler sounded the company's
> code followed by the practiced signal code.
> Harry didn't know the bugle code he heard as he galloped over
> the Potomac below but they weren't firing cannon at him anymore and
> that he liked. He didn't like the look of the sentry's eyes nor
> their fixed bayonets lowered in his direction.
> "Good morning gentlemen."
> "We ain' no genelmen and you ain' goin' nowhere neither `til
> the Sargent comes."
> The Sargent led Harry up the hill escorted by two bored and
> trigger happy looking sentries.
> After much suspicious interrogation, Fort Marcy's Commander
> was surprised to find the bridge fool to be an apparent southern
> gentleman albeit a little down on his luck. "I am sorry we
startled
> your horse and were obliged to detain you, but tell me again what
> brings a horse trader from Washington across the river?"
> "I moved my operations into town but I still own land and
> horses northwest of here. If I don't visit it I'm afraid of what
> might become of it."
> "I believe you're who you say you are but only because I've
> heard of a horse of yours in some relation to a questionable game
of
> cards," the Commander said with some amusement, "I don't suppose
you
> know anything about that?"
> "I try to sell my horses, not lose them."
> "Well you don't look shifty enough or prosperous enough to be one
of
> those broken down horse dealers cheating the Union Army. The
Sargent
> will see you on your way. Be careful and stop next time."
> "Thank you Sir," thinking this must be the only time losing a
> horse at cards saved his neck, Harry replied, "I shall be."
> "Men, clean your cannon well. We're done for the day."
>
> Harrison Raines is a fictional character created by Michael Kilian
in
> his Civil War mystery novels: Murder at Manassas and A Killing at
> Balls Bluff. Please replace the letterbox carefully camoflaged by
> its black cover. If you find this letterbox, missing, damaged or
> puzzling write theDoubtfulGuests@y...