The Elusive Treasure
Chapter Seven
Legend and Rivalry
At the Crumpacker house…
Lou and Otto busied themselves in the kitchen preparing and dishing out portions of food for the others, who sat at the dining room table. Sam and Scott, at the other end of the room, prepared to give a presentation as they hooked up Sam's laptop to an entertainment center. Displayed was a map of Ocean Shores, denoting the different dig sites the kids had been led to.
"Okay, guys," Sam began, as Lou quickly drew the shades closed, "it occurred to me over the past few days that it's possible that the treasure might actually have been situated at each of these locations at some time in the past. The 'possessor' - or 'possessors' - were moving it from time to time, as the old communities of Santa Lucia, then McKinley burg, then Sea view Park and Port Bixby got built out one after another."
Twister nodded knowingly as Sam spoke.
"What the possessor wanted to do, we think," contributed Scott, "was to keep the treasure away from each new development, but to be able in someway to allow a successor - or heir - to find it. Why they never used the treasure themselves for things that they might want, I really don't know."
Twister had his own ideas about that subject, but decided to remain quiet for now.
"Anyway," Sam continued, "the terrible earthquake of Wednesday, 18 April 1906, had discernible consequences, not only in San Francisco but throughout other regions of California as well. For example, a large section of the earth east of what was called 'Seagull Inlet' in those days was thrown down about thirty feet, and for that reason the outline of the coast looks vastly different between the ancient and modern maps."
"We tracked the coordinates of the next waypoint to a location in the Marina," Scott continued. "It's entirely possible that this location was dry ground a hundred years ago. What's even more amazing, however, is that it's located on the side of an underwater hill of sorts, and the sea bottom drops off rather abruptly in one part from twelve down to twenty-seven feet. Additionally, there are hills in the unincorporated territory nearby where we have explored some fairly large caverns."
"Hmmmmm.... So, if there's an underwater cave there, there's a pretty good chance the treasure's still in there," Reggie reasoned.
"And the possessor would have thought it lost forever in the earthquake," Otto thought out loud.
"What we propose is this," Lou spoke up. "We'll anchor at the coordinates. Breezy, Scotty, and I, being the most experienced, will dive to the probable location of the cavern and look for a way in. She'll wait outside, holding a guide line for us while we check the inside with flashlights. We'll check the area with a metal sensor. If we get a hit on something, and if it's safe, the three of us will conduct a briefing on the surface and we'll go from there."
"Won't we get in trouble from the lifeguards for diving in the marina?" Twister wondered.
"Already taken care of," Breezy answered, smiling as she brandished a paper form with a large purple stamp on it. "We have a permit to conduct research there with two vessels through tomorrow evening."
Then there was a knock at the door. Scott opened the door to let Roderick in.
"Sorry I'm late, guys" - the boy apologized - "I overslept... again"
"Don't worry, Rod" - answered Scott - "It is still early, and we know you have a hard time getting up in the mornings"
"Yeah, those medicines are a pain."
Rod turned as his father, Mike, was getting some maps and books from their car, a certain white racer with a large "M" on the hood and a faded number 5 on the sides.
"Thought you could use this information, guys" - said Mike, giving the maps and books to Scott - "Roderick told us about the treasure and the legend, and I remembered hearing something about that from my folks in Holland. The similarities are remarkable."
"Woah! You have a lot of information here!" - said Scott, poring on the documents, many of which had sticky notes marking the relevant data. "But we might have a little trouble translating from Dutch..."
"No worries. Roderick can help you with that." - said Mike, giving his son a playful nudge on his head - "Well, I gotta go. Promised Monica to take her and Arthur to the sea park. Have a good day, guys! And happy treasure hunting!!"
"We will, dad. Thanks!!"
Scott and Rod entered the house and put the books on the table. The rest of the gang gathered around it, looking curiously at the strange maps.
"Gee, Rod! I never thought you could also read Dutch!" - said Otto, looking at one of the manuscripts.
"Well, just a little, Otto" - said Roderick, grinning - "Sometimes having relatives on both sides of the Atlantic has its advantages!!"
"Ok, guys. Let's get down to business, shall we??" - said Lou - "We still need to do a lot of research to define a plan."
"I agree" - said Breezy - "But I'm curious; what's this legend about?? I'm not sure if I ever heard of it before"
"Me neither", added Reggie.
"Same here" - responded Otto and Sam
"Well, maybe Twister can tell us more about this story" - Scott suggested.
"Well... Ok. Here it goes."
Twister cleared his throat and started lecturing the gang.
"Back in the 18th century, a corsair was causing trouble to the Spanish galleons that arrived in Acapulco; you know, the.... Nao of China, I think they were called. These galleons carried silk, ivory and other goods from China and returned with gold and silver from Mexico's mines. They were so overloaded that many of them actually sank.
"Anyway; this pirate, a Dutchman, by the way, began attacking the galleons and stealing their gold. For several years he succeeded on this. It didn't matter how hard the Spanish armada tried, they never caught him. But one day, when his ship was attacking an old galleon, it received a cannon ball through its side and began taking on water. The pirates tried to fix the ship, but to no use. Soon the hold was inundated, and they had to abandon the attack and make a run up north, because this galleon had a large escort, with many other ships.
"Anyway; they sailed north until they reached the Baja California peninsula, with the Spanish ships right behind them. Luckily for them, a storm developed and forced the Spanish army to stop. The pirate ship faced the storm and almost made it to Catalina Island. But the ship would not make it there. The leak became bigger and bigger, and finally they were forced to abandon it somewhere near the coast of today's Southern California.
"Now, the legend has it that they abandoned the ship with a large chest, containing the product of their pillage. They arrived in the shore and hid the treasure, fearing the Spanish army might catch up with them soon.
"They say the pirates arrived in a Franciscan mission and told the padres they were náufragos. The padres believed them and took them in. They hid with them for weeks, and finally left, paying the friars for their hospitality with a golden crucifix and many coins... pieces of eight, as they called them. Then they disappeared, just a couple of days before the Spanish army got to the mission.
"After that, nobody heard of the pirates again. Some said they stole another ship and returned to sea, some others said they went to Mexico, and even others said they were made prisoners and executed. But the truth is, nobody ever found their treasure chest, which began to be called the 'box of hope', or, 'Cajón de la esperanza'. And that's what I know about the legend."
Otto, Reggie and Sam were blinking in disbelief. Since when Twister was capable of telling a story like this??
"Whoa..." - said Otto.
"That was a very good story, Twist!" - added Reggie.
"Thanks. But it doesn't help us much, does it??" Twister replied.
"Hum... there are some details missing, but maybe Roderick can help us out here" - said Scott.
Everybody, save Scott, looked at Roderick, confused. How could he help them understand the legend??
"Hum... Believe it or not, Twister's tale sounds very familiar, dudes" -said Roderick. "My dad told me about a certain pirate who lived in Amsterdam in 1750 or so. A guy named Frans Banninck or something like that. Anyway; nobody knew where this guy came from. But he arrived with a huge fortune, and quickly settled in Amsterdam, buying a big house by a channel. This guy visited the docks very often, and some people said he had a fleet. But nobody knew what their cargo was.
"Anyway, whatever his activities, he soon became suspect and the crown had him arrested. When they questioned, they discovered he was a pirate who had attacked many Spanish ships in the Atlantic. Long story short, they had him executed, but never found the treasure chest. But his statement was like a photocopy of Twister's legend! He said he was in command of a ship that foundered a couple of miles from the Southern California shore, that he and his men buried the chest, that they befriended the padres, and that some of his men stayed in California to make sure the treasure was safe, and that they sent part of the money to him every six months or so. That's how he got his money. Of course, nobody bothered to go to California to capture the other pirates.
"Now it was clear for all. When the pirates stopped receiving news from their leader, they buried the chest somewhere else and hid. But they buried a map in the place where the treasure had been originally, should the captain returned sometime."
"...But he never returned, and the men the pirate left in California took a cut and found something else to do, or died off," observed Sam. "Amazing."
"Assuming that chest is even half full of bullion or jewelry or whatever, what might it be worth?" Otto asked.
"Intrinsically, that means in terms of carats of jewels, or ounces of precious metal, seven or eight figures, conservatively. But in terms of cultural value, the pieces could be worth much more," answered Lou.
"The trail appears to end at this quake-sunken cave. Now anything could have happened to the site in the past hundred years...had anchors dragged over it, get fouled with fishnets, who knows? But in our favor is that it's near the channel, and the area receives a clear flow of water twice a day, which gives us the optimum window of opportunity to check out the site. Could we see the tide chart, Sam?" asked Scott.
"The next low tide will be at 11:24 AM, and the following high tide will be at about 5 PM. So, we can begin diving on the site shortly afternoon, and depending on what we need to do, we'll have clear water til five o'clock. This schedule will of course change slightly with each succeeding day, because of the advancing position of the moon," Sam replied. Being surfers of course, even Twister knew the importance of paying attention to the tides, which could make a difference between a sweet surf session and a closed out reef.
"Okay then," Lou said, "we need to get organized starting now, and get our boats down to the water within the next couple of hours. The little altercation I had with one of the Lasers a short while ago suggests that time is our enemy. Let's get busy!" Lou urged.
Almost immediately, everybody helped put away the dishes and adjourned to the garage to help prepare for the day's activities.
Meanwhile...
"Ugh... Bro, how long do we have to wait?" Iggy moaned as he knocked out Link. He was playing Super Smash Bros. Melee in the Lopezes' living room while Izzy paced around, looking at the clock. "I'm bored!"
"I know! I know!" The older brother roared as Iggy dodged another attack. He was playing as Bowser. "I just wanna make sure I'm not calling too early so that I don't waste valuable time! Who knows how close Blondie and everybody else is to the treasure!?"
"But seriously, how long are we gonna wait?! It's already..." Iggy paused to look at the clock. "Nine o'clock! How long are we gonna wait!?"
Izzy stopped pacing and raised a dark eyebrow at his brother. "Why'd you ask the same question twice?" He shook his head as Iggy resumed playing." Never mind! If I call too early, Oliver or anybody I can talk to won't be there, and then I'll have to keep calling and calling and calling until eventually, somebody picks up, but I'll be too tired to actually work out the deal!"
Iggy sighed. "Whatever you say..." He then went back to his game and knocked out the blond hero in green again.
The taller brunet continued to pace around, watching the seconds slowly tick away. Meanwhile, several thoughts were entering his mind. He questioned the reality of the dream he had last night with that strange monster. He wondered if it really was his mother's cooking that caused him to have that dream. It seemed too real, like he was physically standing in that field with that strange smell wafting all around him. But it was just a bad dream. It couldn't be real. Could it? The boy shook his head and continued walking around. He then thought about his hated rival. Was Sam really that close to the treasure? Would he and his friends beat the brunet and his brother to the riches?
No! That's impossible!
His plan was foolproof! He had thought out every single possible detail and scenario! All he would have to do is call Oliver and get a crew together. No problem. There was no way he could fail! He'll beat his rival to the treasure and get all those fabulous jewels with which he'll go on a shopping spree!
'Then again...' He stopped and held his chin. 'What if Oliver doesn't buy into this treasure deal?'
It was possible. After all, the redhead in the green rimmed glasses was much smarter than him. He'd probably see it as a joke, a hoax, or even worse, just another plot to get at Sam. Izzy's rivalry with Sam was legendary. Nobody in Ocean Shores has witnessed such brutal confrontations. They were almost as bad as Otto and Lars, if you can imagine it. They fought over the littlest things and even competed in many of the town's events and contests.
Needless to say, the taller boy lost nearly all the time. It made his blood boil thinking about all the losses he suffered. But he won't lose out on this. Even if it's the last thing he does, he and his brother will lay claim to that treasure! But first, he had to convince Oliver to cooperate, and that wasn't going to be easy. As already mentioned, there was the possibility of the president of the Sea Crest Engineer club shrugging the whole thing off as yet another battle between the two rivals. Of course, there also is the probability of Oliver joining him. If Izzy remembered correctly, the redhead was also a rival of the blond. He might jump at the chance to beat Sam in a battle of wits with a sweet treasure as his trophy. So many possible outcomes. He had no clue if his plan would succeed. If the club president didn't allow him and his brother to borrow the sub, he may never get the gold and jewels. He might as well forget all about it.
Of course, all these questions can be answered with a simple phone call, but it was still too early to call! He needed to talk to Oliver now, not some blasted answering machine!
"Ugh! How long is this going to take!?" He shouted, glaring at the clock. Only thirty minutes had passed since he got into his reverie.
"Just call already! I'm sick of waiting!" Iggy said, getting to play a rousing game of Mario Power Tennis. The older boy glared at him as he gritted his teeth.
"Fine! I'll give it a shot, but if I get an answering machine, you'll pay!" He snarled as he stomped towards a stand by the couch his younger brother was sitting at. Lying on top of it was a black wireless phone. Izzy snatched the phone off the hook and dug into one of the stand's drawers. He soon pulled out the Ocean Shores phonebook. He thumbed through it for a couple of minutes, during which Iggy cheered, having used his character, Bowser Jr.'s power shot to score a set against his opponent, Daisy.
"Aha! Here it is! Sea Crest Engineer club! I hope this works." The boy switched the phone on and dialed the number. It rang three times before someone on the other end picked up.
"Hello?" A nasally voice answered.
"Uhhh... Yes, is this the Sea Crest Engineer club?"
"Of course this the Sea Crest Engineer club!" The person on the other end answered rudely. A sniff was heard seconds later. "What do you need?"
Izzy glared at the phone, but relaxed. He didn't need to jeopardize this. He put the phone back to his ear.
"I need to speak with your president, Oliver Van Rossom."
Silence, then...
"Why on earth are you wasting my time!? I was just about to get a plus five sword with plenty of mana when you call, asking for him?! You know Oliver has his own number, you n00b!"
Izzy felt a vein pop as he clenched his right fist (his left was holding the phone). He shook violently at that outburst. He gritted his teeth as his face turned red. He was so mad; he just had to bash something, which unfortunately was Iggy's head.
"Ow!!!" The boy in question yelped, rubbing the spot where his brother got him. "What'd I do!?" He glared at Izzy, but quickly shrank back when he saw the rage in the other boy's eyes.
"N00b!?! How dare you, ya little nerd! I can care less about your dorky little PC games! Now put Oliver on this instant!!!"
"N00b?! You got some nerve! I bet you're one of those gamers that think console games rule all!" The person on the other end said, using a disgusted tone on the word console.
"That's because they do!" Izzy shouted in response. "They pwn your crappy MMORPGs any day of the week!"
"At least they're online, unlike your lousy console games!"
"Take that back ya little punk!" The boy was getting madder and madder by the second while Iggy was looking on with utter confusion etched on his face.
"Or else what!?" The guy on the other end challenged.
"Grrrr... Listen, I don't have time to waste on little brats like you! Now let me talk to Oliver or you'll regret it!"
"Yeah right! I'm not letting you talk to Oliver, you casual gamer!"
Izzy gasped in shock. No one, but no one calls him a casual gamer and lives to tell the tale.
"When I find you, ya nerd, you're gonna wish ya never been—"
"Hello? Who's this?" A new voice said. Izzy stopped his insult and instantly slapped his hand over his mouth. The new voice belonged to none other than Oliver Van Rossom!
"Uhhh... H-hey, Oliver..." He gulped nervously. "Th-this is Izzy Lopez..."
"Oh man..." Iggy said, slapping his head. "Don't tell me you actually cursed him out!" He laughed.
He was instantly rewarded with another whack on the head.
Izzy growled at him before remembering that he was still talking to the one person that can insure his victory. He quickly cleared his throat and went back to the conversation.
"Yes, yes. I know who you are." Oliver's voice said. "Would you mind telling me why you're harassing one of my associates?"
Izzy gulped again.
"Y-you see, I was t-trying to contact you, but that guy answered and he was going on about some weird game he was playing."
"Oh he was, was he?" The redhead asked in a tone that suggested he was glaring at the one who answered the phone earlier.
"B-but sir, I-I wasn't doing anything." The boy tried nervously." I was—"
"Save it." Oliver interrupted. "I told you never to play those games while you are inside this building."
"B-but I—"
"I'll deal with you later." The redhead was heard sneering." And as for you, why did you call this number in the first place? I have my own number if you want to contact me."
"Now see, I didn't know about this number everybody keeps talking about!" Izzy answered hotly. "It's not even listed in the phone book!"
"I thought I told them to put in there..." Oliver said with a thoughtful tone. "Anyway, what do you need?"
The brunet gulped. It was now or never.
"I'll get right to the point. I need a sub. I know that since your organization does undersea exploration, you should have one or two lying around."
"And just what makes you think I can even operate a submersible?"
"Pfft! Don't play dumb with me, Van Rossom." Izzy scoffed, starting to feel more comfortable. "I know you also use a crew that does the work for you."
"Yes, I do. What I don't know, however, is why you need a submersible. I wouldn't just lend it to anybody unless they had a perfectly good reason."
The boy groaned.
"What's wrong?" Iggy asked.
"He's playing hardball." Izzy replied, covering the receiver with his hand. "Don't worry. I work him over." He put down his hand. "Listen, I'll tell you my reason, but you have to make sure you're alone. I don't want this to be leaked, got it?"
There was silence on the other end for a few seconds before a sigh was heard.
"Very well. I'll put you on hold for a few moments." Oliver said before a click was heard. An old song from the 80's was heard shortly after.
"Man, leave it to a nerd to have something from the 80s as their hold music." Izzy groaned.
"Lemme hear!" Iggy shouted, snatching the phone from his brother. He cringed as he listened to the odd music, which had lyrics that sounded like "Walk like an Egyptian."
"See what I mean?" The older one started, yanking the phone out of his grasp. "You'd think they'd put on something from now!"
"Ok, what is it that you want the submarine for?" Oliver's voice cut in, ending the Egyptian-sounding song.
"Well, if you really need to know, my brother and I are on a treasure hunt." Izzy answered.
Oliver gave a flabbergasted noise.
"A t-treasure hunt?" He asked, snickering lowly.
"Yep." The other boy answered, totally ignoring the other's chuckles.
"Pffft! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!"
Izzy sweatdropped and stared at the phone in disbelief. He didn't expect that reaction.
"Let me guess, he thinks you're making it up?" Iggy asked with a sly smirk. His brother glowered at him before putting the phone back to his ear. Oliver was still laughing it up.
"You done yet?"
"Just—HAHA!!!—give me a few—HAHAHAHAHA!!!—more seconds! HAHAHAHAHA!!!!"
Izzy gave Iggy an irritated look as he started laughing himself. He then turned to the camera before pulling out a sign that read, "I bet you were all expecting that one, huh?"
He then put on a glare as he put the phone back to his ear.
"ENOUGH!!!" He roared. Oliver and Iggy laughed for about another minute before finally stopping to breathe.
"Oh my..." The former panted, stifling small chuckles. "That was so funny. Now, what do you really need?"
"I need the sub to hunt for treasure." Izzy said in a somewhat defeated tone.
"Are you serious?" Oliver asked. It sounded like he was raising his eyebrow, which made the boy on the other end slap his forehead.
"Yes, I'm serious!"
"You are aware that what you're suggesting is completely ludicrous, don't you?"
Izzy sighed.
"Yes, I know it sounds crazy, but it's the truth. I even got a real treasure map if you need proof."
"And assuming this so-called treasure is real, which would be completely impossible, where do you think it's buried?"
The brunet had to think hard about his next response. Was Oliver just patronizing him? He shook his head. He had to go with it for the moment.
"If I deciphered the map correctly, it should be inside a sea cave that's under the harbor." He answered.
"Ah, so that's why you need the club's submersible for!" Oliver said in understanding. "But still, why should I waste my time going on some wild goose chase with you and your brother?"
Again, Izzy let out a mournful groan. He wasn't going to do it! He tried to think of something, anything he could say to save himself. He held his head for a few moments before a light bulb appeared above him. He smirked evilly as he prepared to speak.
"Why, it's quite simple." He started. That was when he played his trump card. "Sam Dullard and his friends are preparing to go get the treasure as we speak!"
"Hmmmmmmm... I knew there was another motive in this." The redhead said with an air of superiority. "But I still need a better reason than beating our mutual rival."
"I'll give you a cut of the treasure." Izzy said bluntly.
"How much?" The brunet suppressed a moan. He could just hear the grin creeping up on his face!
"Twenty percent." He began the haggle.
"Fifty."
Izzy faltered.
"Thirty."
"Fifty." Oliver countered.
Izzy fell over.
"Forty...?!" He tried feebly as he stood.
"Fifty. Take it or leave it."
The boy slapped his head, grabbed his bucket hat and tossed it onto the ground.
"Fine! We'll split it fifty fifty!" He spat.
"WHAT!?!" Iggy protested.
"Excellent. I knew you'd see things my way." Oliver said, satisfaction dripping from his lips. "Meet me at the docks in an hour with your maps. I'll have your submarine and crew ready."
"But don't you need a permit or something?" Izzy asked, placing his mangled hat back on his head.
"Don't worry about it." The other boy patronized. "I'm the president of the Sea Crest Engineer club. I don't need a permit in order to go exploring."
"Hmph. Fine. Me and my brother will meet you there. See ya later."
"Good bye." Oliver said before they both hung up.
"Izzy! Why are ya giving him fifty percent of our gold!?" Iggy shouted." I thought I was getting half of the loot!"
"Look!" Izzy sighed irritably as he ran his hand through his hair. "We have to make some sacrifices. The important thing is that we get down there first. That's all that matters!"
"Ok..." The boy in the purple cap sighed.
"Now c'mon!" The older sibling said, grabbing his helmet, pads, and a backpack, which he had placed the maps and the gold mushroom in. "We gotta meet Oliver at the docks in an hour."
"Alright..." Iggy said, grabbing his gear. "What are we using?"
"Our bikes." Izzy answered, walking over to the front door. "It'll be faster and safer than using our boards or blades."
Nothing more was said as the brothers walked into the nearby garage. Inside was a pair of mountain bikes. One red, the other blue. Iggy took the red one while Izzy got on the blue one. They then rode off to the pier, all set to find their treasure.