We rode out of town in the early morning, by now it was probably 3 am, but we were all way too excited to sleep. The inn, our home, had just exploded in flames less than an hour ago, and Billy Bones, our best friend had just died, leaving us with a treasure map. At least that is what we thought it was, we were only going on the words of Billy Bones so far, and now were running around aimlessly on the back of a somewhat stolen horse. It breathed heavily as we turned up the road and over a hill. The pirates that we had left behind in the last town still remained frozen in my mind. They would probably still be there for years to come.
Billy Bones had told us many stories about his years at sea with Captain Flint. Something in particular that he liked to talk about was the ship that he sail the sever seas with. Gonzo was fortunately able to remember the name of the man who had built the ship for Captain Flint and his crew, a man by the name of Trelawny. Supposedly he lived in the town of Portsmouth, which was 22.1 miles from where we lived in Southampton. We had gotten far enough down the road to escape the pirates, but I wish that I would have had that horse to ride all the way to Portsmouth. About 5 miles down the road, we ran into a couple that frequented the Admiral Benbow in. They asked what we were doing out so late, and I explained to them what had happened. I also asked them to take the horse back to the stables, as it was not rightfully mine. So, the rest of the Journey to Portsmouth we had to make on foot, which is why I wished that I still had the horse, Rizzo made me carry him on my back. We still had 5 hours of walking ahead of us.
We continued ahead with our journey, but we were getting quite hungry and tired.
"Do you think Mrs. Bulveridge will be alright?" Gonzo finally broke the silence.
"I suppose so, she told us she would be fine," I replied.
"She always did have a pig headed nature to her," Rizzo consoled us.
The morning sun was starting to rise, and the birds in the trees seemed to be waking up. The ground was so hard that it wore down the surface of my shoes with a harsh fervor. I couldn't go on much longer. Rizzo's little rat feet dug into my back, and it hurt so bad.
"Guys, we need to stop. I can't carry him on my back much longer," I finally pleaded, "the sun is going to be up in the sky soon, and then we really won't be able to sleep. The shipbuilder will just have to wait." With that, we stopped on the side of the road, walked back into the bushes so that we couldn't be seen from the road, and got ready for a very cold sleep.
We were awoken by carriages going down the road, all of them heading to Portsmouth, which is where we need to be.
"Wake up! We have got to get going now, the shipbuilder can't wait forever," I ordered them.
The rest of the journey was fairly uneventful, all until we arrived in the town. We knew what town to look in at least, but we had not the faintest idea of where Master Trelawny was. We had to ask a half a dozen people if they knew where to find him. Finally, we came across a middle aged lady who was able to point us in the direction of his office, "Go down the road and then take a right".
There is was. It was a small red brick building sandwiched between two taller grey buildings, each about three stories high. "Trelawney and Son: Master Shipbuilders" the sigh read. It was a lovely sign, that glistening in golden color that was lit up by the bright sunshine pouring out of the sky and through the slats of the covered porch. The oval shaped sign had a rope border and a magnificent ship towards the top of the plaque that extended out of the perimeters of the sign. The richness of the mere sign alone made me second guess if Trelawney would really finance our proposed venture.
"Whoa, whoa! Reality check here, guys!" Rizzo finally voiced our craziness.
"It is worth a try, Rizzo," I countered him.
Just then a scholarly looking man stepped out of the red brick building and greeted us, asking us if we wanted to see Trelawney. Her informed us that he was gone and would not return for a few months. We turned to leave, with our spirits crushed, but he stopped us suddenly and asked if we wanted to see Master Trelawney's rich half wit son Squire Trelawney. We entered the vast hall, and entered into the squire's study.
"Well gentleman, this is definitely bona fide treasure map," he exclaimed with great satisfaction of knowledge.
Evidently it was a man who lived in his finger that told him so. Even if he was a complete bozo, he had money, and that is what we needed, lots of it. He agreed to finance our journey, complete with a schooner ship with a full crew! We could not believe that it had happened. We were really going on an adventure now! We were going to go get the treasure, but we also had to avoid the pirates that Mr. Bones had warned us about.