by Charles Tang
“I understand you found something on the beach the other day. A piece of an old map?” the man asked.
“Yes, I did,” Benny replied. “Hey, I remember you!”
The man smiled. “You do? Good.”
While he was asking questions, Jessie and Violet tiptoed over to the front desk.
“I’m really sorry about all of this,” the librarian said. “I didn’t mean to—”
“It’s okay,” Jessie whispered. “But we need your help.”
“Sure, what?”
Jessie brought the book out from behind her back and set it on the desk.
“Could you copy pages thirty-four through thirty-seven for us?”
The woman smiled. “Of course. Just give me a second.”
“. . . I didn’t know what it was,” Benny continued, “so I gave it to the man for five dollars.”
“Five dollars? Do you have any idea how much that treasure is worth?” the man asked.
“Treasure? What treasure?” asked Benny. He and Henry looked at each other.
“John Fin—er, nothing. What I meant to say was, an old bottle like that must be worth more than five dollars. I meant it was a real treasure. And you gave it away for almost nothing,” the man said.
“Not nothing,” Benny corrected him, rubbing his stomach and smiling. “I bought five slices of pizza with the money!”
The man slapped himself on the forehead. “Pizza!” he said to the ceiling.
Back at the desk, the librarian reappeared from the back room with a few sheets of paper. She gave them to Jessie, who quickly folded them and put them into her pocket. Then Jessie took out a dollar bill and offered it to the woman.
“No, don’t worry about it. It was the least I could do after causing you all this trouble. Do you still want the book?” she asked.
“No, ma’am,” Jessie said, “but we’ll put it back on the shelf if you—”
“No need, I’ll take care of it.” She smiled warmly. “Good luck with your search. I hope you find the treasure.”
Jessie and Violet smiled back. “Thanks.” They left the library through the back door.
Fifteen minutes later, Henry and Benny met up with Jessie and Violet at an ice-cream parlor around the corner, just as they had planned. Everyone congratulated Benny on fooling the man from the beach into thinking he didn’t know anything about the treasure. They all agreed Benny should go into acting when he grew up. He just smiled and slipped another spoonful of chocolate ice cream into his mouth.
CHAPTER 4
Lots of Stairs and Millionaires
“I can’t say I’m happy about this,” Grandfather said after hearing of his grandchildren’s latest experience. They were all back on the porch, enjoying the coolness of the late afternoon.
“Oh, James, they’re fine,” Tom pointed out, patting Benny on the back. “I think Benny handled the situation brilliantly.”
“I didn’t like lying to that man,” Benny assured his grandfather, “but I wasn’t sure what he would do if I told him the truth, that I still had the piece of the map.”
Grandfather nodded. “I suppose it was the best thing to do.”
“So, aside from all that, what did you learn about the map?” Tom asked.
“Well, each piece was definitely buried in a different part of the world,” Jessie replied, “just like that book of yours said.”
“And where are the others now?”
“They used to belong to three separate people,” Henry answered. “But according to those pages we copied, they’re now all owned by some millionaire named Winston Walker. He’s the man who found the last piece before Benny found his. He bought the first two and found the third.”
“Did you find pictures of the other three?” Grandfather asked.
“No, just one,” Jessie said. “Violet drew a copy of it and then joined it to Benny’s. There’s a number ‘1’ at the bottom of it, so it looks as though we’ve got pieces number one and four.”
“If we could put all the pieces together,” Violet continued, “they would make a perfect square. The piece Benny found belongs in the bottom right-hand corner, and the piece I drew from the book goes in the top left.”
“Once you find pictures of the other two,” Tom said, “you’ll be the first people to see the complete map in hundreds of years.”
“And then we can find the treasure!” Benny said gleefully.
“That’s very possible,” Tom told him. “Very possible indeed. So what’s the next step in your investigation?”
Henry said, “We’re thinking of going to the historical society, if there is one around here. Maybe someone there could help us.”
“We have one,” Tom said. “It’s inside the lighthouse on the other side of town, near the miniature golf course. It’s like a little museum inside, and there’s a library. Plenty of books to go through.”
“Sounds like just the right place,” Henry said. “I guess we’ll head over there first thing in the morning.”
“Welcome to Cherrystone Harbor’s lighthouse and historical society,” the man behind the front desk said the next morning.
He closed the book he was reading and smiled at the Aldens. “My name is Cliff. What brings you kids here today?”
“We were hoping to visit the library,” Henry replied.
Cliff patted the book. “Interested in brushing up on your local history?”
“Sort of,” Henry said. “We’re visiting only for a few days, but we really like the town.”
“Oh, I see,” Cliff said, nodding. “Well, the library is upstairs and to the left.” He pointed to a staircase on the other side of the room.
The children turned to go. “Thank you,” Henry told him with a polite wave of his hand.
Fifteen minutes and a lot of huffing and puffing later, the Aldens reached the last step. The library was at the very top of the lighthouse!
It was a simple square room with bookshelves for walls. There was a table in the center with a few chairs around it. A window on the left side had been opened, and a cool breeze was blowing the drapes around.
“I’m too tired to even read!” Benny cried, pulling out one of the chairs and slumping into it.
“Yeah, that was quite a climb,” Henry commented, wiping the perspiration from his forehead.
Could John Finney’s treasure be worth all this?
“Well, I guess we should get busy,” Henry suggested, and with that the Aldens began their hunt for information.
This time they decided to keep an eye out for any book that sounded as though it might tell them something about John Finney or his treasure.
Nearly an hour later, after it seemed as though they had gone through every book in the room, Jessie said, “I vote we spend the afternoon at the beach and forget about John Finney’s treasure for the rest of the day!”
“Me, too!” Benny cried out.
“Great idea,” Violet said wearily as she closed another volume.
“Yeah, I guess we should take a break,” Henry agreed, looking out the window at the beautiful blue sky.
“We’re not going to have any luck here,” Jessie said, taking a seat next to Violet. “I’ve looked through all the books on my side of the room, and so has Benny. And Violet has only two left.”
Henry frowned. “Okay, perhaps we’ll go someplace else tomorrow. Any idea where else we might—”
“Oh, my goodness, look at this!” Violet yelped. She held open the second-to-last book. On the right-hand page was a picture of one of the map pieces.
And it wasn’t one of the two the Aldens already had.
“What’s it say, Violet? Read it! And then we’ve got to draw a copy of that piece!”
Violet set the book flat in front of her. “Okay. According to the text, the piece shown here is piece number two. It was found accidentally by a man digging a well in Italy in 1872. It was passed down through his family until eight years ago, when Winston Walker bought it for eleven thousand dollar
s.”
“Wow!” Henry exclaimed.
“There’s some more information about the first piece,” Violet went on, “but nothing we don’t know.” She smiled as she read on. “It also says that the fourth and final piece has yet to be found.” She looked up at Benny. “You took care of that, didn’t you?”
“Sure did!” Benny said.
Violet read some more, and as she did, her smile disappeared as quickly as it had come.
“What’s wrong?” Jessie asked.
Violet slid the book across to her sister, pointing to a paragraph. Henry and Benny came around and read along over her shoulder. The more they all read, the deeper their hearts sank.
“Oh, no . . .” Jessie said in a whisper.
“‘Oh, no’ is right,” Henry agreed. “Let’s get out of here. After we get back from the beach, we’ve got some serious thinking to do.”
As planned, the children spent the rest of the day along the shore, enjoying the sunshine. In the meantime, Grandfather helped Tom do some repairs on the top floor of the house.
Violet collected a few more shells, then sat on her blanket in the sand and put two necklaces together. She gave one to Jessie, who was lying next to her. Henry and Benny spent most of the time in the water. There were a few people reading the newspaper from the day before, and that worried the Aldens a bit. But happily no one made the connection between the boy whose picture was on the front page and the one who was swimming around in the ocean.
The Aldens left the beach at around four o’clock to head back to Tom’s. They looked like typical tourists with their sandals and their towels slung over their shoulders.
Just before they reached Tom’s street, a shiny black limousine pulled up to the curb next to them. The back window came down, and a man dressed in a suit leaned forward.
“Excuse me,” he said with a smile. “Would you happen to be the Alden children?”
Henry said, “Er . . . yes.” The man was smiling, but for some reason Henry didn’t think he could be trusted.
The man looked down at Benny. “Then you must be the little boy who found the bottle the other day.”
“Y-yes, that’s right,” Benny said.
The man put out his hand to shake. A diamond ring on his fourth finger sparkled in the afternoon sunlight. “Pleased to meet you.”
“Uh, you, too,” Benny replied. He didn’t want to shake the man’s hand, but he didn’t want to be rude, either.
The man reached into the pocket of his suit jacket and took out an envelope. Then he held it open so the children could see what was inside—a thick wad of fresh twenty-dollar bills.
“There’s a thousand dollars in here. That’s a lot of money for a little boy like you. You can have it if I can have that bottle you found. In fact, I don’t even want the bottle. I’d just like to have what’s inside it.”
“Uh, I don’t think so,” Benny said.
“Really? May I ask why?” said the man.
“Because I’d have to talk to my grandfather first,” Benny told him.
“Yes,” Jessie said, coming forward and putting her arms around her little brother. “We would have to talk to our grandfather.”
The man pretended to look hurt. “Oh, do we have to get him involved? Can’t we just make a deal right here?”
“I’m sorry,” Henry cut in, “but we really shouldn’t be talking to strangers in the first place.”
The man’s smile suddenly came back. “That’s very smart,” he said, although he didn’t sound as if he meant it.
Then he reached into his pocket again and took out a business card. “Well, when you’re ready to make a deal, after you’ve talked to your grandfather, please give me a call.”
“Ummm, okay,” Henry said, looking over the card quickly.
“Have a nice day, children,” the man told them as the window went back up. Then the car pulled away and was gone.
The others huddled around Henry to see what was on the card. There was nothing but a name and a phone number, and the name made their hearts jump:
Winston Walker
1-732-555-0241
“I think we’d better get back and tell Grandfather and Tom about this,” Henry said sullenly.
“I think you’re right,” Jessie replied. “Let’s go.”
CHAPTER 5
An Unwelcome Visitor
“I’m not surprised Walker turned up,” Tom said as he brought his fork to his mouth. He and Grandfather had made reservations at a nice restaurant called the Crab’s Claw Inn, right on Oyster Bay. “He has obviously been after John Finney’s treasure for years.”
“But how did he get here so fast?” Violet wondered aloud. “Does he live around here?”
“No,” Tom said, “but a man with that much money travels all the time.” Tom snapped his fingers. “He can be anywhere in an instant. He probably saw the story in the paper.”
“Speaking of which,” Grandfather said, reaching into his jacket pocket, “look at this.” He opened the front page of a different newspaper. This one was called the Daily Tribune, and there was Benny’s face again. It was the same picture as last time.
“This is one of the biggest newspapers on the East Coast,” Grandfather said. “Your story is getting around fast. Pretty soon Winston Walker will have a lot of competition for that treasure.”
“So what do we do?” asked Jessie.
“You don’t have to do anything if you don’t want to,” Tom replied. “Or you can take Winston Walker’s offer if you wish.” He looked at Benny. “It’s your piece of the map, Benny, so it’s your decision.”
Benny had been playing with his food but not eating it. The others were beginning to get worried. It was a rare moment when Benny wasn’t hungry.
“I want to keep it,” he said firmly.
“So then keep it,” Tom told him. “Have you found out anything about the other pieces?”
The children looked at one another with silent, somber faces, which puzzled Tom. “What’s wrong?”
“We got a picture of one of them, piece number two, but the third piece, well . . . that’s the one Winston Walker found, and . . . he’ll never let anyone else see it or photograph it. He’s the only one who knows what it looks like. That’s what the book in the Lighthouse Library said.”
Tom looked at Grandfather, then back at Henry. “So what are you going to do?”
“We’re not sure yet,” Henry admitted. “We were thinking maybe we could put the other three pieces together and figure out where the treasure is from there, but . . .”
Tom frowned. “I doubt John Finney would make it that easy. Knowing him, he probably made sure you needed all four pieces.”
“That’s what we figured, too,” Jessie said.
Henry sighed, then smiled. “We’ll think of something,” he told them. He wanted to keep a positive outlook on the situation. But deep down inside, neither he nor any of the other Alden children had a clue as to what that something would be.
After they all got back from the restaurant, Tom and Grandfather turned in for the night. The children, on the other hand, decided to play a card game. They sat on one of the beds in the boys’ room. Watch was lying on the carpet near the doorway. Playing games with one another was something the Aldens always enjoyed. But tonight they enjoyed it even more because it helped them forget all about John Finney’s treasure for a little while.
“Do you have a . . . seven?” Jessie asked Benny, holding all her cards in a fan.
Benny giggled. “Nope! Go fish!”
Jessie frowned and took another card from the deck. Then she groaned and took another. By the time she got to her fifth, she was rolling her eyes and groaning. “Who taught him how to be such a good cardplayer?”
“Grandfather,” Henry said. “Remember? He taught all of us how to play.”
Caught up in their card game, the Aldens didn’t hear what was happening in Tom’s backyard. But Watch did hear something. He got up and hurried out of the
room. The children, still playing cards, didn’t notice him.
When Watch got to the first floor, he ran to the door that led to Tom’s study and sniffed along the bottom. Then he began growling loudly.
“Do you hear that?” Violet asked. “I think it’s Watch.” The children ran out of the room and hurried down the stairs.
“Watch, be quiet!” Henry said when he got to the bottom. But Watch just kept barking and scratching at the door.
“He must hear something in there!” Violet said.
Without hesitating, Henry opened the door and pushed it back. Then he reached over and flicked on the light. The intruder was almost all the way out the window. If the children had waited another second or so, they wouldn’t have seen anyone at all.
Watch zoomed across the carpet, but the thief jumped down just in time. Then he—or she—hurried across the lawn, swiftly scaled the fence, and disappeared into the night.
Henry snapped his fingers. “Just missed ’em!”
Grandfather and Tom appeared in the doorway. “What’s all this racket?” Grandfather asked.
“There was someone in here!” Benny replied. He looked scared, so Violet came up behind him and draped her arms around him.
“What?” Tom said. “Did you see the person’s face?”
Henry shook his head. “No. When I turned on the light, the person was almost out the window.”
“How strange,” Tom said. “Nothing like that has ever happened here. Someone must know we have the fourth piece of the map.”
He went outside and apologized to the other guests who had awoken because of the noise. If any of them wanted to go to another bed-and-breakfast, he told them, he’d understand. But they all said no, they wanted to stay. They knew it wasn’t Tom’s fault. Since everything seemed to be under control, they all went back to bed.
Coming back into his study, Tom said, “Is anything missing?”
“Here’s the bottle,” Jessie said, standing by the desk.
“And there’s the piece of the map,” Henry said, pointing to it on the table.
“But why didn’t the person take it?” Jessie asked.