Free The Time Hunters and the Box of Eternity by Carl Ashmore Page B

and suddenly a fully grown Israel Hands was standing beside a
hulking man, with raven-black hair that seemed to cover every inch of his face.
    ‘ Israel … ’ Blackbeard growled in
a deep, rasping voice. ‘ My trusted friend. I make you sail master of my flagship: The Queen
Anne ’ s
Revenge… ’
    The image of a colossal forty-gun pirate ship filled the library.
    Joe gave a delirious whoop and clapped enthusiastically; Becky ’ s mouth nearly hit the
floor; even Uncle Percy looked quite pleased with himself.
    For the next ten minutes, and using all manner of information
sources - Barbie recounted every known fact about Israel Hands: how he ’ d lost his leg to a
cannon ball on a raid in Charleston; how he had fathered a son he ’ d never met. Then,
surprisingly, the presentation shifted two hundred years, to an article from
The Chicago Daily News, dated 15 th February 1929 which read:

 
    BLACKBEARD PAINTING BRINGS IN THE BOOTY …

 
    Yesterday, in the prestigious Grand Ballroom of the world famous
Palmer House Hotel, Chicago was at the centre of a second history making
incident. Thankfully, on this occasion, the only bang that mattered came from a
gavel. In a Charity auction of Pirate Memorabilia, hosted by the world-famous
auctioneers, Christie ’ s, a painting of the notorious buccaneer Blackbeard, by his second
in command, Israel Hands, was sold for an unprecedented one million dollars to
an unknown buyer. Art experts are really quite baffled at why this painting
garnered such astounding interest. Timothy Cheeseman, chief auctioneer for
Christies said ….

 
    The article was accompanied by an image of Blackbeard sitting on an
enormous golden throne. Then, abruptly, the images dissolved as, with a soft click ,
Barbie ’ s
skull-cap flipped shut.
    ‘ What – was - that? ’ Joe gasped, staring
wide-eyed at Uncle Percy.
    ‘ It did look rather
good, ’ Uncle Percy said proudly, ‘ even if I do say so myself. An optomediaphibic folio is an
audio-visual montage drawn from every online digital media resource - every
museum, library, art gallery, film archive - across the world, including, would
you believe it, something called YouTube … ’ He winked at Becky. ‘ See, who says I ’ m not with it ? ’
    ‘ You are with it, ’ Becky breathed,
stunned by what she had just seen. ‘ You ’ re most definitely with it. ’
    Uncle Percy smiled. ‘ You just wait until I install the optohistophibic folio application,
but that ’ s
for another day. ’
    ‘ What was all that
about an auction? ’ Joe asked, intrigued. ‘ A million dollars for one of Israel Hand ’ s paintings. Reg didn ’ t mention that. ’
    ‘ I can only assume he
didn ’ t
know, ’ Uncle Percy replied. ‘ Fascinating stuff, eh? I mean, that was nineteen twenties America. A
million dollars then was like seven million now. ’
    ‘ But who would pay that
kind of money? ’ Becky asked.
    ‘ I have no idea, ’ Uncle Percy said,
thinking carefully. ‘ I can only assume that we will…. ’
    ‘ What? ’ Becky fired back.
    Uncle Percy drummed his fingers against his jaw. ‘ Frankly, I doubt it ’ s a serious art
collector. No, it seems to me that someone wants it for a reason, other than
its artistic merit. ’
    ‘ Like what? ’ Becky asked.
    ‘ I don ’ t know. Perhaps, we
should ask ourselves whether there may be another reason that an Israel Hands
painting might be worth a million dollars? ’
    A light flickered in Joe ’ s eyes. ‘ It ’ s one of the markers, ’ he panted.
    ‘ It could be, Joe, ’ Uncle Percy replied.
    ‘ So let ’ s get to nineteen
twenties Chicago and buy it, ’ Joe insisted.
    Uncle Percy threw him a look of concern. ‘ Im not sure it ’ s quite as
straightforward as that. ’
    ‘ Why not? ’ Joe replied.
    Uncle Percy hesitated.   ‘ There are a few things
we must consider first. ’
    Becky snorted. ‘ Yeah, like where are we going to get a million dollars from? ’
    Uncle Percy didn ’