Indigo and her gang of smugglers were docked for a few days in Providence, Rhode Island. She had just finished unloading boxes of rum, whisky and gin after successful bootlegger’s run to Canada and back.

She had just finished putting on her makeup to go out when someone knocked on her cabin door. It was her friend, H.P. Lovecraft, a writer who lived in Providence.

He was all excited but very worried. He managed to get his hands on a copy of the fabled Necronomicon, the ghastly tome written in 730 A.D. by the mad Arabian poet, Abdul Alhazred. It has been described as the book of ultimate evil.
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For centuries, people have searched for the lost tomb of Genghis Khan. It is supposed to hold vast stores of riches plundered from the empires of China and Persia.

Genghis Khan asked to be buried without markings. After he died, his body was returned to Mongolia. Many people presume he is buried close to the Onon River, where he grew up.

Indigo heard rumors that a Mongol battle standard containing clues to the site had been removed by the Soviets from a Buddhist monastery in 1937. The convoy of soldiers and scientists escorting the standard back to Russia disappeared before reaching the Siberian border. Their trucks were found, but they were never heard from again. But, there was a second clue…

A year later, Indigo decided to go after the treasure herself.

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As you might remember, Clarebeth is writing a paperback novel about a femme fatale smuggler in the 1930s named “Indigo”. (She first discussed her new book in the post in “Indigo and the Smugglers” on June 29th.)

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Chapter One - The Tiberius Coin
In 1978 the “Mound of Gold” or Tillya Tepe, was discovered in a northern Afghan province by archaeologists searching for a golden man buried in a coffin of gold. Instead, they found a four thousand year old temple with treasures of every kind—figurines, diadems, jewel-encrusted daggers & scabbards, jewelry made in the likeness of fantastic beasts, golden cups. It became famous as “The Golden Hoard of Bactria.”

Also found was a gold coin stamped with the profile of the Roman Emperor Tiberius, minted in Lugdunum in Gaul (now the modern city of Lyon in France) between 16 and 21 C.E.—the first coin of its kind ever found in Central Asia. The discovery of this coin sparked the most excitement of the whole dig. A link to ancient Rome!

Little did the modern archaeologists know that 40 years earlier in 1938 Indigo had found the site and made off with a whole bag of Roman coins, medallions and amulets. The one coin had dropped out of her bag as she and her companions jumped on their horses and left the site just as the moon was starting to wane.

Besides stashing most of the coins in a secret compartment in her trunk, Indigo disguised the rest as a necklace and matching earrings using the Decopatch paper she always carried with her.

Next Week – The Treasure Map of Genghis Khan

Clarebeth got it in her head to write a paperback novel. She loved the 1930s—the Art Deco, the romance of unexplored places, and the last innocence before WWII. She took as her models her favorite characters-Terry and the Pirates, Indiana Jones, and the Mata Hari.

She planned to call her book, “Indigo and the Smugglers.” Indigo was her alter ego: a seductress and a mercenary. She was a spy, sometimes for the Allies, sometimes for the Axis. She collected ancient artifacts—temple relics, old maps, coins, burial items. They were one of her passions. Some of them she sold to museums and collectors to finance her travels.

Clarebeth assembled some props to inspire her as she sat down to map out some outlines for the book. One she selected was an old cigar box. She planned to decopatch it to resemble (she thought) jungle foliage. It would be the hiding place for all the secret documents Indigo purloined and any little shells she found on the beach.

Chapter 1 of “Indigo and the Smugglers” will be next week. Stay tuned…