Theft of the Golden Ring

Gift of the Golden Cup prequels.

The gift of a golden cup, concealing a map that showed the location of buried treasure, was only the first of a series of exciting incidents that were to befall Atia and Gaius, the niece and nephew of Julius Caesar. No one would ever have dreamed that a dignified fifteen-year-old Roman matron and her lively young brother would ever join a pirate Captain in a search for gold and jewels. Pirates were dangerous and disreputable company for children of a Roman aristocrat's family.

But Atia and Gaius were extraordinary. They had once been captured and held for ransom by the pirate—and had made him their best friend! They had visited in Greece, and barely escaped a bloody insurrection of the slaves there. What more inevitable than that they should become involved in the Cataline conspiracy, the election of Caesar to Pontifex Maximus, and a treasure hunt in old Pompeii?

Gaius had given his word that he would follow his pedagogue dutifully to school every day till he was of age. But when the pirate Captain's ring appeared mysteriously in Rome, Gaius knew something had to be done. The ring must have been stolen by force! Nothing would make the Captain part willingly with his favorite jewel—the golden ring shaped like a coiled python, whose eyes gleamed with rubies and emeralds. Since Atia had just become the mother of a son and could not stir out of the house until her baby's name day, it was up to him to go to their old friend's assistance. And Gaius soon found himself in the thick of the dangerous intrigues of the traitor Cataline, who planned to overthrow the government and burn the city of Rome.

After they had extricated the Captain from a tight spot—for he had been deceived by Cataline and worked for the conspiracy before he was betrayed—the grateful old pirate wanted to repay his friends. He invited them to go with him to unearth the great treasure he had acquired years before from Mithridates of Pontus. All the omens were favorable. No one had any premonitions of the disappointments and dangers that would intervene before the Captain and Atia and Gaius could return triumphantly to Rome, with the priceless treasure.

This story is complete in itself, but continues the enthralling tale of Rome and pirates told in The Gift of the Golden Cup. These further adventures of engaging Roman characters will be welcome to new readers as well as to those who enjoyed the first well-written, authentic and exciting story of the ancient Mediterranean world. The Theft of the Golden Ring also combines stirring events of ancient history and an interesting, unfamiliar setting to make a vivid narrative of action and mystery, full of suspense and humor and likable characters.

—from the dust jacket