Gasparilla's Treasure (Trip Mongomery Book 1) (6 page)

In class, Trip tried to concentrate on Mr. Hanson’s lecture about the first settlers of Florida.  His monotonous voice put most students to sleep, and Trip was usually one of those who could not stay awake.  But today he had a renewed interest in history.

He never thought he would be excited about things that happened in the past, but this whole idea of bloody pirate battles and plundered treasures right off the coast of Florida kick started Trip’s interest in history.

“And we are so lucky to live here in St. Augustine, Florida,” droned Mr. Hanson.  “So close to America's history.  As we've discussed, Ponce de Leon first visited this area in 1513, but it was Juan Menendez de Aviles who established the first settlement.”

Trip wanted to learn more about Gasparilla and the pirates that operated around Florida.  He raised his hand.  Surely Mr. Hanson would be happy to discover one of his students took an interest in Florida history.  Apparently Mr. Hanson did not even notice his raised hand, so Trip shook it violently in the air.

Mr. Hanson could not ignore him. He sighed.  “Yes Mr. Montgomery.  I believe you have a question.”

“Yes I do,” said Trip.  “Do you know anything about Jose Gaspar?  He was a pirate here in Florida that went by the name Gasparilla.”

Mr. Hanson opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out.  He just stared at Trip.  He was not used to students with questions.  After an awkward moment he returned to his prepared lecture.

“Once the settlement was established, the original one hundred settlers endured many hard ships.  In 1672 the Spanish built Castillo de San Marcos, which still stands here in St. Augustine today...”

Trip’s newfound enthusiasm for history diminished rapidly. 

At lunch that day Eli did not bother them.  Josh was attached to his game.  He finally unlocked a new level, and he found it impossible to put down.  Sarah thumbed through some of her notes.

“OK, what I've put together so far,” said Sarah, “is that your Pappy and Dad managed to figure out the location of the treasure.” Her eyes sparkled.

Trip’s heart pounded in his chest.  He never thought it would be this easy.  Pappy had found the treasure, and all Trip needed to do was go get it.  This was great news.

“Where!  Where is it?  Let’s go get it,” Trip blurted out, a bit too loudly.

A few people from surrounding tables looked over to see what the excitement was about.  Trip gave them a little wave, and regained his composure. He looked at Sarah expectantly.

“Well, it’s not that easy,” answered Sarah.  “It looks like they made a map, and divided it into four pieces. They've hidden each of the pieces in different places.”

Josh did not take his eyes off his game.  “Why in the world would they do that?”

“I'm not sure,” said Sarah.  “I guess they wanted to protect the location of the treasure until they could sort out some final clues.  Or maybe they found the location, but couldn't find the treasure.”

Trip’s mind raced.   This was still great news.  All they had to do was get the pieces of the map, and they would know the location of the treasure.

“We’ll go get the map pieces after school,” said Trip.  “They’re probably not too far away, right?  Where are they?”

“I haven't figured that out yet,” said Sarah.

The excitement drained out of Trip.  “What does that mean?  They’ve hidden the map pieces, but they didn’t say where?  There’s no way.  You must be missing something.”

Sarah was offended.  “This wasn’t that easy to figure out you know.  They've done a pretty good job of coding all this stuff.  I have study hall sixth period, so I'll try to figure it out then.”

“Perfect,” said Trip. “By then, Josh and I will have the plate Mr. Hanson took the other day.”

Josh looked up from his game, surprised.  “We will?”

“Yep,” said Trip.  “We’re going to go to his classroom.  You can lure him away while I sneak in and find the plate.”

Josh only looked up from his game for a second, but it was too late.  Game over.  “Aw, come on!  Now look what you made me do.  I’ve got to go all the way back to the sorcerer’s castle.  And do you have any idea how long that took?”

Trip grinned and his eyes twinkled.  Josh was not a fan of his idea, but he had seen that look in Trip’s eyes before.  There was no use arguing.

“I never said I was going to sign up for a life of crime,” said Josh.  “Can’t you think of any other way to get that plate back?”

“We need that plate, and I need your help to get it back,” answered Trip.

“Fine,” said Josh, still offended.  “But if I go to prison or something, you’re the one that’s telling my Mom.  And then she’ll probably kill me.  And then how are you going to feel?  Are you going to be OK living the rest of your life knowing you killed your best friend?”

Trip gave Josh a hearty pat on the back.  He really was lucky to have such a loyal best friend.

From across the lunchroom, Eli and his goons watched as Trip patted Josh on the back.  It hurt Eli to see Trip that happy.

“Those guys are up to something,” scowled Eli.  “If you losers don't figure it out soon, there will be a price to pay.  I've been very patient, but there is only so much I can take.”

“But it’s only been one day,” protested one of the goons.

Eli roared at them.  “I don't need your excuses, I need results!  Now go get me my answers!”

The goons exchanged terrified looks and scattered.

A big window in Mr. Hanson’s classroom faced the hallway.  Trip and Josh knelt just under it, raising up just high enough to peek in.  Mr. Hanson sat at his desk eating.  Trip could hardly believe what he saw.

“Is that… Is he eating off our plate?” whispered Trip.

“It sure looks like it!” Josh whispered back.  “Is he eating sushi?  That stuff is so nasty!  It's like eating bait or something.  One time my mom and dad made me try it and while I was chewing, I threw up a little in my mouth.  I would have totally barfed all over the place, but the mini throw up covered the taste of the sushi.”

“Seriously, Josh.  You have got to focus!”

“Sorry,” whispered Josh.  “It’s just that stuff is really nasty.  Have you ever tried it?”

“Focus,” said Trip.  “At least now we know where the plate is.  Now go in there and get him to leave. You have to make sure I don't get caught while I’m in there, or I'm in detention for the rest of the year.”

Josh was nervous.  “But I don’t know what to say.  What do I do?”

Trip carefully opened the door and pushed Josh through.  “You’ll do great.” 

Josh was so flustered he did not even resist Trip.  He stumbled into the classroom before he knew what hit him.

The room somehow looked different from the way Josh remembered it.  During class, with all the students in there, the room did not look as barren and boring.  Josh was so busy checking it out, he failed to notice Mr. Hanson staring right at him.

“This had better be extremely important,” said Mr. Hanson in his usual monotonous voice.  “I am right in the middle of something very important here.”

As Josh got closer, the smell of the sushi hit him.  It was all he could do to hold down his lunch.  He covered his mouth, and suppressed the urge to vomit all over Mr. Hanson’s lunch.  It took a few seconds, but he finally felt better.

“Oh yes, it's extremely important,” said Josh.  “In fact, it's so important that you need to come with me right now!”

“Come with you where?” asked Mr. Hanson, annoyed.  “Can’t you see I’m in the middle of my lunch?”

Josh looked at the sushi.  “Seriously.  How do you eat that?  It smells awful.  One time, My Mom and Dad made me try it, and while I was chewing…”

“Focus,” interrupted Mr. Hanson.  “You come in here and ruin my lunch, saying that you need me to come with you right now.  This better be good.  In fact, if this isn’t something important enough to make me want to leave my lunch, then you can spend some time in detention after school today.  Now what is it you want me to go see?”

Josh didn’t know what to say.  He honestly did not have a plan when he came in here.  He only needed to give Trip a couple of minutes, and Mr. Hanson would put him in detention if his reason was lame.  Why did it have to be Mr. Hanson?  He loved putting students in detention.  Most of the students were in there because of him, and now Josh was going to join them if he could not come up with something good.

Josh had the perfect idea.  If Mr. Hanson loved to bust students, then Josh could use that against him.

“There are two students in the gym,” confided Josh, “and I think they were about to fight or kiss or something bad like that.  In fact, they may be doing… that bad thing…right now.”

Josh worried he had blown it.  He had not sounded convincing, but it only took a second for his answer.  Mr. Hanson stood up and headed for the door.

“Well, we can’t have that now, can we?” said Mr. Hanson as he hurried out of the classroom.  Josh was on his tail.

Trip watched through the window as Josh stood at Mr. Hanson’s desk for what seemed like forever.  Mr. Hanson looked more unhappy than usual.  Maybe this was a bad idea.  They could have waited till Mr. Hanson left to use the bathroom or something instead of putting his friend in jeopardy.

Then Mr. Hanson stood up and headed for the door.  Trip ducked down out of sight.  Mr. Hanson burst out of the door and charged down the hallway, followed quickly by Josh.  Josh wore a big smile as he turned to give Trip a triumphant thumbs up.  Trip slipped into the classroom.

Josh watched as the door closed behind him.  Then suddenly, Mr. Hanson stopped.  Josh was still looking the other way and slammed into him full speed.  

“What happened?  Why are you stopping?” asked Josh.

“I forgot my yardstick.  I need to get my yardstick.”

Mr. Hanson started back towards his classroom.  Josh jumped in front of him walking backwards.  This slowed Mr. Hanson down.

“Why do you need a yardstick?” asked Josh panicked.  “Those students might be doing that bad thing right now.  There's no time to waste.”

“A yardstick is an effective object of authority.  It comes in handy in these situations.”

Mr. Hanson arrived at his door and reached for the handle.  Josh blocked the door and refused to move.

Josh spoke loud and over his shoulder toward the classroom so Trip could hear him.  “MR. HANSON.  YOU DON'T HAVE TIME TO GO BACK IN THE CLASSROOM.  WE NEED TO GO NOW.  IF YOU GO BACK IN THE CLASSROOM RIGHT NOW, YOU JUST MIGHT BE TOO LATE.”

Mr. Hanson was so focused on catching the perpetrators that he barely noticed Josh’s odd behavior.  “Step aside, or you will be an accessory to whatever crime is being committed.”

Josh still spoke so Trip could hear.  “OK, SO YOU'RE SAYING I HAVE TO GET OUT OF YOUR WAY SO YOU CAN GO BACK IN YOUR CLASSROOM?  RIGHT NOW?”

“Young man. You are about to get detention with me for the next three weeks.  Now step aside,” commanded Mr. Hanson.

Worried that Trip mat not have heard him, Josh stepped aside.

Trip dumped the sushi off the plate into the trashcan.  Suddenly, he heard Josh’s voice through the door.  “MR. HANSON.  YOU DON'T HAVE TIME TO GO BACK IN THE CLASSROOM.  WE NEED TO GO NOW.  IF YOU GO BACK IN THE CLASSROOM RIGHT NOW.  YOU JUST MIGHT BE TOO LATE.”

Trip checked for another exit.  There was another door at the far end of the room, but there was not enough time to make it.  He heard Josh’s voice again, “OK, SO YOU'RE SAYING I HAVE TO GET OUT OF YOUR WAY SO YOU CAN GO BACK IN YOUR CLASSROOM?  RIGHT NOW?”

Josh followed Mr. Hanson into the classroom.  He scanned the room for Trip, and was glad he was nowhere in sight.  Mr. Hanson went to his desk and grabbed the yardstick.  Trip hid in the small space under the desk, and Mr. Hanson’s knees barely missed him.  Trip tried to make himself a little smaller.

“Now I’m ready to confront these trouble makers.  Let’s go,” said Mr. Hanson as he hurried out of the room.  Josh followed him, looking back in the room hoping Trip was successful.

As they left him alone, Trip breathed a sigh of relief.  That was close.  He grabbed the plate and was so happy to have it back, he gave it a little kiss.  He forgot Mr. Hanson just had lunch on it.  Trip liked sushi, but he grossed out, knowing the taste was Mr. Hanson’s sushi.  He put it out of his mind and snuck out of the classroom.

After school, Sarah waited impatiently for Trip and Josh in an empty classroom.  During study hall, she had found something intriguing and wanted to share it with them.  She checked her watch, wondering where they were.  Finally they showed up.

“We got the plate back,” said Trip triumphantly.

Josh was less enthusiastic.  “Yeah, but I was stuck in the principal’s office with Mr. Hanson for almost an hour trying to explain who I saw and what they were doing.  That guy is like a dog with a bone.  A really, really boring dog with a really boring bone... This adventure better pick up some speed soon.”

“Well, don’t worry,” said Sarah pulling out the book.  “It’s about to pick up.  Check this out.”

Josh pulled out his portable video game.  “I’ll believe it when I see it.  For now, I’ve got all the adventure I need right here.”

“Seriously, Josh!  Are you kidding me?” said Sarah.  “Put that thing away.  I’ve got some interesting information here.”

Josh continued playing with his game.  “I need some therapy here.  He almost bored me to death.  Seriously, at one point I had to check my pulse to make sure I was still alive.  Besides, I'm the video game king.  Two national championships in the under thirteen division.”

“OK fine.  Whatever,” said Sarah, rolling her
eyes.  “I think I’ve found a clue. Listen.”  She read from the book, “
The bearer of earth holds a quarter where coquina borders surround a base of lime, shell, and sand
.”

She put the book down and wore a triumphant look on her face.  Trip and Josh looked confused.

Trip finally spoke up.  “I don’t get it.  Is that even a sentence?”

“Are you serious?” exclaimed Sarah.  “Tell him, Josh.”

“Me?” asked Josh.  “Oh, sure.  But first, could you just read that one more time.  There was one part that I kind of missed.”

“Guys!  Come on!” said Sarah, exasperated.  “This must be covered in every St. Augustine history class. It was easily in fifteen books in the library.  Coquina borders surround a base of lime, shell, and sand?”

She looked at them expectantly.  But their faces were blank.  She continued, “Coquina is a shell stone found on Anastasia Island that was used to make walls centuries ago.  Coquina borders are the walls, and…”

She hoped one of them would catch on.  A smile crept across Trip’s face.

“You are really smart, you know that?” said Trip.  “I’m really glad we let you in on our little secret.  So the borders are walls, and that part about the base of lime whatever, what’s that mean?”

“The base is the floor made of lime, shell, and sand.  So they used coquina walls and a floor of lime, shell, and sand to build the…”

She gave them one last chance to get it on their own.  Trip and Josh stared at her with completely lost expressions.

They were obviously not going to get it.  “It's the González-Alvarez house,” she explained, disappointed.  “The oldest house in Florida.  You guys should know this stuff.”

Trip picked up the book and read the clue again.  “
The bearer of earth holds a quarter where coquina borders surround a base of lime, shell, and sand
.  Okay, the González-Alvarez house.  But what is this bearer of earth holds a quarter all about?”

“I think the quarter refers to the first quarter of the map, but I'm not sure what the bearer of earth is,” said Sarah.

Josh packed his gaming device away.  “Well, we're not going to figure this stuff out sitting here in Sarah's history class.  Oldest house, here we come.”  Josh had a bounce in his step as he walked away.

“Well, I guess you’ve changed his attitude about this whole thing,” said Trip.  They hurried to catch up with Josh.

Trip, Sarah and Josh stood on the street a short distance from the oldest house.  They expected it to be run-down, but from where they stood, it looked like any other house.  It must have had a face-lift to make it look presentable for tourists.  The bottom story of the house looked recently
stuccoed and painted, and the top story had wooden slats and was in good shape.

Trip and Sarah studied the clue in the
Gasparilla book as Josh snapped a picture of them.  They glared at him.

“Josh, we could use your help here,” said Sarah, annoyed.

“One day you’re going to want these pictures,” said Josh.  “When we find this treasure, we’re going to be famous, and this documentation is going to mean something.”

Trip was so focused on figuring out the clue, he wasn’t even listening.  They knew the second part of the clue pointed them here, but
the bearer of earth holds a quarter
still confused him.  He had hoped that when they got here, the clue would make sense.  But now that they were, they were still no closer to an answer.

“This bearer of earth thing still doesn't make any sense,” said Trip.  “We've got to get inside that house.”

Two of Eli’s goons hid behind a clump of bushes and watched Trip, Josh, and Sarah head towards the Gonzalez-Alvarez House.  One of the goons pressed his cell phone to his ear.  It rang three times before Eli answered.

“This better be good,” growled Eli.  “I am a busy man and I can’t be bothered.”

“We’re watching Trip and he just said something about a bear and the earth,” reported the goon.  “They’re headed to some old house.”

“I don’t care about that,” barked Eli on the other end of the phone.  “Have you figured out what they’re up to or not?”

“Not yet,” said the goon.  “But we’re watching their every move, just like you said, boss.”

Eli roared so loud the goon had to pull the phone away from his ear.  “Don’t just watch them!  Follow them, and figure out what they’re doing!”  He slammed the phone down.

The goons looked at each other in silence.  Then finally, “He should go get his blood pressure checked.”

Trip, Josh, and Sarah joined a group of tourists on a guided tour of the house.  They learned a lot about it from the tour guide.  She explained, “The house was built in 1702 when the Spanish military outpost that stood on this land was burned to the ground by English troops.  A small house was then built with coquina walls and a foundation made of
tapia, which was a mix of lime, shell, and sand.”

This information piqued Trip’s interest because it confirmed what Sarah had told them about the clue. 
The bearer of earth holds a quarter where coquina borders surround a base of lime, shell, and sand
.  They were definitely in the right place. The tour guide continued on, as Trip was lost in thought.

As they headed around the back of the house Trip noticed Josh hanging back, looking completely bored.  Trip slowed down to join him.

“Come on, Josh,” said Trip.  “We have to keep up so we can figure out what this bearer of earth thing means in the clue.”

“I can’t believe a treasure hunt can be this boring,” complained Josh.  “This makes me wish I was in Mr. Hanson’s history class listening to him drone on about the founding of Florida or something.  And that’s pretty bad.  Oh wait… that is what I’m listening to here.  We need to get inside the
original
house.  That’s what the clue is talking about.”

Trip realized Josh was right.  The clue mentioned the walls and floor from the original house, not the new tourist version.  Sarah joined them.

“Listen up guys,” said Sarah, pointing at the tour guide.

“… and you can still see where the original house is,” she said, “right over there.  Unfortunately, it’s off limits to the public due to some safety concerns.”

Trip grabbed Sarah and Josh by the arms and pulled them behind some bushes as the tour continued without them.  The only thing between them and the original house was a roped off area and a door.

“OK, now we just have to figure out how to get in,” said Trip.

Josh was already on the move. “Finally, we get to have some fun.”

“Seriously, Josh,” said Sarah.  “Get back here.  You don’t think they’re just going to leave the door open, do you?  We have to come up with a plan.”

Josh arrived at the door, turned the handle, and the door opened.  “See, sometimes it’s better to just do stuff without thinking.  I’m really good at that.”  They walked through the door.