"Bagdad" is a story of fiction about the quest for lost treasure in the notorious Mexican village of Bagdad, located at the confluence of the Rio Grande river and the Gulf of Mexico.
The story covers two periods of time; the final months of the war between the states, and the present.
The adventure begins with the primary character, Joe King, a pilot and recent archeology graduate flying his plane from Wyoming to his home in south Texas. He plans to take a short vacation prior to reporting to his first graduate assignment at an archeological dig in Mexico.
Before reporting to the dig, Joe wants to followup on a tale of lost treasure shared by a longtime friend and professor of history, Juan Garza.
The story involves a cache of gold and silver coins intended as partial payment to an arms dealer representing the Confederate Army at Ft. Brown, a few miles up-river from Bagdad.
The delivery of munitions on a river steamer was foiled by the Union Army and the vessel and cargo destroyed.
The only survivor of the assault was a 16 year old Mexican boy, Ramon Sanchez, nephew of the owner of the Perro Rojo Cantina and intermediary for the arms deal.
Shortly after the assault on the steamer, a devastating hurricane further concealed the cache, hidden in the cellar of the cantina, burying it under a dune of sand.
Years later, knowing he was in ill health, Professor Garza, the son of Ramon disclosed the story to his friend Joe King and gave him a weathered oil skin pouch containing a crude map and three mysterious coins.
Nearing the end of his flight from Wyoming, Joe King's plane was forced down due to an engine problem on South Padre island where he encountered Joyce Dean, a graduate student and volunteer, monitoring the yearly hatch of the giant Ridley Turtle.
They became close friends and Joe invited Joyce to join in the search. Their quest takes several twists and turns on South Padre Island the Mexican Playa.
Encounters with a pair of Mexican bandits and the rural Mexican police add excitement and intrigue to the story.