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TREASUR3 6' Detective and the treasure map

Michaela and her family went to Florida on their summer
vacation. But the day before they arrived in Florida, they had
the worst storm of the season. The seashore was covered in
seaweed, sea animals and trash. Michaela and her grandfather
volunteered to help clean up the beach. Everyone had trash bags
to pick up the trash. Starfish and other sea animals that were
still alive they threw back into the ocean. The dead ones went
into the trash bag with the seaweed and trash.

After a few hours, Michaela and Papa came across a large piece
of would that looked like lumber for building a house. But on
the other side, there was a name gouged into the wood in large
letters. There was gold leaf covering the letters. And the
letters spelled out "WIDOWMAKER".

Michaela asked, "What do you suppose this is, Papa?"

Papa answered, "It looks like the name plate for an old sailing
ship."

When Papa and Michaela finished the cleanup of the beach, they
took the board back to the hotel and looked up the name
WIDOWMAKER on the Internet. Sure enough, WIDOWMAKER was the name
of a pirate ship whose captain was a famous pirate named
Bluebeard. According to the experts, the Widowmaker and the
pirate Bluebeard and his crew disappeared without a trace two
hundred years ago.

Papa said, "Well, it looks like we've discovered the remains of
a pirate ship, Michaela! It looks like this storm broke this
name plate off the back of old Bluebeard's ship."

Michaela asked, "Where do you suppose the rest of the ship is,
Papa?"

Papa replied, "I don't know. But maybe we can figure it out."

They searched the internet for weather information about
yesterday's storm, especially about the direction of the wind.
According to the weather bureau, wind toward their beach came
from the offshore islands southeast of the hotel.

Michaela, the world's greatest detective, asked, "Papa, can we
please try to find the sunken ship? Maybe we can find some
treasure."

Papa replied, "Sure! But there's no guarantee that we'll find
the sunken ship or any treasure. But searching should be fun!"

Papa and Michaela found a map of the area and drew a line on the
map from the place where they found the name plate toward the
direction of the storm wind. The line ran between two small
islands on the map. So, Michaela and Papa rented a motor boat
and some scuba diving equipment and drove the boat to the two
small islands. They drove slowly up and down between the islands
in a search pattern until the sonar unit showed what looked like
a sunken ship in shallow water below the boat.

Michaela and Papa put on the diving gear and swam down to the
sunken boat with the name plate in hand. Sure enough, it was an
old sailing ship. They swam to the stern of the ship (the back
end) and sure enough the name plate was missing. They compared
the name plate they found against the boat and found that the
holes in the name plate fitted perfectly over the holes in the
ship. Papa smiled at Michaela and Michaela put up her thumb to
Papa with a smile. They had found the Widowmaker.

They swam down to the windows in the stern to where the
captain's quarters usually were located in a sailing ship, then
they swam through the open window into the dark room. They
switched on their flashlights and looked around the room.

There was a skeleton in the bunk. This was probably Bluebeard.
His ship probably struck a rock in the shallow waters between
the two islands, tearing the bottom out of the ship and sinking
it suddenly. Bluebeard probably drowned in his sleep.

Michaela and Papa looked around the room for treasure but there
was none. They were disappointed. The only things worth bringing
back home were a brass sextant (a tool used to tell the captain
where the boat was when it wasn't near land) and a brass
telescope they found floating against the ceiling of the room.

When they got back up to the boat, they tried looking through
the telescope, but they found that there was a piece of paper
rolled up and stuffed into the telescope. So, they pulled the
telescope apart and pulled out the paper. It was a map.

Michaela, the world's greatest detective, immediately saw that
it was a treasure map. "X marks the spot!" she said as she
pointed to the big "X" on the map. The map showed the islands
near the boat, but the island with the "X" was a few miles away.

They drove the boat to the island and carried a shovel to the
area on the island marked by the "X". It was in the valley
between two mountain peaks.

But when they got to the area, they found nothing but rock
between the two mountains. There was no place to dig.

Michaela, the world's greatest detective, immediately started
looking for other places in the area where a pirate might hide
his treasure. She pulled aside some vines growing up the side of
a cliff and discovered a cave.

"Over here, Papa!" shouted Michaela.

Michaela and Papa pulled their flashlights out of their
backpacks and turned them on. Just then, a snake slithered out
of the cave. They stepped aside and let it pass. Then they
shined the light into the cave. There were bats hanging
upside-down from the cave ceiling.

"Creepy!" said Michaela.

Suddenly, both flashlights pointed to a large wooden box. Papa
tried to pick it up to carry it outside, but it was too heavy.

"Heavy is a good thing!" smiled Papa as he dragged the treasure
chest out of the cave into the sunlight. Papa broke the lock on
the box with the shovel, then opened the lid.

"Gold!" shouted Michaela.

"Spanish Doubloons!" shouted Papa.

The treasure chest was filled to the top with
two-hundred-year-old Spanish coins that were worth millions of
dollars. Michaela and Papa were RICH!

©2007 Bob Snook. Conditions for use:
This story is free. Pay no fees or royalties.
Do not sell this story or rewrite it.
You may reproduce and distribute this story freely,
but all copies must contain this copyright statement.
http://www.fea.net/bobsnook/kid  email: bobsnook@fea.net

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