Cora Flash and the Treasure of Beggar's Bluff (5 page)

I repeated the story of the missing boat and Maggie and Lyle Gordon. I told her that with a little bit of Internet research, I'd managed to track down Maggie Gordon and wanted to visit her to see if she knew anything about the missing boat.

"I'm going to go by her house on my way home from school. She might know something about the treasure."

"Fine," Shelby said, "but if she gives you a reward for having the treasure map, I get half."

"I am not going to tell her I have the map," I said. "I just want to talk to her about the boat that went missing. It might not even be related to the map at all."

As the words came out of my mouth, I prayed I was wrong. I hoped the missing boat had everything to do with the map.

***

When the bell rang that afternoon, I waited for Shelby by the front doors of the school. As usual, she was late, and I became impatient waiting for her. I debated taking out my cell phone and texting her, but there was a strict no-texting rule in the school and since I was standing right outside the office, I decided to follow the rules.

"I'm here, I'm here," announced Shelby. "I know you're upset, but I'm not that late."

"You're
twenty minutes
late! What were you doing?"

"I was trying to explain to Jimmy Carson why he is such a jerk. He didn't seem to understand so I had to tell him a few times."

I suspected that she had a crush on Jimmy, but it would probably be a while before she admitted it.

"Can we go now?" I asked.

Shelby opened the door and we left the school in search of Maggie Gordon's house.

***

"How much further is it?" Shelby asked, breathless after having walked almost fifteen minutes.

"Farther," I corrected. "And not much. Just a little bit more."

I'd printed a map before we left the house, showing the best route to take from the school to Maggie's house. According to the map, we were only one street away.

"What are you going to say when you get there?" Shelby asked.

"I'm not sure. I'll figure it out when she answers the door." I stopped on the sidewalk, and grabbed Shelby by the arm. "But please don't try to help me. Just stay quiet."

Shelby rolled her eyes and muttered, "Whatever."

We soon found ourselves outside of Maggie Gordon's house. It was a nice, but simple house. It was not very big, and did not stand out in any way from the rest of the houses on the street.

"Well we know one thing," Shelby began. "She clearly doesn't have the missing gold, this place is a dump."

This was exactly the type of comment I thought Shelby might make in front of Maggie, and it made me terribly nervous. I began to question my judgment and asked myself why I hadn't brought Tricia instead.

I rang the bell and Shelby tapped her foot impatiently on the porch beneath us.

"Can you stop that?" I said. "You're making me nervous."

The front door opened and an elderly woman with a cane stood before us.

"Hello," she said. "Can I help you?"

"Hi. Are you Maggie Gordon?"

"Yes, I am."

A part of me had hoped she wasn't Maggie Gordon, and that we had the wrong house entirely. That, unfortunately, was not the case. I needed to start thinking on my feet, and fast.

"I'm Cora Flash... and I am doing a school project about the boat your husband was on. The one that went missing."

"Oh," she said after a long pause. "I see."

Her expression suddenly turned very sad; she was clearly still heartbroken at the loss of her husband.

"You should come in, then." She held open the door.

We walked into her house and sat ourselves in her living room. It reminded me of my grandmother's house— very dark with lots of wood, carpet and pillows.

"It smells like soup in here," Shelby said to me. Thankfully, she was very discreet when she said it.

"So," said Maggie, "you're doing a project on the S.S. Guppy, are you?"

Although this was not entirely accurate, I decided it was mostly true since my school project had led me to the story of the missing boat in the first place.

"That's right," I said. "And I wanted to ask you a few questions about the day your husband's boat went missing. I read an article from when it happened, but I thought you might know more about it."

"I probably don't," she said. "Most of what we learned about the boat was what we read in the newspapers. We were never told what really happened, or if the boat turned up somewhere else."

"So you've never heard from your husband?" I asked.

"No, bless him. Lyle would have said something, he would have sent a letter or a postcard to tell me he was okay."

"What do you think happened?" asked Shelby.

"I believe the ship sank in stormy weather. It had a large cargo of gold, which you can imagine is very heavy. If a boat loaded with tons of gold bars starts to take on water, it is going to sink very quickly."

She was probably right. I tried to picture the boat with water pouring in from the river, and all of the gold adding to the weight of the ship. It would have sunk very fast.

"Unfortunately," continued Maggie, "most everyone else thinks the crew of the ship made off with the cargo, and they sailed out to South America or some other part of the world and are living like kings with the stolen gold."

"Did you ever believe that?" I asked.

"Not for a second," she replied. "Not my Lyle. My Lyle was a good man. He was an honest man. He would never steal anything, even if his life depended on it."

"You must miss him," I said.

I looked at Maggie's face and could see a small tear forming in her eye. "Terribly," she said. "The worst thing is not knowing what happened. And because we never found out, the insurance company refuses to pay any of the life insurance we had taken out. So I have been living very carefully my entire life, but have almost lost this house on more than one occasion. This house is all I have left of Lyle, and I cannot bear the thought of losing it."

Maggie's face softened as the pleasant memories of her days with Lyle came back.

"When we were first married, we didn't have much money. Lyle was working such long hours on the ships, but not making much. He managed all of our finances, so I never knew exactly how much money we had. There was always enough for groceries and our rent, but not much more. Well, it turned out that Lyle was putting away a little money each month, and after three years of marriage, he surprised me with this house. He said it was the wedding present he couldn't afford to give me when we were first married."

"Oh," said Shelby, practically on the verge of tears. "That's so sweet."

"He was a very sweet man, and I can still picture him walking through that door and sitting down in that chair," she said, pointing to a chair in the corner. "This house is all I have left of him."

I thanked Maggie for her time and asked if I could return if I had any more questions. She graciously agreed and told me I could come back as often as I wanted.

Outside the house, I looked at Shelby and said, "We have to find out what happened to Lyle. That poor woman can't live the rest of her life thinking her husband is a crook."

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Saturday morning, I gathered my bag of supplies for the day, making sure to include my binoculars, camera and a couple of snacks. Sailing always made me hungry.

Thankfully, Tricia called to tell me her dad was okay with Calvin coming along. I'd never taken Calvin sailing before, but I imagined the wind blowing through his fur would be a great thrill for him. And he seemed to appreciate any opportunity to get out of the house.

"Cora!" Mom called from down the hall. "Mr. Morgan is here!"

I looked out my bedroom window to see Tricia's dad leaning over the car, washing the windows with a spray bottle and cloth. Tricia said ever since he bought the new car, only a few weeks prior, he was obsessed with cleaning the windows.

"It's like he can't see through the window unless it's completely spotless," she complained one day during lunch.

I zipped up my bag and threw it over my shoulder.

"Come on," I said to Calvin, who had been snoozing on the bed.

Calvin jumped off the bed and ran straight to the front door. He knew we were going out, but I couldn't wait for him to find out where.

"Do you have everything?" Mom asked.

"I think so. I brought a change of clothes just in case I get wet."

"Good thinking."

The last time I sailed with Tricia and her father, I slipped off the boat as we boarded and fell right into the river. Having fallen right next to the dock I could easily scramble out, and was never in any danger but boy did I know what it felt like to be embarrassed.

"Try not to fall," said Mom, with only a slight hint of genuine concern. She knew I would be fine.

"I won't. Okay, see you!"

I kissed her goodbye and waved to Ethan, who was rolling around on the floor of the living room, laughing to himself.

Grabbing Calvin's leash, I opened the door and ran out to Mr. Morgan's new car.

"Hi, Cora!" he said, fanatically scrubbing away a spot on his windshield only he could see.

"Hi! Thanks for inviting me. I always love sailing."

"We're glad to have you along," he said, finally pleased with his windshield cleaning efforts.

Calvin jumped in the back seat and settled down next to me as I said hello to Tricia in the front seat.

"Where's Shelby?" I asked.

"She's going to meet us there," replied Tricia. "She has a dance lesson, so she's going straight to the dock."

Shelby thought of herself as quite a dancer, even though she was as graceful as a door falling off its hinges. I didn't dare tell her that.

"I brought my camera so I could take lots of pictures for a school project," I said to Mr. Morgan.

"I'll make sure I don't go too fast so you can get some great shots."

***

The Morgans' boat was the biggest sailboat I'd ever been on, but was certainly not the biggest boat in the marina. Many others towered over the Morgans' boat. Some of them even had a crew of several people to manage everything. Mr. Morgan was able to control his boat mostly on his own, but occasionally would ask us to pull a rope or hold the steering wheel for a bit while he adjusted one of the sails.

When we pulled up to the marina, Shelby and her mother were already waiting for us. We exchanged hellos before boarding the boat.

"Just so you know, I painted my nails this morning, so I am not going to be able to help with any of the sailing... stuff," Shelby announced. "I don't want to chip a nail"

The water that day was particularly smooth and the sky couldn't have been any clearer; A perfect day for taking photos.

"My book said that this was one of the busiest shipping lanes in the region," I said to Shelby and Tricia. "Ten or twenty boats a day would pass through here with their cargo."

"Wow," said Shelby dryly. "Sounds exciting."

"Well I think it's very exciting," said Tricia. "We don't have to do that project in my class, but I wish we did."

"You could do mine," said Shelby. "No one has to know."

"Shelby," boomed Mr. Morgan from the helm of the boat. "You know I can hear you."

"I was just kidding," she replied, although we all knew she'd been very serious.

I took out my camera and started to take pictures of the surroundings. I tried to imagine what it would have been like with cargo boats full of goods making their way downriver.

"What happened when all of the industry moved away?" I asked Mr. Morgan. "Where did the people go?"

"They left town, I guess," he said. "People go where the jobs are. Like your dad. He's on the road traveling because that's where his business is. If he could, I'm sure he would rather be in town working here with you and your mom and Ethan close by."

Calvin had found himself a small bench to sit on, but faced out to the river, watching the other boats and birds go by.

"Having a good day little guy?" I asked.

He looked at me and through his wind-blown fur, I swear he was smiling.

As I resumed taking pictures for my project, I noticed a huge cliff face come into view. It was what we called Beggar's Bluff. Beggar's Bluff was a large cliff face that jutted out over the river. Some people went there to climb, but often found themselves landing in the river after failing to scale the very steep rock face. I had only seen it from the water, but had never gone there in person. My parents always told me to stay away; they said it was far too dangerous.

"I don't want to get too close to the bluffs," said Mr. Morgan, "but I thought you would want to take a few pictures for your project."

He was right; I knew my pictures would be a great addition to the project.

I must have snapped a dozen pictures when something in my head clicked. I suddenly realized I had to take a look at the map I'd brought.

Putting the camera down, I reached for my bag and pulled out the treasure map and studied it. The jagged drawing by the water with the big red 'X' in the map became instantly recognizable. Beggar's Bluff!

The treasure in this map
must be at Beggar's Bluff!

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

"Is that it?" asked Shelby, pointing to the map in my hand, the one with the big red X that no doubt would lead to millions of dollars in jewels and money. She had surprised me by sneaking up while I sat on a bench outside the school Wednesday morning.

"Yes." I said.

"Shelby told me about it," said Tricia. "Where did you get it?"

I was not in the least surprised to hear Shelby had told Tricia about the map, even though I was planning to keep it to myself.

"I found it in a book I'm using for my project."

Tricia leaned in for a closer look. "It's definitely a treasure map."

"How delightful!" exclaimed Shelby. "I wonder what kind of treasure it leads to?"

"I don't know. I'm not even sure it's real."

"I think it is!" said Shelby. "I have seen treasure maps before, and this looks just like one."