Pirate Island Treasure (4 page)

“First I lost Captain Shark's cutlass,” Charlotte groaned. “Now I've lost Patch Eye's spyglass.” Her shoulders slumped like an empty sack. “I am the world's worst pirate!”

Jacob hesitated. Should he tell her? Suddenly, getting even didn't seem like fun anymore. He took the holed stone from his pocket.

Charlotte gasped. “What…where did you get it?”

“It fell out of your pocket,” said Jacob. “So I picked it up.”

Charlotte glared at him. “Why didn't you tell me?”

Jacob frowned. “I wanted to get even because you lost my cutlass.”

“But I didn't mean to,” said Charlotte. “And I found a treasure chest for you. That's even better than the cutlass, isn't it?”

Jacob shrugged. “I guess so.”

Charlotte crouched by the lobster trap. She put the holed stone into the bag with the sand dollars and the sea glass. “A spyglass, sea jewels, silver dollars…wait a minute. The old bottle. Let's put it in too.”

“It's empty,” said Jacob. “It should have something in it.”

Charlotte thought for a moment. “But what?”

“A treasure map,” said Jacob.

Charlotte sat back on her heels. “Awesome idea.” She looked around. “We need something to draw on.”

“Hawk to the rescue,” said Grandpa. He took a pencil and his sketchbook from his backpack. “Who's going to draw the treasure map?”

“Me!” Charlotte and Jacob reached for the sketchbook at the same time. Charlotte let her hand drop.

“Captain Shark can draw the map because he's the captain,” she said. “Besides, he can draw better than Patch Eye.”

Jacob sat in the dinghy. He wrote
Captain Shark,
Patch Eye and Hawk's Treasure Map
in crooked letters across the top. Then he drew Pirate Island. He drew pictures in the places they found the sand dollars, the pirate ship, the cutlass, the sea jewels, the lobster trap and the old bottle.

“Perfect,” Charlotte declared when he was finished.

Jacob tore the map out of the sketchbook. He looked at it this way and that. “It doesn't look like a real treasure map.” Carefully, he tore around the sides of the map. Now the edges were rough and uneven. “That's much better.”

Charlotte looked over his shoulder. “It's too clean,” she said. “A treasure map that's been in an old bottle would be grungy.” She stood up. “Help me find some seaweed.”

“What for?” asked Jacob.

“You'll see,” said Charlotte.

They found a clump of dry black seaweed. Charlotte squished it and smeared it all over the map.

Now the map looked grungy and old. It looked like a real treasure map.

“That is one fine treasure map,” said Grandpa.

“It's the best-ever treasure map,” said Charlotte.

Jacob rolled up the map and put it into the bottle. They were right. It was the best treasure map ever.

Charlotte took off her pirate hat and waved. “Goodbye, Pirate Island,” she shouted over the noise of
The Seawind
's engine. “This has been an awesome day.”

“It sure has.” Jacob leaned against the treasure chest sitting between them.

“I can't wait to show Jack Mawdy what we found,” said Charlotte.

“We can tell him about Hawk, Patch Eye and Captain Shark's adventures,” Jacob added.

“This time you two will be the storytellers,” Grandpa called to them.

Charlotte wiggled in her seat. “We can tell Jack Mawdy our pirate story, Jacob. Let's practice.”

She began in a rough, raspy voice. “On a dark, stormy night long ago, three pirates set sail in their ship,
The Treasure Hunter
. The pirates' names were Hawk, Patch Eye and Captain Shark. They were looking for a place to hide their treasure.”

“The waves were so high, they couldn't steer the ship,” Jacob continued. “Captain Shark looked through his spyglass.” He rummaged in the treasure chest for the holed stone and held it up to his eye. “Land ahoy!” he shouted gruffly. “Head for Pirate Island!”

“Then
The Treasure Hunter
got wrecked in Shipwreck Cove.” Charlotte took the sand dollars and sea jewels from the treasure chest. “Captain Shark, Patch Eye and Hawk buried their treasure in the sand.”

“Captain Shark drew a treasure map,” said Jacob. “He put it in an old bottle.” He took the bottle from the treasure chest. “Then Captain Shark hid the bottle under a flat rock so no one would find it. And he stuck his cutlass in the sand to warn other pirates to stay away.”

“But Patch Eye stole the cutlass,” said Charlotte. “And she lost it. So there was nothing to guard the treasure.”

“Then we found it.” Jacob put the spyglass and the old bottle back into the treasure chest.

Charlotte put the sea jewels and the sand dollars in too. “Now we have a treasure chest full of treasure.”

“As well as a great tale to tell,” said Grandpa. “You can tell Jack Mawdy all about it over dinner tonight.”

“Fish and chips!” Jacob cheered.

“Chowder and scones,” Charlotte shouted. “Can we go faster, Grandpa? I can't wait to get there.”

Grandpa laughed and turned the engine to full throttle.

“Heave ho and away we go, treasure hunting, treasure
hunting,”
Charlotte sang in her loudest voice. Jacob and Grandpa quickly joined in.
“Heave ho and back
we go with tales of pirate treasure.”

Marilyn Helmer
is the author of many books for children, including picturebooks, early readers, novels, riddle books and retold tales. She discovered a knack for storytelling at a very young age, making up wild and creative excuses for the occasional bout of mischief.
Pirate Island Treasure
is her sixth book with Orca and her fifth in the Orca Echoes series. Marilyn and her husband live near Belwood, Ontario. For more information, visit
www.marilynhelmer.com
.