Treasure Hunt by a Lake
By Sharan McQuack, Launchpad's wife.
With thanks to "Weresprirt" and "Scrooge Shorts - Huey, Dewey, and Louie: The Lake Island Treasure", which inspired me.
If you liked the Ducktales episode "Crown of Geghuis Khan, read "the Abominables" by Eva Ibbotson she should rest in peace. My favorite book by hers is "Journey to the River Sea" because it shows how one person's hell is another person's heaven.
One Sunday in Duckburg the Trins were looking for an adventure. They heard their great-uncle Scrooge yelling at somebody and ran to see what was up.
"Out! Out you cheat! And take your fake treasure map with you!" screamed Mr. McDuck at a perfect stranger duck.
"Sir, I TOLD you it was a COPY of the original map..." the stranger duck replied, calmly.
"Then where is the original?" Mr. McDuck sneered.
"I left it at home because it's old and delicate! I made the copy so I could show it to you..."stranger kept on.
"You tried to cheat me with a fake map! To make me pay to find a nonexistent treasure! OUT!" Mr. McDuck bellowed.
The duck left.
"We're sorry our Unca Scrooge yelled at you. What's this about a treasure?" Huey asked.
" My name is John Reid. (1) I was left an old treasure map by my late father. I copied it and brought a copy to show your Uncle, hoping he would pay to find the treasure for a percentage of the treasure. But he got into his head that I was trying to cheat him and now he won't listen to me." John answered.
"Maybe we can help? We know a crazy pilot who will take you to where ever the treasure is and he might not even ask for anything..." Dewey said.
So...the Trins took John to Launchpad and they explained the whole story to Launchpad and me.
"It's been a slow news day. I bet I can sell photos of this little trip to the papers for more than enough money to pay to go there and back, even if we don't find the treasure. " I said.
"I'm supposed to fly cargo near there. Do you mind riding in my cargo plane? That way I don't have to charge you anything. I'm going there anyway." Launchpad shrugged.
"Fine!" John said.
We all climbed into Launchpad's cargo plane which was luckily carrying a cargo was light and small, practically on top of where the Treasure supposedly was.
Launchpad delivered the cargo and then we walked to where the treasure was.
"The treasure is on an island on this lake..." John said.
"Which one?" Louie asked.
Then, we saw that the lake had lots and lots of teeny weeny isles- little more than rocks- on it.
Dewey took out a small electronic device out of a pocket on his shirt.
"Let me use this thing our Unca Scrooge is testing to go wifi. There! I'm linked with the web version of the Jr. Woodchuck Guidebook." (2) Dewey said.
"Says here that there was once one island on this lake. The authorities tried to get rid of the island because it got in the way of boats and fishing. Only whoever they hired to blast the island to nothing goofed and now there are lots and lots of little rock isles in the lake." Dewey read. (3)
"That doesn't tell us which island the treasure is on now." Louie said.
"The island was still in one piece when my Dad made this map." John said, reading the year the island was blasted into pieces over Dewey's shoulder.
"Was the Treasure shattered with the island?" Huey worried.
"I wouldn't think so. It was buried underground and it probably wasn't that big. So, no, I wouldn't think so." John said.
"The map shows the treasure was buried on the northwest part of the island. We can ignore any rock too far south or east." Launchpad said.
"Still leaves a lot of rocks." I said.
"I think I can narrow it down to 20, by looking at this map. I could narrow it down better if this map hadn't been drawn by a amateur map maker, but it's too crudely drawn a map...no offense." Launchpad said, to John.
"None taken. My Dad drew the map so I could find the treasure, but that wasn't his job." John shrugged.
"There's a picture of the treasure chest on the map. It looks like a chest made of metal, not wood." I said.
"So?" HDL chorused.
"There's a metal detector in the plane. And there is nothing built on the tiny isles. Just rocks." I said.
"So if we got in a boat with a metal detector and rowed around the isles, we could save a lot of time." Launchpad said.
"Why not two boats?" John suggested. "Better yet, three."
So Launchpad unloaded three inflatable rafts from the plane and we split up. Launchpad and Huey in one boat, me and Louie in another, John and Dewey in a third. We each had a metal detector.
"Why did you have THREE metal detectors in your plane?" Huey asked.
"The guy Mr. McDuck wants to sell them to won't buy them until I swear they work and I wouldn't do that until I knew that for a fact." Launchpad replied. "Hopefully, now I can tell him they work with a clean conscience."
Well, the metal detectors worked...but they all too clearly indicted the treasure was under water, and not on ANY of the rocks. Figures.
"Got scuba gear?" I asked.
"Sure. When I saw the treasure was on a lake, I brought some just in case." Launchpad replied. " I'm still a Jr. Woodchuck. Be prepared."
I stayed near the others while we dove for the treasure. I didn't have much experience scuba diving and I'm not that great a swimmer still. Luckily, this was calm fairly shallow lake, very good for a newbe scuba diver.
We swam around, Launchpad carrying the metal detector. We had a few false alarms before we finally found the treasure chest, but we found it and dug it up and brought it to the shore.
Hardly had we done so, did a few local crooks come along and swipe it. It's kind of impossible to run and chase crooks in a scuba suit. The air packs are heavy, the rubber suits are sweaty and then there is the web feet which lord knows why a duck needs. (To fit on the duck's foot?)
By the time we got the suits off, the crooks had run for their truck. But remember, Launchpad's plane wasn't very far away. We ran for it, took off in pursuit of the truck. I radioed for the cops. The crooks didn't expect to be chased by a plane. We landed in front of them. The cops soon had them captured.
"Can you at least let us see what the treasure was before we get arrested?" the crooks asked.
We were curious ourselves. So, Launchpad asked the cops for permission and since the cops were curious, too, we opened the chest. And found...bags of small change. Dimes, nickels, pennies, quarters.
"WHAT?" All of us chorused.
"Hello, boys. Did you like your birthday surprise?" Mr. McDuck , who had seemingly materialized out of nowhere.
"Unca Scrooge! We thought you had forgotten about our birthday! You said nothing this morning..."Huey said.
"An emergency emerged. I was busy with some business. I didn't have time. Luckily, I had asked John here to meet with me. I was interested in the treasure map his father let him. However, John told me that his Dad always tried to pry him away from the books and out into the outdoors." Mr. McDuck said.
"I figured the treasure either didn't exist or wasn't much of a treasure. Dad never had much money." John said. "Mr. McDuck paid me to do this as a birthday surprise for you three."
"I thought that a treasure hunt is what you would like best for your birthday. And it kept you busy until I had time for you three."Mr. McDuck said.
"So there is no real treasure?" Dewey asked.
"Maybe there is. These coins are old and shiny. Like a coin collection." Louie began.
"It probably is my Dad's old coin collection. So what?" John shrugged.
"This penny..."In God we Trust" is stamped on it TWICE. Didn't you tell us that double-die coins are often worth real money?" Louie asked.
"Let me see those coins!" Mr. McDuck said. "I thought you told me there was no real treasure!"
"I didn't think there was! When my Dad's old coin collection didn't turn up after he died, I assumed he sold them or got tired of them." John sputtered. " I never thought they could be worth anything."
"These coins are worth a fortune. Some are double-dies, or other rare and valuable coins. I'm very interested in buying them from you..." Mr. McDuck stated.
"Sure! And I used to tease my Dad about his silly coin collection!" John said.
"So there was a real treasure, after all." the Trins chorused.
"Come on, boys! Let's go home! Mrs. Beakly is preparing a birthday supper for you, even as I speak and you don't want to be late for your own party!" Mr. McDuck said.
"Yay!" cheered the Trins.
The End.
(1)I named him after the Lone Ranger's real name.
(2)Of course there's a web version of Jr. Woodchuck Guidebook. This is the 21th century, ain't it? I'm not techno-phobic. I'm techno-cautious. "Are we sure this is a GOOD idea?" I think is a fair question. To put books that need constant updating, like encyclopedias online makes sense. I think you lose something reading book books on line. I know I have to print my stories to edit them properly.
(3) If you don't think an expert can goof like that, let me tell you about the firehouse of the idiot architect in Co op City. It was built with only one garage door for the firetruck to get in and out. Said door was too small for the hook and ladder to get in and out. And Coop has 35 buildings that are at least 23 stories tall. They had to knock down part of a wall to make a new big door for the hook and ladder.