The Legendary Eye of Mack

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Tortuga Island

Kit stepped closer to Baloo as he nervously looked around at the unwashed, shifty-eyed patrons of the squalid bar. Like Don Karnage's gang, the men who frequented Tortuga Island were opportunists; they took every opportunity to rob anyone and everyone.

Unfortunately, Baloo was the one getting robbed at the moment. He was a sucker for the Tortuga Turtle Toss.

The game seemed simple enough. There were three turtle shells. Bub, the hyena managing the game, put a little white marble under one of the shells then slid the shells around on the table. Find the little white marble and double your money. Don't find the little white marble, double Bub's money.

Baloo confidently pointed to the middle turtle shell. "That one, Bub."

The scruffy hyena, a stub of a stick of candy held between his teeth, picked up the shell with a smirk. The marble wasn't under it. In fact, it wasn't under any of them, but Baloo didn't know that. "Aw…youse lose again. Payola the buckerooni."

Baloo shook his wallet upside-down.

Empty.

He turned his pockets inside-out.

Empty.

"Got a dollar, Li'l Britches?"

"Not anymore. You lost all my money in the last game," Kit retorted, annoyed.

Baloo chuckled in embarrassment. "Uh, seems the only thing I got left is the Sea Duck."

"Keys, please." Bub held out his hand.

Kit cried, "Baloo, you can't! The Sea Duck belongs to Miz Cunningham."

"Keys, please," Bub reiterated coolly, slurping on the candy.

With shaking hands and a sinking heart, Baloo took the keys to the seaplane out of his pocket.

"Or…" Bub drawled.

"Or?" Baloo echoed hopefully, desperately. "'Or' is good. I'll take 'or'."

"I thought so," Bub said, giving Baloo a shrewd look. "I want to youse to find the Legendary Eye of Mack and bring it back to me. Last I heard, it was on the island of Goraboara."

Later on the Island of Goraboara…

Baloo and Kit were fighting their way through thick jungle foliage.

"According to Bub, the Legendary Eye of Mack is an opal with a sapphire center," Kit said, consulting his compass. "Finding something that small in this jungle will be like searching for a needle in a haystack."

"Why are legendary lost treasures always in places that are so…ptooie!" Baloo spit out a flying insect, who shook a tiny fist at him.

Kit, who had just gotten smacked in the face with a large, wet leaf, reminded him, "We wouldn't be in this mess if it wasn't for you."

"Hey, someday I'm gonna win that Tortuga Turtle Toss and then we'll be rolling in…whoa...oh...oh...aaah!" Suddenly coming to the edge of a ledge, Baloo lost his balance and rolled head over heels down the steep hill...

Splash!

And landed in a shallow swamp.

Kit glided his airfoil to the bottom of the hill. After stowing the board beneath his shirt, the boy helped the drenched and dazed pilot to his feet. "You okay, Papa Bear?"

Just then, a group of Goraboaran natives - large brown boars armed with sharp spears and fierce expressions - jumped out of the jungle and surrounded them.

Baloo gulped nervously. "I've been better."

At the Native Village…

Baloo and Kit were roughly shoved to their knees in front of what they assumed to be the Goraboaran chief. In addition to the loose-fitting garments and leafy headdresses that the other natives wore, the chief sported a large gold necklace. In the middle of the necklace was the Eye of Mack. When the sun hit it, it glinted brightly.

"There's the needle and the haystack," Baloo murmured.

Kit murmured back, "Now what do we do?"

"Boom shakalak! Boom shakalak!" the chief ordered.

The Goraboarans began to chant and dance around their captives, spears in hand.

"I don't like the way they're looking at us, Baloo," Kit whispered. The natives had greedy, almost hungry, looks in their eyes.

To Kit's surprise, Baloo shouted at the top of his lungs, "Rama lama ding dong!"

Immediately, the Goraboarans were silent and still.

The chief gave Baloo a curious look, pointed to the bears, and commanded, "Bop shoo bop shoo bop."

In one accord the natives pointed their spears at the captives.

Baloo squinted cross-eyed at a spear a mere inch from his nose and said haltingly, "Dip de dip de... dip?"

The Goraboarans gasped and withdrew their spears, stumbling over each other in their hurried attempt to get away from the bears.

"What'd you say?" Kit muttered in amazement.

Baloo was equally amazed. "Whatever it was, it seemed to work."

The pilot was even more amazed when the chief pulled Baloo to his feet and put the gold necklace around his neck.

"Dip de dip de dip!" the chief announced to the other Goraboarians, who began cheering.

"Uh, yeah, dip de dip de dip," Baloo reiterated, confused.

"I think you're their new chief, Papa Bear."

"Oh, no! Thanks for the honor and all, but I can't be your chief," Baloo said. Noticing the boars' blank stares, he added, "Bomp bomp bomp bomp a bomp bomp bomp bomp?"

The Goraboarans, murderous gleams in their eyes, let out a squeal that reverberated throughout the jungle.

"In plain English, that's our cue to skedaddle."

"Pull chocks!" Kit shouted as they ran away from the angry Goraboarans.

"That's it! No more treasure hunts!" Baloo panted, his legs pumping furiously.

Kit ducked to avoid a spear flying over his head. "That's what you always say!"

Back at Tortuga…

Baloo tossed the jewel on the table in front of Bub. "There. One Legendary Eye of Mack."

From across the room, a paunchy lion in a rumpled mechanics uniform with 'Cordy' stitched on the shirt exclaimed, "Hey, Mack, it's your eye!" He left the bar and approached Bub's table.

Bark! Bark! was the reply of a short-haired terrier sporting a patch over his right eye who trotted after Cordy.

"Mack's a dog?" Kit cried incredulously. "We risked our lives for a dog's eye?"

The canine barked once, looking extremely offended.

Cordy said, "That's one bark for no. Two for yes." In a quiet aside, he said to Kit, "And he doesn't like to be called a dog."

Bub, who knew a good scam when he saw it, said, "I'll play ya a game of the ol' turtle toss for the jewel, Cordy. Eye on the eye now." He made a big show of putting the jewel under the middle shell, then slid all three shells around on the table.

"That one?" Cordy asked Mack, pointing to the left shell.

Bark!

"That one?" the mechanic asked, pointing to the middle shell.

Bark!

"Well, then it must be that one." Cordy pointed to the right shell.

Bark!

Addressing the dog, Cordy said, "But, Mack, it has to be under one of them."

Bark!

"Tell you what," Bub interjected with a slurp on the candy stick. "I'll trade youse the eye for the Legendary Tail of the Gold Chimpanzee. Last I heard, it was on the Isle of Shebang."

Mack growled and latched onto Bub's pant leg.

"Ah! Get this crazy mutt offa me!" No matter how much Bub kicked and gyrated, the terrier would not let go.

Baloo chuckled and said to Kit, "If Bub doesn't give that eye to Mack, he's going to have a 'ruff' day!"

The End