The Treasure Hunt
Launchpad flew the helicopter down into the morning mists floating above the island. For a brief while nothing could be seen except for the tall hill called the spyglass, steep on the sides and flat on top.
"There it is," said Scrooge, well satisfied. "I have half a mind to put off the treasure hunt and look around at the sights Drakenson described in the book."
"Let's see the stockade, where Duckens and the rest held off Long John Silver" suggested Louie.
"It would be rotted to pieces by now," Scrooge observed. "Besides, I said I had half a mind to do so. I would only have half a mind if I were to put off the hunt."
"Let's go after the bar silver first, Launchpad," said Scrooge.
The directions to the bar silver were laid out in the book, which repeated the directions of Flint.
"The bar silver is in the north cache; you can find it by the trend of the east hummock,
ten fathoms south of the black crag with the face on it"
Launchpad flew toward the extreme north of the island, as the day grew more and more clear.
"The island really does look like a fat dragon standing up," said Scrooge, exultantly. "Just like Duckens said."
"I don't think so," said Launchpad. "But then again I haven't seen many fat dragons standing up. Looks more like a lizard standing on a rock."
"We saw a fat dragon when we went with Gyro to Quackalot," observed Louie. "It really doesn't look much like one."
Scrooge and the rest strained their eyes to look for a black crag with a face on it. It was soon spotted:
"It looks just like a pirate's head" said Dewey.
The face on the black crag sported a cave shaped like a mouth with broken stalactites and stalagmites for teeth. A rocky outcropping formed a long, twisted nose. The two eyes were depressions in the hill, one larger than the other, and suggestive of an eye patch. The top of the hill was irregularly shaped, suggesting a pirate captain's three cornered cap.
"Seems old Flint was not so particular about hiding his silver than he was about his gold," said Launchpad.
"Let's not forget that the gold itself was hidden under a tree tall enough to be seen from the sea," Scrooge replied. "But anyways, it does seem simply found."
"It's a lot easier scouting for treasure by air plane," Huey chimed in.
"Almost too easy," replied Dewey. "There's no reading a treasure map and taking out steps."
"There'll be some of that," replied Scrooge. "But best of all, there'll be finding the treasure and collecting it."
Scrooge laughed in anticipation, only interrupted by a light jarring as Launchpad landed in the soft sand south of the hill.
Shovels in hand, the ducks left the helicopter.
"So the treasure's not in the hill, but to the south, eh Mr. McD?" asked Launchpad.
"Aye," said Scrooge. "10 fanthoms, that's about 60 feet southward"
"Where the skeleton is pointed," observed Launchpad grimly.
Sure enough, a skeleton, yellowed and brittle with age, was laid out pointing southward.
"In the book, a skeleton pointed to the place the main treasure was buried" Scrooge observed.
"Yeah, Flint killed the six men who came ashore with him" Launchpad noted.
"He must have used three of them as treasure pointers," Huey observed.
"Let that be a lesson to you boys," said Scrooge, looking grimly at the skeleton. "For all the fun and games playing pirate these days, in real life they were nothing but thieves and murders. They were the gangsters of their times."
"Kids play gangsters nowadays too," Launchpad pointed out.
"It doesn't make those robbing assasins any better," said Scrooge.