After hearing of his grandchildren’s latest adventure, James Alden decided they would eat dinner that night in the kitchen rather than on the front porch, where they might be seen.
As they all quietly ate their meals, Tom read the latest article about John Finney’s treasure in a paper called the Atlantic Informer. The picture of Benny that Meredith Baker had taken on the beach was still the only one the newspapers had, so they kept running it over and over again.
“Says here John Finney’s treasure is probably worth more than ten million dollars,” he announced. He stroked his chin and added, “I wonder who made up that number?”
Violet, who was looking down at another paper while cutting her steak, said, “This one says it’s worth only four million.”
“Mine says six,” Benny chimed in through a mouthful of mashed potatoes.
“Mine says six, too,” Jessie added. Her newspaper was the same one that ran the first story and picture a few days before.
Tom said, “Maybe it is six.”
Henry shook his head. “I don’t know. This one here says twelve.”
Tom whistled. “Wow, twelve million dollars. That’s quite a high price to put on a treasure no one’s even seen in nearly two hundred years.”
All the wild stories surrounding the map and the treasure had become so silly that neither Tom nor the Aldens could take them seriously anymore.
“Hey, Benny, according to this story, you’re eleven,” Violet said, giggling. “I didn’t know you were older than me!”
Grandfather said in a grumpy voice, “And the Atlantic Informer thinks you’re from California.”
“The next one will say I’m from Mars!” Benny told them, and everyone, including Grandfather, broke out into laughter.
When things settled down, Grandfather said, “We really will have to do something soon, before the situation gets any worse.”
“Like what?” Henry asked.
“Like either you try to find the treasure or you let Winston Walker have the last piece of the map,” suggested Grandfather.
“I . . . I don’t like that second idea,” Benny said.
“I don’t, either,” said Jessie. Violet and Henry nodded in agreement.
“Then you’ve got to find the treasure without that missing piece,” said Grandfather. “And that’s not going to be very e—”
The front doorbell rang. Tom got up to answer it. He knew it couldn’t be one of the guests because they all had keys.
The man Tom found on his front porch was so tall and muscular that he almost looked like a giant. A tiny blue knapsack was slung over his shoulder.
“Can I help you?” Tom asked.
“Is this the house where the boy who found the old bottle is staying?” the man asked.
“Can I ask what your interest in the boy is?” Tom wanted to know.
“My name’s Jack Ford. I used to work for Winston Walker,” said the man. “I was with him in Brazil when he found the third piece of the map. I have a feeling you’d like to know what it looks like.”
Tom just stood there, speechless. Then he invited Jack Ford inside.
They all went into Tom’s study. Jack sat in the comfortable chair by the fireplace, his knapsack lying beside him like a sleeping dog.
“First of all, you should know that Winston Walker is a bit crazy. He’s obsessed with that treasure,” Jack began.
“Obsessed?” Benny repeated, not sure what the word meant.
“He thinks about it all the time,” Jack said, pointing to his own head. “It’s like the only thing in the world that he cares about.”
“Oh . . . yeah,” Benny said. “We already noticed that.”
“Why were you in Brazil with him?” Henry asked.
“I was a digger, which means I was good with a shovel,” said Jack. “I’d been all around the world doing that kind of work. But working for Winston Walker was a horrible job. He made us sleep in ratty tents and eat lousy food. We had to work nonstop ten hours a day, and we didn’t get Saturdays and Sundays off.”
Violet said, “That’s terrible.”
“That’s exactly what he was,” said Jack, nodding.
“Then why did you keep working for him?” Jessie asked.
Jack frowned. “Because I thought there’d be a big payoff. I thought as soon as the job was finished, he was going to give us all a huge chunk of money.”
“Why did you think that?”
“He told us whoever found the next piece of the map would get a huge bonus.”
Benny said, “You found it, didn’t you?”
“Yes, I did. It was under a big banana tree, about a foot down in the ground.”
“In a bottle?” Benny guessed.
“Uh-huh, the exact same type of bottle you found,” Jack told him. “I was by myself, and I ground out the cork with a stick. I wanted to make sure the piece of paper inside was part of John Finney’s treasure map before I went yelling about it. About a year earlier, some other guy thought he’d found it, but he was wrong. Winston Walker fired him.”
“How mean,” Jessie said.
“Winston Walker could be very mean when he was angry. Like I said, he wasn’t the nicest guy in the world. But anyway, I shook the paper out of the bottle, and sure enough, it was the third piece of the map,” Jack said.
“What did Walker do?” Henry asked.
“Well, I went over and showed it to him, and he was as excited as a little kid. All the other workers cheered and carried me around on their shoulders. That night, Walker took us to a nice restaurant. The next morning he gave us our money and sent us back to the United States. But I never got that bonus he promised. He said he’d send it to me, but he never did. In fact, I never heard from him again.”
Grandfather said, “Was it a lot of money, if you don’t mind my asking?”
“It was five thousand dollars. That might not be a lot of money to him, but it sure was a lot to me. Still is.” Jack went on to tell them that he had been sending money to his mother back in the United States. She lived alone and didn’t have enough money. He had told her about the bonus, then called her when he found the piece of the map. They were both very excited. He promised to give her the money so she could finish paying for her house.
“That’s so awful,” Violet said sadly. “And to think I felt sorry for Winston Walker.”
“Oh, you still should,” Jack replied. “His greed is a disease, just as bad as any other, and worse than some. It controls him.”
“So then why have you come here?” Tom asked. “I mean, why are you so willing to tell us what the third piece looks like? How come you’re not interested in getting the piece Benny found so you can have the treasure for yourself?”
“Because I don’t want to end up like Walker,” Jack replied. He became thoughtful. “If I found the treasure and became rich, I might start acting like him and thinking like him. He thinks money brings you happiness, but he’s one of the unhappiest people I’ve ever known. And because he’s so unhappy, he makes other people unhappy. I’m not saying all rich people are unhappy, but he certainly is.”
Suddenly Violet did feel sorry for Walker all over again, although she didn’t say so.
“I made a promise to myself—if I was alive when the last piece was found, I swore I would go to the people who found it and let them know what the third one looked like. I know Winston Walker hasn’t let anyone else see it. Only two people in the world know what it looks like—Winston and I.” Jack took a sip of the lemonade Tom had given him. “Either way, I’ve always had a good memory, and I know exactly what’s on that third piece. I’ll be glad to tell you about it. I saw Benny’s picture in the paper while I was at my home in upstate New York. I’m glad that someone else has a chance to find that treasure.”
Tom took out the drawing that Violet had made of the three pieces of the map and laid it on the table. The missing part was in the lower left-hand corner.
With pencil in hand, Jack slowly and carefully began adding the final images. There were some more trees, a few rocks, and, strangely, a bird sitting on its nest. He drew six of these, all of equal size.
“Is that a . . . a nesting bird?” Jessie asked.
“Yes. I was surprised by that, too. I’m not sure what it means. Birds nest all over the world,” said Jack.
“This is probably the first time anyone’s seen this map in its complete form in two hundred years,” Tom said almost in a whisper.
“Can you tell where the treasure is, Mr. Harrison?” asked Henry.
Tom scratched his head. “No, not yet. I guess it would be safe to say this is the ocean over here,” he said, pointing to the squiggly lines. “And these trees . . . well, they could be any trees. Same with the rocks. But the birds . . . why do they seem familiar?”
He walked around the room, stroking his chin while the others kept studying the map. He stopped at the window and stared into the backyard. There were some birds fluttering around the feeder he had hung from one of the trees. He watched them for a moment, hoping they would help him remember. But nothing happened.
And then it hit him.
“The nature trail!”
Everyone turned at once. “Huh?” Henry grunted.
“There’s a nature trail over near the bicycle path. I used to go there with my students. About a mile down, there’s a bird sanctuary. The Department of Environmental Protection declared the area a protected nesting site so no one could build on it. Birds have been nesting there for hundreds of years!” Tom rushed over and looked at the completed map again. “That has to be it. It has to be. And this part here, where the X is . . .” He tapped the spot with his fingers. “That must be the little grove of pine trees. They’re very, very old. That has to be it,” he said again, softly to himself. “It has to be. . . .” |