The Legend of the Lightkeeper's Gold - A Summer Camp Mystery Kids Adventure

by Ginny Lassiter

"Yeah buddy," Grace said. "Good plan," she shook her head skeptically.

  The group spread out looking for any sassafras trees they could find. Unfortunately there were lots! About halfway through the campground Grace knelt down at the bottom of a wide tree and pretended to be very interested in the bark. Looking up at Madison she quietly whispered, "Don't turn around yet but there's a strange old man watching us from the edge of the boardwalk."

  Madison walked behind a group of loblolly pine trees and casually looked over at the entrance to the camping area. She could just make out a skinny, gray haired man leaning against a walking stick. He was looking towards the other side of the campground where Carter and Scotty were searching.

  "I don't know who he is but there's something about him that seems a little familiar," Madison said as she squinted her eyes at him. Just then the man turned his head and saw Madison and Grace staring. Frowning, he turned around and awkwardly limped back towards the lighthouse.

  "That was weird," Grace said. Her eyes followed him as he limped out of sight. "I didn't think anyone else was on the island."

  "Hey everyone!" Tyler called out. "Over here!"

  Temporarily forgetting about the limping old man, Grace and Madison sprinted over to where Tyler was crouched down beside a large sassafras tree. "Find something?" Grace breathed excitedly.

  "Yeah, I think so," Tyler said. "See how the bottom of this tree looks twisted? I think it was actually two trees that grew together over time." He dug through the loose sand and dirt around the base of the tree. As Tyler wiped away more dirt, a gap appeared between the two stumps.

  "What'd you find?" Scotty cried as he and Carter skidded to a stop next to the twisted tree. Their shoes kicked up a wave of sand that sprayed Madison and Grace.

  Glaring at the boys and shaking sand out of her hair, Grace answered, "Tyler might have found the sassafras tree Elijah Satterwhite wrote about."

  "Let me see!" Carter dropped down to his knees beside Tyler.

  Wiping away spider webs and dead leaves, Tyler pried his hand out of the hole. "I found something!" he cried.

  He pulled out a square, rusted metal box. It had no design or writing on it and the latch on the lid was broken.

  "Open it!" Scotty whispered anxiously.

  They all watched as Tyler pulled the lid off of the box and looked inside. Reaching carefully, he pulled out a folded piece of yellowed paper and a small oil lantern.

  "It's a map!" Scotty cried.

  "With a riddle," Tyler said uncertainly as he scanned the top half of the letter and laid the lantern on the ground.

  "What's it say?" Scotty asked. Everyone scooted in to get a better look at the old piece of paper.

  Smoothing it out on his leg, Tyler read,

  'I've buried the treasure I found by the sea, the lost soul who owned it and left it to me.

  Underneath the message there was a hand drawn map of the island. It was a pretty simple drawing but the kids could make out what used to be the Lightkeeper's cottage (now it's the gift shop). The campground and forest (a drawing of stick trees with circles around them) and a picture of the lighthouse with 3 yellow lines drawn next to the base.

  Scotty pulled a sassafras leaf off of the tree and absently chewed on the stem. Raising his eyes in surprise, he pulled it out of his mouth, looked at the leaf and grabbed a few more stems off of the tree. He stuffed them into his pocket and nodded to the lantern. "So why do you think Old Man Patterwhite put a lantern in the box with the map?"

  "I don't know," said Grace as she leaned forward to pick it up.

  The lantern was painted black and had a wire handle attached to the top. Turning it around in her hands, she lightly tapped on the glass windows. "It's really heavy," she observed. "And this is real glass, not plastic."

  As she gently turned it on its side, Madison noticed some marks scratched onto the bottom.

  "What's that?" she asked pointing to the bottom of the lantern.

  Flipping the lantern upside down, Grace rubbed her hand over the picture etched into the metal. It was a tall rectangle with a wide bottom and had lines scratched into the top of the image.

  "It looks like the lighthouse," Tyler said and sat up to get a closer look. "Maybe this lantern was kept inside the lighthouse to light the stairway."

  "And if Elijah Patterwhite put this lantern in the box with the map, then it must mean the treasure is inside the lighthouse!" Grace excitedly looked at Madison.

  "This is awesome!" Madison cried as she and Grace scanned the image. "People have been looking for this treasure for years!"

  "Don't get too excited," Tyler tried to calm the girls down. He stood up and shrugged his shoulders. "It might not be the gold. As far as I'm concerned, that's still just a legend.”

  It took a lot to get Tyler excited about a mystery. He was the most logical of all of them. He'd also been at the orphanage for the longest time. Miss Shoe says he's just a deep thinker and an 'old soul'.

  "O.K," Grace said. "Let's think this through. We've been to the gift shop and found the Lightkeeper's Log. And we've been to the campground and found this map and lantern. She pointed to each place on the map. "Logically, the only place left to look is the lighthouse!"

  They all shook their heads in agreement.

  Reaching to give Grace a hand up, Madison held the lantern by the handle and turned to Scotty and Carter. "Come on you guys," she said. "Let's get back to the lighthouse and see if this is just a legend or a real treasure!"

  They were all getting excited as they walked, then jogged towards the boardwalk. By the time they got to the end of the camping area even Tyler had started running!

  "This is Epic!" Scotty yelled around a mouthful of sassafras leaves.

  Chapter 7

  Solomon groaned as he climbed onto the 4 wheeler and watched the 5 kids run back towards the lighthouse. He heard one of them yell about finding a map and knew he didn't have much time to grab the treasure for himself!

  "It must have been buried at the campground," he snarled. Slipping the 4 wheeler into gear, Solomon cut across the sand dunes to reach the other side of the island. He knew he'd be back at the lighthouse before the kids could get there.

  "They don't deserve to find what should be mine!" he grumbled. Driving back into the clearing, he drove behind one of the empty storage buildings and eased the 4 wheeler into park.

  Using his walking stick, Solomon limped over to the abandoned horse barn. He smiled to himself as he slipped a metal key into the lock of the old barn. "At least I learned a few secrets as the last Lightkeeper on the island," he smirked. "They won't even know I'm here and I'll be watching everything they do," he snorted. Before stepping into the small, unused building, Solomon glanced over to the pier where the nosey boat Captain docked his Ferry. "I've only got an hour before he makes his nightly dinner run," he mumbled. It had always bothered Solomon that no one brought dinner to him when he was the Lightkeeper! Pulling the door almost closed, he settled in to wait for the kids to uncover a treasure in gold!

  Chapter 8

  "I...have...never...run...so...fast," Carter huffed and dropped both hands to his knees.

  "Just give me a minute," Scotty wheezed. He took several deep breaths as he leaned on Carter's back.

  The kids had run all the way across the island and were almost back to the lighthouse. Even in shorts and lightweight t-shirts, the hot afternoon sun had them wiping sweat from their eyes!

  "Come on people!" Grace yelled. Stopping to fix her pony tail she turned to her friends who were panting and out of breath. "A priceless treasure could be waiting for us back at the lighthouse! You can breathe later!" she cried in her best soccer coach voice.

  Grace was a player. She played soccer in the fall, volleyball in the spring, and played tennis in the summer. Every night after dinner she played basketball in the driveway and organized races between all the kids on their block. You could say she's kind of competitive.

  "I'm coming, I'm coming," Scotty pushed of
f of Carter's back and straightened up. Pulling a bottle of water out of his pocket he unscrewed the top and took a couple of big gulps. Sweating, he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.

  "You got another one of those?" Mouth hanging open, Carter peered over at Scotty's back pocket.

  "Hey man!" Scotty scooted back.

  Ignoring the boy's whining, Grace motioned for Tyler to stand next to her. "Aren't we supposed to be the only ones working on the island?" she asked.

  "Yeah," Tyler answered. "The park rangers won't be here for another two days, right before the first wave of tourists come this weekend. Why?"

  "Well, when we were at the campground, Madison and I saw an old man with a cane watching us. And when he saw us watching him he took off back down the boardwalk."

  "I wouldn't say he 'took off'" Madison winked. "It was more like he wobbled off."

  Every now and then Captain Bartholomew brought people out to do maintenance or make deliveries on the island, but they always checked in at the gift shop. The really weird thing about this old guy was that he didn't come over when the girls saw him. It looked like he was trying to hide from them!

  "Do you think he knows something about the treasure?" Carter asked.

  "Everyone knows something about the treasure," Tyler laughed. "We just need to keep our eyes open in case he shows up again."

  Turning to keep up with Grace, they all jogged-walked-limped the last few hundred yards to the lighthouse. Of course Grace was the first to get there. She had just finished a slow walk around the base when the rest of the group caught up.

  "I've been all around this lighthouse twice and I haven't seen anything that looks like a good place to hide something, much less a treasure in gold!" she said skeptically. "Seriously, no missing bricks or hidden doors!"

  "Maybe we should look inside," Tyler thought as he pulled out the map. "He wouldn't have buried this lantern in the box for no reason. My guess is wherever the treasure is hidden, it's gonna be dark!"

  "We'll get the key to the lighthouse and meet back here in a minute," Madison said. She and Grace ran back to the gift shop. Flipping on the lights, they stepped behind the check-out counter. Grace knelt down to open the cabinet door under the cash register. Hanging by a hook was the original iron key made back when the lighthouse was built.

  "Man, I always forget how heavy this key is!" she muttered and tucked it into her pocket. Thinking they might need more light than an antique lantern, she grabbed two emergency flashlights and jumped up from behind the counter.

  Madison was already waiting at the door with her hand on the light switch. "Good idea," she blurted as Grace walked by and handed her a flashlight. Stopping to close the door after Grace walked through, Madison was just turning around when she thought she saw something move across the courtyard.

  "Did you see that?" Madison stopped.

  "See what?" Grace had her head down and was testing the batteries in her flashlight.

  Narrowing her eyes to see better, Madison pointed to the old horse barn. "I thought I saw a shadow move over at the barn but I guess it was just the wind or ... something," Madison said uncertainly. She couldn't shake the feeling that someone was watching them.

  "Well, whatever it was we don't have time to investigate now," Grace tapped her hand on the key in her pocket. "We've got a treasure to find!"

  With only a quick look behind her, Madison quickly followed Grace as they made their way back across the sand.

  "So let me get this straight," Scotty said skeptically. "You're saying that a dolphin sleeps with one eye open?"

  "That's right," Tyler replied impatiently.

  "And a shrimp's heart is in its head?" Carter added.

  "Yeesss," Tyler blew out a frustrated breath just as Grace and Madison ran up the lighthouse steps. "Finally!" he wailed.

  "We brought the key and 2 flashlights!" Skidding to a stop, Grace held up her flashlight excitedly.

  Feeling like he just escaped from jail, Tyler jumped up from his seat and bolted for the door of the lighthouse. "Let's check inside!" he cried.

  Chapter 9

  Standing inside the lighthouse, the kids looked at the spiral staircase that swirled up like a giant snail shell. Since they'd all given tours of the lighthouse during their summer vacations, they knew that the walls were actually made of steel and then covered in brick. The iron stairwell attached to the inside walls all the way to the lantern room at the top. That left the base level where the kids were standing. It was the only part of the lighthouse that was made of wood.

  "If I was Old Man Patterwhite," Scotty said looking up, "I wouldn't want to drag a treasure up 250 steps," he said doubtfully.

  "The kid's right," Grace put her hands on her hips and ignored Scotty's squinty eyed stare. "I think we need to check under our feet." She knelt down and started tapping on the wooden floorboards. Soon, they were all crawling around, banging their hands on the antique flooring.

  Getting bored after only a minute, Scotty stopped searching the floor and sat down beside an old captain's desk. He'd just reached into his back pocket for a Snicker's bar when he lost his balance and fell against the desk. Unfortunately, the desk slid forward and so did Scotty. He ended up with his nose stuck to the floor and his hand still in his pocket!

  "Ummm.... a little help here?" he squeaked.

  "You're sharing that, right?" Carter eyed the Snicker's bar as he crawled over to help.

  Scotty turned his head sideways and muttered, "Do I have a choice?"

  "Not really," Carter smirked and grabbed hold of Scotty's arm. Yanking a little harder than needed, he pulled Scotty up into a sitting position.

  "....er...thanks," Scotty complained.

  While the boys were busy trying to tear open the candy bar, Madison noticed that the boards under the desk were a lighter color than the rest of the floor. "Hey everyone, I ... think the boys might actually have found something," she stammered.

  Grace and Tyler scrambled over to get a look at the faded wood.

  "It might be just lack of sunlight," Tyler cautioned.

  "Yeah, but see how there's a lot of space between these three boards?" Madison argued. "We need to move the chest a little farther back to get a better look," she insisted.

  At one time the antique desk was kept in the Lightkeeper's Cottage. It was built of heavy teak wood and stainless steel to survive the salty ocean air. Now, though, it was used as a table to hold tourist information and a guest book.

  Grace and Tyler pushed from one end of the chest and Madison, Scotty and Carter pulled from the other side. Groaning, they pushed and pulled until the desk was shoved completely off of the discolored floorboards.

  A small, cotton rug was lying under the desk. Grace bent down and pulled it away to find a square trap door with an iron handle! She quickly grabbed hold and heaved it up. A hidden staircase!

  "Are you kidding me?!" Scotty blurted. "An actual hidden staircase! This has got to lead to the treasure!"

  "Hold on a minute," Tyler called. "Let me get the flashlights." He ran over to the door of the lighthouse and knelt down to pick up the two emergency lights Grace had grabbed from the gift shop. Looking up he noticed two battered old boots and a cane standing in front of him.

  "Who are you?" Tyler croaked. He didn't know the old man standing in front of him and he didn't like the scary look the man was giving him or his friends.

  "Who I am don't really matter," the man said as he motioned with his cane for Tyler to stand back.

  "What matters is that you kids climb down that stairwell and bring me the treasure! It belongs to me!" he snarled.

  "What do you mean 'belongs to you'?" Tyler asked. "And why do you think we're even looking for a treasure?" he added.

  Solomon was through following these nosey kids around. But with his bad knee, he needed them to climb the stairs and get the treasure! He'd been searching this island for too long to just hand it over to some orphans!

  "Don't play games with me kid," S
olomon barked. He glared at the 5 wide eyed kids who were huddled together beside the hole in the floor. "Climb down that staircase and don't come up until you've got Old Elijah Patterwhite's gold!"

  "Gold!" Scotty gulped.

  Chapter 10

  Her mind working quickly, Grace whispered to Madison, "We need to find that treasure fast so we can get away from this dude," she warned.

  "Alright," Madison called out to the man hesitantly. "We're going down there but stop pointing that cane!" she grimaced at the pointy stick.

  Turning on their flashlights, they slowly climbed down the narrow, iron staircase counting 20 steps until the bottom. Tyler was the last to come down and he turned to look up as he stepped onto the concrete floor at the base of the lighthouse.

  "Just don't take too long down there," Solomon barked out as he peered down at them.

  "I think I recognize him," Madison whispered when they were all in the vault. "I thought he looked familiar when I caught him watching us at the campground. And now I know why. There's a small picture of him in the Island History book. He was the last Lightkeeper for the lighthouse!"

  "I guess that's why he thinks the treasure is his," Grace cautioned. "We've got to keep him from getting it!"

  The hidden vault at the bottom of the stairwell was surrounded in concrete. No light at all filtered in except from the flashlights and the open floorboards above. Scotty and Carter stood back to back, careful not to touch, as they turned in a slow circle.

  "What do you think this room was built for?" Carter murmured.

  "Most likely it was built for safety," Tyler replied. "Building underground acts like an extra shield against wind and storms. But I don't remember seeing this room on the construction plans that are in the gift shop," he puzzled.

  Above them they could hear the old man cackling, "That's because the first set of plans was lost long ago," Solomon sneered. "Probably by the first Lightkeeper, Elijah Patterwhite. Now thanks to you clumsy kids, I've found what he was hiding!"

  "Who's a clumsy kid?" Scotty argued.

  "Don't worry about it," Grace whispered encouragingly. "You'll grow out of it."

  "I need another light over here," Madison cried as she knelt down on the floor. It was so dark they could only make out shadows of the few objects scattered throughout the room.

  Grace swung around as she scrambled over to add her light to Madison's. They were far enough from the trap door that the old man couldn't see what they were doing. "Is it the treasure?" she whispered.