Then the tour descended to the basement of the tower. There were mannequins chained to the chains of serf masters from the smelter, who according to legend minted Demidov gold and silver coins. Misha carefully examined the walls of the cellar, trying to find the entrance to the dungeon. But the whitewashed walls were smooth and even without hints on the underground passages. Misha could not restrain himself and asked the guide out loud:
“Tell me, where is the entrance to the underground passage?” – Katya, standing next to, grabbed Misha’s hand and began to yank.
– You, what are you asking such nonsense? – But the guide, accustomed to various issues, answered with a smile.
– There are many myths and legends associated with the Nevyan Tower, but no one can yet say for sure why Akinfiy Demidov built it with a slope. And even this caused the people to believe that when he specially flooded the basement of the tower with water, to drown the masters who minted coins to him, then the ground beneath the foundation sagged and the tower gave a roll. – The guide never answered Misha, is there an entrance from the basement of the tower in the dungeon or not? Misha did not ask anymore.
When two hours later they returned home, Misha accompanied Katya to her private house, where she lived, she suddenly said:
– Dad offered me a ticket to Switzerland in August, in a hotel in Zurich. A package for two, do you want to come with me?
Misha almost lost the gift of speech from such an offer. It seemed that the very conduct led him to the Swiss banks, where many different treasures are stored. He looked at the girl with a dumb smile, then asked:
– And, what is needed for this?
– Nothing special. It’s a tour package; Dad said that I can invite anyone from friends. So I decided that the best friend, than you does not have, so decided.
– Of course, I agree.
“Then, we’ll come to you now, and you’ll give me your passport, you need to issue a visa.”
– Well and without any problems…
The trip abroad was scheduled for the tenth of August. Up to this date there was still a month and a half.
Chapter – 11.
For the time remaining until the tour, Misha decided to find out how to legalize the treasure with the greatest benefit. He rummaged on the Internet, looking for possible options for opening an account with Swiss banks, but it was all in vain. Citizens of the Russian Federation had no opportunity to open accounts abroad, except for offshore companies. But to sell or sell gold, without any problems, only the precious metal had to be delivered to the place of delivery. No one at the tourist will ask about the origin of the metal, if only there was a sample on it and the sample corresponded to the content. Of course, they watched who surrenders and what gold is for surrender, since the possibility of suppressing theft was always, and exists to this day, so the world is organized. He puzzled over how to transport the ingot so that no one was able to reveal that he has a half kilogram of the purest gold of the highest quality. In the evenings, he was engaged in drawing a special belt and decided to hold the ingot, fixing it on his back. From a dense denim material, he began to make out a wide belt with a pocket in the middle where he decided to put the metal and then fasten the belt on the buttons at his waist, so that the pocket with the ingot found him in the region of the waist. After the patterns and marking, Misha installed my mother’s hand sewing machine, which was stored in his room, which was still left by my grandmother when she was sewing sisters to mom and Aunt Natasha when they were children. And began to scribble the material. Mom at this time fiddling in the kitchen with cooking, heard the knock of a working machine, looked into the room.
“You decided to take up handicrafts with your son, did not you?”
– Mom, I read in one magazine that when you pull your back when playing football, you have to blame such a belt.
Mother came closer: – And, what helps? She asked concernedly.
“You know, Mom, I have not tried it yet, but when I try, I’ll tell you.”
“Wait, what is this pocket in the middle?”
– It’s in the bag you pour the rock salt heated on the pan, then stuff it into this pocket and put on the belt. And you can go to bed. In the morning you wake up perfectly well, without any pain in your back.
– Interesting. When you try, you tell me whether it helped or not. Yes, I almost forgot, and for a long time you had a backache?
– No, it was told to me by the girls, we went with them to a picnic, how to treat back pain. Do you remember, you had reticulated, you did not know what to do about it? And for a long time, even then, I read in the journal “Health” about this belt.
– Well, okay, line, machine gunner. – Having said this, Mama left, closing the door of Misha’s room.
When the belt was ready, Misha tried it on, fitting it up, sewn on the buttons. Then he took the ingot into his belt pocket and put it on. Then he put the suit jacket on top. Turned around the mirror. The pocket with the ingot protruded like a bulge on the back. No, that’s not right, he should think that it is still possible to take steps to exclude a noticeable allocation of contraband on his back.
– “And, that if you attach a couple more pockets on the sides, next to the center.” Thought and attached two more pockets.
At the end of July, my mother ended her vacation, and she began to go to work. Now Misha could go for bars and already three ingots were placed in the pockets of the belt. He fixed the belt with six buttons, put on his jacket and, turning in front of the mirror, realized that smuggling was not visible. I sat down a couple of times, jumped; the belt held the load tightly and reliably sat in my pockets on my back. He hid the ingots in winter shoes, and before leaving for a tourist trip, he would put on a belt with ingots for a vest, then a shirt and a jacket.
If you pass this gold abroad, you can get fifteen thousand dollars, Misha estimated. Now they have a good relationship with Katya. Misha did not like the girl very much, but Katya was in love with Misha, as people say without memory. Almost every day she came for him, and together they went to the beach on hot days, and in cloudy weather they went to the cinema to be alone, to feel already grown-up. In the travel agency, the manager who handed them the documents with the vouchers, said:
– In Zurich you will be met by our guide and will settle your entire group in the hotel. And from Nevyansk you go by train to Moscow to Sheremetyevo, there you will be joined by tourists at the airport, and you will pass all together, customs control and border guard, so as not to take gold things with you, remember that the metal can not be hidden, it must be declared. The system of frames reveals any metal, as it is not hidden, still tingle.
– And, how are the suitcases, they do not go through the framework? Misha suddenly asked.
“Ah, that you carry a lot of gold with you?” – Looking into the eyes, asked the manager.
– Kilogram and a half in ingots. – Without batting an eyelid, Misha answered densely, blushing.
– Ha, ha, ha! You, young man, with a good sense of humor.
Misha and Katya laughed heartily, and then, when they left the travel agency, remembering this reply to the manager, they laughed gaily and for a long time.
At home, Misha began to think about how to bring the gold. On the back in this belt of course will not work. It is necessary to undertake something else. He suddenly decided to hide the ingots in cans of beer. Four cans of beer, one prolapsed, “Zhigulevskoe” were bought in a kiosk, and when Mom went to work, Misha set to work. At the bottom of the can, he cuts, bent the edges when the beer leaked into the sink, pushed the ingot through the bottom into the jar. Then the voids between the ingot and the walls of the jar filled with cotton so