Table of Contents
*** Each of the fourteen chapters begins with an excerpt from the diary of Annie Wareham, age 13. She witnesses the War of 1812 from her log house on Commissioners' Road.
The Jackson family in London, Ontario, move to an old house (originally Annie's log cabin) on Commissioners' Road. Twins Sam and Eadie, age 14, hear about The Legend of the Paymaster's Gold. It is true that the night of October 6, 1813, General Henry Procter was retreating from the Detroit frontier toward Lake Ontario along Commissioners' Road, his waggons full of equipment and wounded men. It is alleged that Procter was overtaken by American Kentucky riflemen and, in the skirmish, Procter's Paymaster, in charge of buying supplies for the soldiers and horses, lost his box of gold.
The skirmish is a legend. There is no documentation to prove that the skirmish actually happened, that the gold was really lost.
Sam, Eadie, and their friend Ben decide to "solve" the legend and find the lost gold. But almost two hundred years have passed. What clues are there to follow? With the help of Google, and Dave at the library, and some clever sleuthing with maps, and a metal detector, they make some progress. But why are all the most likely places to find the gold made off-limits to them by grown-ups?
However, persistence pays off. They find gold! But - whose gold is it? Have they really solved The Legend of the Paymaster's Gold?
