By, Rebecca van den Ham

One day when Michael and his twin brother Collin were playing in the woods near their home, they came across the biggest tree they had ever seen.

“It’s as tall as Mount Everest!” said Michael.

“Let’s climb it, just like Edmund Hillary,” said Collin.

So they did.  

Up and up, they climbed, higher and higher. Ants crawled on them. Birds scolded them when they came too near a nest. They got sticky sap all over their hands and clothes. But they didn’t care. They were trying to get to the very top. 

They went as high as they could. Then they stopped and looked around.

“Wow! You can see for miles!” said Michael.

“It’s like being in the crow’s nest of a pirate ship,” said Collin.

“Ahoy, matey!” shouted Michael.

“Land, ho!” cried Collin.

“Let’s go find Blackbeard’s buried treasure!” said Michael.

“Okay!” agreed Collin.

They climbed down the tree and began to search. They went thirty paces forward and ten paces to the left. They went around a tree and twenty paces backward with their eyes closed. Then they opened their eyes and looked down.

“Look at this dirt, Collin,” said Michael.

“What do you see, Michael?” said Collin.

“Someone was digging here not long ago,” said Michael.

“Then this must be where they hid the treasure!” exclaimed Collin.

They started digging right away. They dug and dug, but they did not find a big wooden treasure chest. Instead they find a lot of little brown balls.

“Maybe these are the treasure,” said Michael.

“What are they?” asked Collin.

“They are money seeds. If you plant them, they grow into money trees,” said Michael.

 “Or maybe a beanstalk to get to a giant’s castle,” suggested Collin.

  Just then, Mom came into the yard.

“You two are filthy! What have you been doing? Oh, no, you dug up all the flower bulbs I just planted,” she said.

She sighed a big sigh. The twins explained about the pirate treasure and said they were sorry about her garden. She sent them inside to take a bath.

They went to the bathroom and started the water running with lots of soap bubbles. They gathered their bath toys and climbed into the tub. Then a great naval battle began between John Paul Jones and the British navy. Many ships were sunk. 

“We are running out of ships,” said Michael.

“Wait! We left some by the pond,” said Collin.

“Yes!  Let’s go get them,” said Michael.

They climbed out the open bathroom window. The pond was in the yard just outside, so they got the boats and climbed back in. Just as the battle was finally won, Mom came into the bathroom. 

“Hmm,” she said. “There is mud on the wall and the floor and the tub. Your bath water is brown, and you two are no cleaner than when I sent you here.”

“Sorry, Mom,” said Michael. 

“We will try again,” said Collin.

They drained the tub and started over. They got themselves clean. Then they scrubbed the walls and the floor. When Mom came back, she smiled.

“Now go to you room and read some nice clean books until lunchtime, please.” she told them.

 “Hey, Collin, we can read that book about the archaeology site,” said Michael.

“Yes, or the one about digging for dinosaur bones!” said Collin.

THE END 

Fun Facts:

• Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay were the first people to climb to the summit of Mount Everest in 1953.
• Edward Teach, also known as Blackbeard, was a real pirate. He is thought to have buried treasure on an island off the coast of New Hampshire.
• John Paul Jones was a famous naval commander in the American Revolution.
•  Leonard Woolley is considered the first modern archaeologist and went about his digs in a methodical way.
• In 1841, Richard Owen gave us the word “dinosaur” as a new category of animals.
• Michael Collins was part of the three-man team, including Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong, that landed the first men on Earth’s moon.

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