The Mystery of the Pirate's Treasure (8 page)

C
had continued with his presentation, distracting Cody from the treasure hunter's map and coded notebook. Luke took notes on Chad's explanation of nautical navigation, jotting down phrases like, “batten down the hatches,” which meant prepare the ship for a storm, and “beat to quarters,” which meant get ready for battle. Cody could just picture Luke on a pirate ship, climbing up to the
crow's nest to look for other ships, or sword fighting on the plank like Peter Pan.

Quinn was fascinated by the sextant, a small instrument that looked like a complicated protractor with a spyglass attached. Chad told the students that sailors and pirates used sextants to plot the ship's course at sea by measuring the angle between two objects, like a star in the sky and the distant horizon. Cody had a feeling Quinn would get one the next time he went to the military surplus store. Then all he'd need was a ship.

Meanwhile, M.E. studied the map abbreviations that Chad had shown them. It was different from Ms. Stadelhofer's map and indicated how the sailors marked the waters. She'd already learned most of them, and was comparing his symbols with the ones on Ms. Stad's map. Cody was fascinated by how many different symbols and codes there were. The American Indians had their markers—tied grass. The trailblazers had theirs—arranged rocks. And the sailors even had symbols for the open seas … and for buried treasures. Cody found the
orienteering symbols the most interesting. It seemed like everything on a map could be marked with a symbol—bridges, fences, towers, benches, ponds, pits, trees, bushes.

If they actually got a chance to see the treasure hunter's map, Cody hoped the Code Busters would be able to interpret some of the markings. Wouldn't it be awesome if the map actually led to a treasure?
Yeah, right …

“Lunchtime!” Ms. Stad announced, after the students had had a chance to explore the museum. It was noon and Cody was hungry, in spite of the snack she'd had earlier. “Let's meet in the courtyard in five minutes,” Ms. Stad said.

Quinn caught Cody's eye and began finger spelling.

Code Buster's Key and Solution found on
this page
,
this page
.

Cody nodded, then pulled M.E. and Luke aside and finger-spelled the same message to them. While
the other students slowly filed out of the museum, the four Code Busters lingered, pretending to be interested in some of the artifacts near the door. When the coast was clear, Quinn whispered, “I want to know more about that treasure hunter's map and notebook. Let's talk to Chad and see if he'll let us look at them.”

Quinn approached Chad at the back of the museum as the old man gathered up the artifacts he'd shown to the students during his presentation.

“Excuse me,” Quinn said.

Chad Bour looked up and gave a toothy grin to Quinn. “Aye, mate? Got a question for the old sea dog?”

M.E. giggled at Chad's unique way of talking. Cody wondered if the “old sea dog” ever really sailed the ocean. Maybe he was just an actor, playing a part to entertain the students who visited the mission.

Quinn nodded. “You know that treasure hunter you were talking about?”

“Bouchard!” Chad boomed, as if making an
important announcement. “Rumored to be a descendant of the pirate himself.”

“Yeah, him,” Quinn said. “Do you think we could see his map? And maybe his notebook?”

Chad squinted at the four of them for a long moment, and Cody wondered if there really was a map and notebook. Maybe it was all part of the act.

“Well, er, that's really part of my, er, the museum's private collection …”

Luke spoke up. “We're part of a club called the Code Busters, and we like to solve puzzles and crack codes. We just wanted to look at his stuff and see if we could figure out …” Luke paused.

“Figure out where the treasure be?” Chad said, finishing his sentence.

Luke nodded and smiled. “Yeah. We promise we'll be careful.”

“Well, I like your enthusiasm. And I'm a code lover myself. I suppose that would be all right. But you'd have to be mighty careful. His things are very old and very valuable. Got it, mates?”

“Cool!” said Quinn. The other Code Busters
grinned excitedly. They were going to see something that the other students didn't get to see—a real treasure map. And a coded notebook.

“Wait here,” the old man said. He headed for a door at the back of the museum with a sign that read
STAFF ONLY
.

“What about lunch?” M.E. whispered.

“Why are you whispering?” Quinn asked, frowning.

“I don't know,” M.E. replied. “But Stad will miss us if we don't show up soon.”

“She's right,” Cody said. “Maybe one of us should go tell her we're checking something in the museum and we'll be right there.”

“I'll do it,” Luke volunteered, and headed out the door. As he left, Cody thought she spotted the baggy-clothed couple she'd seen twice earlier. This time they seemed to be watching the door.

Chad returned holding a stained, weathered knapsack and gently set it on one of the glass display cases.

“Whoa,” Quinn said, admiring the leather bag.
The initial
B
was carved into the leather.

“Aye.” Chad nodded. “Like I said, it's very old. And very valuable.” He pulled apart the top of the bag that was held together with leather strings, reached in, and withdrew a rolled-up piece of paper, worn at the edges. Next, he pulled out a tattered notebook, bound in leather and tied closed with strings.

Quinn reached for the paper.

“Don't touch it!” Chad said sharply, his eyebrow raised.

Quinn withdrew his hand.

“I'll put it under glass so you can see it, but it'll still be protected.” Chad untied the string around the map and gently unrolled it, then placed a sheet of glass on top of it. The Code Busters crowded around.
A real treasure map!
thought Cody.

“What's up?” Luke asked, coming up behind them.

“Check it out, dude!” Quinn said. He could hardly contain his excitement. Luke looked over Quinn's shoulder.

“Awesome!”

Quinn gazed up at Chad. “Can we copy it?”

“You mean, photocopy? No. Too delicate.”

“No, I mean take a picture of it, with a cell phone?”

“I suppose that would be all right,” Chad said.

Quinn turned to Cody. “You take the picture. I'll sketch it on a piece of paper and make it larger.”

Cody focused her cell phone over the map and took a couple of pictures. Meanwhile, Quinn got out his Code Busters notebook, flipped to a blank page, and drew the map, adding all the marks and symbols.

“Hurry,” Luke said to him. “We don't have much time until Stad comes after us.”

Quinn nodded as he sketched the map.

“Could we see his notebook, too?” Cody asked, still holding her cell phone.

Chad smiled. “I think it's great when young people take an interest in this old stuff.” He untied the leather string of the notebook and opened it to show the kids some of the entries. Turning the pages carefully, he explained what he knew about the contents. It was mostly the ramblings of Franco
Bouchard—descriptions of the area, details of the pirate Hippolyte de Bouchard, his own musings about chasing after the treasure.

When Chad turned to a page that looked different from the others, Cody raised her hand and said, “Stop!” She caught herself and blushed, then said, “Please.”

Chad left the notebook open to the page Cody had indicated. The message that had caught her eye was printed differently from the other entries in the notebook. There were strange numbers underneath.

“Cody! MariaElena! You two boys! It's time to go!” Ms. Stad stood in the doorway, arms crossed, summoning them. Cody knew they had to leave.

“We're coming,” she promised. She turned to Chad and quickly asked, “Do you mind if I take a picture of this part? It's really interesting.”

“Be my guest,” he said. “Just don't touch the notebook.”

Cody snapped a couple of pictures, hoping the passage would be legible on such a small screen. As soon as they went to lunch, she'd copy down the page onto paper so they could see it more clearly.

“Now!” Ms. Stad commanded.

Cody turned to Chad. “Thank you so much,” she said.

“Yeah, thanks,” Quinn added, closing his notebook with a copy of the map.

“Let me know if you come up with something,” Chad said.

Cody put her cell phone back in her backpack while Quinn returned his notebook to his. All four headed for the door where Ms. Stad stood waiting for them. Cody turned to give Chad a last wave of good-bye, but he was bent over the map, still propped open on the display case. She watched as he ran a finger over the glass … as if he were following a path.

Why
, Cody wondered,
is he frowning?

During the lunch hour, Cody copied the odd passage into her notebook. While the others ate their sandwiches, she read her reproduction aloud.

“It doesn't make any sense,” M.E. said, after taking a bite of her cheese sandwich. Everyone had gotten the same bagged lunch. Cody wasn't a fan of cheese, but the school didn't allow peanut butter and jelly—her favorite—because too many kids had allergies. She'd traded M.E. her sandwich for her friend's apple.

“Yeah, just sounds like a bunch of jibberish,” Luke added.

Cody read the first sentence out loud again. “ ‘All
I can find around this place is the path made of cobbler's stone.' ” She shrugged. “I don't know what that's supposed to mean. There are paths all over this place. And they're all made of stone.”

Luke leaned over her shoulder and read the second sentence. “ ‘There's a bench that's carved with the form of a monkey that I have chased until I've tired.' Kind of a funny way to talk,” he said, “but maybe that's how they said things back in the day. Anyone seen a bench carved with a monkey?”

The others shook their heads. Cody continued the excerpt from the notebook: “ ‘The only friend a weasel who thinks I'm the one acting the monkey.' ” Cody paused. “Wait a minute! Listen to these words: ‘monkey,' ‘weasel,' ‘cobbler' … Ring a bell?”

“It sounds like the nursery rhyme ‘Pop Goes the Weasel,' ” M.E. said.

Cody studied the page a few more seconds, then began circling more key words, including “chased,” “fun,” “Pop.”

“Look! ‘Pop,' ‘goes,' ‘the,' ‘weasel'—there are three words in between each of those key words.”
Working backward, she began circling every fourth word. She held up the paper for the others to see.

“You're right!” Quinn said. “All … around … the … cobbler's … bench … Every fourth word is part of the rhyme!”

Code Buster's Solution found on
this page
.

Luke lifted his baseball cap and scratched his head. “So you think this treasure hunter wrote down a coded nursery rhyme? But that still doesn't make any sense.”

Cody's shoulders sagged. Luke was right. What did “Pop Goes the Weasel” have to do with treasure?

“Let's ask Chad when we go back in after lunch,” M.E. said, wrapping up the crusts of her second sandwich. She never ate crusts. She'd heard they made hair curly, and she thought her hair was curly enough.

Ms. Stad called the students to attention once again. “All right, everyone. I want you to stay with your buddy and follow me. Our docents have a few activities planned for you in the museum before we head back to camp. As Chad mentioned, the mission
was mostly self-sufficient, and they made almost everything themselves. Now you're going to learn how to make hardtack bread, drip candles, knotted lanyards, and writing utensils. We'll divide you into small groups so you'll all get a chance to do everything. Everyone ready?”

Cody loved crafts and was glad she got to do the lanyard activity first. The students filed back into the museum and headed for their assigned stations. Four docents, including Chad, stood in four different areas, waiting to share their crafty knowledge. Cody and M.E. gathered with several other kids at a table filled with bowls of colorful twine. A docent name Cheri Eplin showed the group how to knot the twine into a kind of necklace, and soon Cody and M.E. each had a lanyard to wear around her neck. Cody planned to keep her pen in her lanyard.