Treasure Fever! (10 page)

‘Sorry,' he said. ‘It's the headphones. I can't tell that I'm speaking loudly.'

He removed them and looped them around his neck. ‘Well, what do you think? Isn't she a beauty?'

‘No offence, but it looks like a pole with a Frisbee on the end,' said Jack.

‘That shows how much you know!' Grant huffed.

‘I think it looks amazing!' said Jenny quickly, before Jack could respond. ‘Your dad must be so smart!'

‘I helped him, of course,' said Grant. ‘But yes, he is a brilliant inventor. So are you going to show me where this treasure is or not?'

‘I thought you were going to show us,' said Jack.

‘Jack,' I said, ‘give him a break.'

‘I probably could find it without your help,' said Grant, ‘but it might take a little longer. And besides, a deal's a deal. I get a one-sixth share, right?'

We all looked at one another and nodded.

‘Right,' I said. ‘Come with us.'

We walked up to the top of Skull Island.

‘It's buried somewhere on this hill,' I said, ‘but we don't know exactly where.'

Grant nodded. ‘Don't worry,' he told us, patting the buried-treasure detector and putting the headphones back on. ‘That's where this comes in. Stand back. I'm going to turn it on. This thing is pretty powerful.'

‘What's going to happen?' asked Newton nervously, backing away.

‘What?' said Grant. ‘I can't hear you! I've got headphones on.'

Grant pressed a button.

We heard a loud squeal from the headphones.

Grant tore them off his head.

‘What is it?' said Jack. ‘Have you found the treasure? Or are you picking up signals from outer space?'

‘No,' said Grant. ‘The volume was up too loud. It's the first time it's been used. It needs a little adjustment.'

‘A lot of adjustment, I'd say,' said Jack.

Grant ignored him. He tweaked a dial and put the headphones back on.

This time there was no squeal.

Grant began walking in slow circles around the top of the hill. He had a look of intense concentration on his face.

‘It's working!' said Jenny.

‘How do you know it's working?' said Jack. ‘He hasn't found the treasure yet.'

Suddenly Grant's buried-treasure detector started to vibrate.

The Frisbee clamped itself to the ground.

Grant pulled the headphones off. ‘It's down there,' he said. He flashed a ‘told you so' look at Jack.

‘Grab a stick,' said Gretel, ‘and let's start digging.'

We did as Gretel suggested, attacking the hard ground with sticks.

We gave it everything we had, but after five
minutes of frenzied digging there was still no sign of treasure.

‘Are you sure it's here?' Jack asked.

‘That's what the treasure detector indicated,' said Grant. ‘And it's never been wrong.'

‘It's never been right, either,' said Jack.

‘You're just jealous,' said Grant.

‘Hang on!' said Jenny. ‘I've found something!'

We looked.

Her stick was definitely hitting a piece of metal. It didn't look like a chest full of buried treasure, but it definitely looked like metal.

She dug a little more and pulled out a small rusty disc.

‘Is it a coin?' said Gretel.

‘No, even better,' said Jenny. ‘It's a smiley-face badge!'

‘And that's it?' said Jack. ‘That's the treasure?'

‘My mum says a smile is priceless,' said Jenny, as she happily pinned the badge to the collar of her shirt.

‘Yeah, but it's not treasure, is it?' Jack pointed out.

‘No,' said Jenny. ‘But I think it's a really good sign. Let's keep looking!'

Grant fired up his buried-treasure detector again. This time he got halfway down the hill before it started vibrating and squealing.

‘There's something here,' he said. ‘I can't say whether it's the treasure for sure, but it's definitely something.'

We got down and started digging again.

This time we found an old whistle on a chain.

‘Probably belonged to Mr Grunt,' said Jack.

Mr Grunt is the sports teacher. He's very fond of blowing his whistle.

‘Can I have it?' said Newton. ‘I've always wanted a whistle. I can blow it if I get into trouble.'

‘Sure,' I said, handing it to Newton.

Newton picked the dirt out of it and gave it a blow. It still worked. And it was LOUD. Pretty impressive for a whistle that had been buried for who knows how long. But as impressive as it was, it wasn't the treasure.

Grant started waving his buried-treasure detector over the ground again.

It only took a few minutes before it started shaking uncontrollably.

Suddenly Grant fell to his knees, then slumped sideways onto the ground.

Smoke began to pour from the control box. An amazing screaming noise came from the headphones.

Newton started blowing his whistle. ‘Danger!' he yelled. ‘Get back, everyone! Dangerous danger!'

I had to hand it to Newton. He sure knew what to do in a crisis.

Grant was still lying on the ground.

Then the buried-treasure detector blew up with a loud bang.

Grant sat up, dazed. He took off the headphones and rubbed his ears.

‘Are you all right?' Jenny asked, kneeling beside him.

‘Guess it needs a few adjustments,' he replied.

‘A few?' said Jack. ‘I think it's back to the drawing board on that one.'

Meanwhile Gretel was on her knees, digging furiously in the spot where Grant's buried- treasure detector had blown its top.

‘Hey, look at this!' she said, holding up a small object. ‘It's a key!'

We crowded around her.

‘Can I have a look?' I said.

‘Sure,' said Gretel, handing it to me.

I rubbed the dirt off the key and examined it closely. It had an engraving of a skull and crossbones on it.

‘It's not the treasure,' I said, ‘but it's the next best thing. We're definitely in the right spot.'

‘Right spot for what?' said a voice over my shoulder.

I slipped the key into my pocket and turned around.

It was Fred Durkin, with Clive leering over his shoulder.

‘Yeah, McThrottle,' said Clive. ‘Right spot for what?'

‘Testing out Grant's metal detector,' I said.

‘Is that all you were doing?' Fred asked suspiciously.

‘That's all,' I said.

Fred looked at me. ‘If you're up to something, McThrottle, I'm going to find out what it is.'

Gretel stepped in. ‘He's not up to anything,' she said. ‘Run away and play now, boys.'

Fred just stared at her. ‘Come on, Clive,' he said. ‘This is getting boring.'

We watched them retreat down the hill.

‘It was lucky for them they left when they did,' said Jack, punching his fist into his open palm. ‘I was just about to teach those two thickheads a lesson they would never forget.'

‘I thought you had sore fingers,' I said.

‘Yeah, I did. But that was yesterday. They're better now.'

‘Right,' I said, smiling. Jack was always so brave—once the danger had passed.

‘What now?' Jenny asked, clearly relieved that the unfriendly encounter was over.

‘We've got the key,' I said. ‘And I'd say it's a fair bet the chest is not far away.'

At that moment the bell rang.

‘Everyone meet back here tomorrow lunchtime, with shovels. And, remember, not a word to anybody!'

The next morning it was raining hard. As I walked into the classroom, Gina and Penny came running up to me.

‘Henry,' said Gina, ‘have you heard?'

‘Heard what?' I asked.

‘About the treasure!' Penny exclaimed.

I couldn't believe it. They knew already! But how? And how much did they know?

‘What treasure?' I said, playing dumb.

‘Well, there's a treasure worth millions and millions of dollars hidden somewhere under the school,' said Gina.

‘Yeah!' said Penny. ‘It was hidden there thousands of years ago by an evil pirate, and we're going to find it and buy a horse farm!'

‘With riding trails!' said Gina.

Not with my treasure, you're not
, I thought, but I tried not to look too annoyed. ‘Who told you
about the treasure?' I said.

‘Well, it's a secret,' said Gina.

‘I promise I won't tell anyone,' I said.

‘Okay,' said Gina. ‘It was Fiona.'

I went straight to Fiona's desk. She was deep in conversation with David. They were studying a book called
How to Find Buried Treasure
. When they realised I was standing there they both looked up. Fiona quickly shoved the book under her folder.

‘Yes, Henry?' she said. ‘What do you want?'

‘What's with the book?' I asked.

‘Nothing,' said Fiona.

‘You wouldn't be thinking about looking for buried treasure, would you?' I said.

‘Treasure?' Fiona shook her head a little too vigorously. ‘I don't know what you're talking about.'

‘Who told you?' I pressed.

‘Told us what?' said David.

‘About the treasure!'

Fiona and David looked at each other. They looked back at me.

‘I know you know,' I said. ‘And you know I know you know. So you might as well tell me who told you. It will save time.'

‘Jenny told me,' said Fiona. ‘But it's a secret, so don't tell anybody else.'

‘Okay,' I said.

I went to Jenny's desk.

‘Jenny,' I said, ‘did you happen to tell anyone about the treasure?'

‘No,' she said. ‘I don't think so.'

‘You don't
think
so?' I said.

‘Hmmm,' said Jenny, thinking. ‘Well, maybe I did tell one person. But just one. No more.'

‘Would that person have been Fiona McBrain, by any chance?'

‘Yes,' said Jenny.

‘But why?' I said. ‘You promised not to tell anybody else. You took an oath!'

‘I know,' said Jenny, looking very apologetic. ‘I'm sorry, Henry. It just kind of came out.'

‘How does something like that “just kind of come out”?'

‘Well, she asked me what we were doing on the hill with Grant and the metal detector and I couldn't tell her a lie. I can't lie to a friend, Henry! But I made her promise not to tell anybody else.'

‘Well, she has,' I said. ‘She told Gina and Penny, and they're telling EVERYBODY!'

‘I'm so sorry, Henry,' said Jenny. ‘You won't make me stick a needle in my eye, will you?'

‘Not this time,' I said. ‘But definitely next time!'

Jack came up to us.

‘Everybody knows!' he said. ‘Did Newton blab? I knew it. I knew we couldn't trust him. I knew it!'

‘It wasn't Newton,' I told him.

‘It was me,' said Jenny in a small voice.

‘I knew it!' said Jack. ‘I knew we couldn't trust a girl! I knew it!'

‘I beg your pardon?' said Gretel, coming up behind Jack and putting a large hand on his shoulder. ‘What's that you're saying about girls?'

Jack looked at Gretel's hand. ‘Oh,' he said. ‘Um . . . er . . . I was just saying I knew we could trust a girl to find the treasure. They're very good at finding things, girls . . . much better than boys.'

‘Are you
sure
that's what you said?' said Gretel.

Jack nodded. ‘I'm sure I'm sure,' he said. ‘I'm even sure that I'm sure that I'm sure that I'm sure.'

‘Okay,' said Gretel, taking her hand off his shoulder. ‘That's fine then.'

The only thing that wasn't fine, of course, was that now everybody knew about the treasure!

At that moment, Mr Brainfright came into the classroom. He was soaking wet and whistling loudly. He took off his coat and shook it. The water made a big puddle on the floor. Then he hung it up.