Path to the Pyramid
By Sharan McQuack, Launchpad's wife.
Based on: "The Puzzle of the Lost Pyramid", Walt Disney's Uncle Scrooge #266
Which was either based on "Lost Lamp" or was a rough draft of "Lost Lamp", whichever came first.
They did a LOT of stories like that.
Mr. McDuck was treasure hunting in Egypt AGAIN. The Egyptian government had asked him to find a pyramid that had been buried under the sand for ages and ages. They had been looking for it every since they found evidence of it's existence. Finally, they hired Mr. McDuck to find it for them.
I don't PRETEND to understand the details, something about the treasures, when found, touring museums in the US in a display named in Mr. McD's honor and him getting a certain percent of the "take".
Mr. McDuck found it by using his "nose": his sense of smell. The pyramid's treasures included a great deal of gold. We started searching the area in which the pyramid was believed to be. Don't ask ME how Mr. McDuck smelled the gold that was buried under all that sand.(1) But he did.
Once he found the spot where the pyramid was buried, we put up markers and rented some digging machines. The operators or the machines dug down until they found the pyramid. The machines did not touch the pyramid itself, but dug around it. Then we dug it out by hand, so not to damage it.(2)
Mr. McDuck had Launchpad there, not only to help find the treasures, but in case any bad guys showed up. Also to fly it home safely. If Mr. McD doesn't know that Launchpad would sooner slit his own throat then steal, he ought to.
I was there to take photos for the Duckburg Daily News.
There was no sign of an entrance, but there were some loose slabs. Launchpad used a lever to loosen them further and thus made an entrance.
Then Launchpad let Mr. McDuck go first. Launchpad learns from his mistakes and knows he tends to be a tad impulsive.(3) Mr. McDuck was very, very careful- not only looking for booby-traps, but for accidents that might happen simply because the pyramid was ancient and delicate.
We all looked for where the Treasure might be hidden, but there were grave robbers even in the time of Ancient Egypt, so the Treasure were well hidden.
"Hey, Mr. McD- look here! Ants! The red, biting kind!" Launchpad said.
"We are looking for treasure, not ants, Launchpad." Mr. McDuck snapped.
"Yeah, but why are they here, unless there is something in this pyramid to eat? Didn't the pharaohs bury food with them, as well as treasure?" Launchpad asked.
"Why, yes! Sometimes they did- they thought they would need such things for their journey to the next world. And in the next world." Mr. McDuck said. "How did YOU know that?"
"From YOU. I heard you say that. Not everything I hear goes in one ear and out the other. It matters if I think it is interesting or not." said Launchpad.
"The ants are going and coming from right here." Launchpad said, pointing out a wall the ants were crawling in and out under.
"Hey, look! There are slits in the wall...like a door." Launchpad noticed.
And he pushed on the wall. And fell into a hidden room.
We all followed him. Launchpad had already picked himself up and dusted himself off.
"Shouldn't of pushed it quite that hard. I expected it to stick." Launchpad said, embarrassed.
"There are those ants, again." I said.
We followed the ants and they led us to an ancient burial spot. Treasures and grain and pots full of honey were stored next to a sarcophagus.
"Ha! Very clever, Launchpad! Those ants found the treasure for us! We'll leave them the grain and the honey, as a reward!' Mr. McDuck said.
"Actually, you will be handing ME the treasure- right now." an all-too-familiar voice said.
"FLINTHEART GLOMGOLD!" Mr. McDuck yelled.
It was, indeed, Flintheart. With a few Beagle Boys as "muscle", come to steal the treasure. Glomgold had a gun pointing right towards us, as did the Beagles and they obviously meant business.
"Hand over the treasure!" Flintheart demanded.
Mr. McDuck kicked sand in Glomgold's face and we all ran. But Flintheart and the Beagles cut us off and blocked our path.
"Back into that hidden room you found, Scroogie-I'll lock all of you in it and take the Treasure!" Glomgold ordered.
"Flintheart- spare my nephews, please!" Mr. McDuck pleaded.
"Now, why should I do that when dead ducks tell no tales?" Glomgold asked. "Have fun eating the ancient grain and honey- till your air runs out!"
"YOU eat the honey, Glomgold!" Launchpad yelled.
And he threw the honey at Flintheart who, startled, fired his gun. The wild shot blasted the pot full of honey and both the Beagles and Flintheart were covered the honey. We, fortunately, had been forced too far back for the honey to hit us. This proved to be VERY lucky.
"Why did you do that, fool? I still have plenty of bullets!" Glomgold asked.
"You'll see. Any minute now." Launchpad said.
And hundreds of thousands of red ants started crawling all over Glomgold and the Beagles to get at the honey. And they bit and stung Flintheart and the Beagles. Glomgold and the Beagles tried to swat the ants, but this just got the insects mad and they stung and bit all the more.
"I was actually throwing the honey at you, Flintheart, but this worked even better. This way the Beagles suffer, too." Launchpad said.
"Get these stupid ants OFF of us!" screamed Flintheart and the Beagles.
"Surrender to us and we'll take you to the plane. We have water on board the plane to wash the ants off with!" Mr. McDuck commanded.
"That means jail!" wailed Flintheart.
"Do you prefer the ants?" Mr. McDuck asked.
"OK, OK." Glomgold replied.
The Trins came to tie them up. The Beagles were too miserable from ant bites and too used to jail to protest. But when they tried to tie up Flintheart, he pushed them down and ran.
As soon as Glomgold was outside, he rolled over and over in the sand until the ants were gone, then he got up and ran off and disappeared. The Beagles, seeing this, also tried to escape, but were tied up too well. Not only their hands, but their feet as well. When they tried to run, they tripped and fell.
Keeping the Beagles from escaping and making sure the Triplets were OK kept us too busy to stop Flintheart from getting away. But WE had the Treasure and the Beagles.
"Thanks, little guys!' Launchpad said to the red ants.
We marched the Beagles to the plane. Launchpad loaded the treasure on to one of the digging machines and drove it back to the plane. (4)Once they were locked in the plane with us, we let them wash off the ants. We even treated the ant bites with stuff from the first aid kit.
We flew back the Treasure to Cairo, where we turned the Treasure and the Beagles over to the authorities. The Beagles knew better than to implicate Flintheart. THEY got arrested, but Glomgold was clean.
Half a loaf is better than none.
Soon, the treasure was touring museums in the US, making money for the museums, and Mr. McDuck and probably Egypt, too.
The End.
(1) I think foxes can smell prey way under ground...but a duck?
(2) This is also what probably happened in "Lost Lamp", since it would take forever to dig up a pyramid by hand. File it under "artistic license" and "cutting to the chase" .
(3) Launchpad is working on that, the way I'm working on controlling my temper.
(4) Launchpad called the people we had rented the machines from and told them where to pick them up.