William Crum 4/8/010
Relphy's First Adventure
The year was 1842. Relphy was out in the yard chopping at the hard, arid soil with three or four chickens pecking around him when a wind from the north came swooping in and knocked him down. While the icy wind pierced his eyes and whirled through his ears like a tornado, he saw a peculiar thing zipping through the air. When the light brown rag landed on his lap he stared at it in amazement. In golden letters written on the top left-hand corner he read, "Captain Alburt's Map to the Lost Treasure of Gormon." So, it was the treasure map of the greatest pirate, sliced in two, probably by a cool, steel blade in one of his adventures. But wait, it had been cut in two, but only one half was there. "The Captain of the Sea, Alburt the Great, must have the second half of this map," said Relphy, "and I must set out on a journey to find it."
Tom, Relphy's neighbor, who was a gardener, heard his plan and called after him. "Oy, you wait! I heard what you plan to do. Why don't you let me go with you? There should be enough treasure for both of us. I know a man with a ship. He could help us out."
"OK, you can come," said Relphy. "Let's sail off to Oregon to the home of Captain Alburt."
The cool, fresh wind on the ship, The Fifth Glory, was a relief from the icy wind of the previous week. Unlike most gardeners in California at that time, Tom had many friends who were sailors. Relphy, Tom, and a crew of about twenty men helped on the ship. After a few days they reached Oregon. Tom, Relphy, and two other men with ragged clothes and scruffy beards went to find Alburt's mansion. Relphy, who was a white dog, wearing nothing but a long, sharp sword and a ship captain's hat, went first. Then Tom, a tall man with a pouffy-sleeved white shirt and pitch-black pants, followed behind with his sword. The mansion was in view. The two buff men scuttled the guards while Relphy and Tom crept inside. They could see Captain Alburt sitting in front of a warm fire. He was a short, white cat with a big head. Alburt had an enormous black beard and a pirate's hat.
"Look at that, Relphy," Tom whispered. "It's the legendary Murray Darling."
Murray Darling was one of the greatest pirate thieves ever seen. Like Relphy, he was a dog. But unlike Relphy, he was black, scruffy, and had a dark brown eye patch covering the place where his left eye had been.
Tom asked, "How are we going to get a half-torn treasure map from the two richest...."
"Shhhhhhh!" said Relphy. "I'm trying to listen to what they're saying."
Alburt was talking. "It was three to five weeks ago when I was on the Dark Wing heading toward Gormon, the lost Hawaiian island, when that scalawag who tried to maroon me, cut the map in two just before I drove my sword into his heart. I have one half, three floors up, but the other half blew out to sea."
"So, he doesn't know we have the other half?" said Tom.
"Of course not," said Relphy. "C'mon upstairs."
Relphy and Tom were thankful for the thickly cushioned carpet on the steps because the sores on their feet from the splintery deck of the ship felt so much better on the soothing texture. Also, it masked the sound of creaking. The only problem they had was the lack of time: time to get upstairs, time to find the map, and time to escape without being caught. Thankfully the second room Tom entered had a desk and the other half of the map was on it. Instead of going back downstairs and sneaking out the door, they used rope Relphy had found to let themselves down through a window. Relphy, Tom, and the other men ran back to the ship.
Back at Alburt's mansion, when the guards woke up two days later, they ran inside to tell Captain Alburt all that had happened to them. Murray and Alburt burst into the map room, and when they pieced together what had happened Alburt boomed at the guards, "Get ready the Dark Wing to set sail tonight."
On The Fifth Glory, sailing to Hawaii, there were many problems. The main problem was the whole crew were cry-babies. One man was angry all day because he lost his tooth and the tooth fairy didn't leave him any money. Another man jumped overboard because no one knew it was his birthday. He wasn't the only man they lost. About five more died when a terrible storm came and swept them off their feet and over the side into the water. When the storm had ceased, Tom somehow put the map back together.
Captain Alburt's ship was the fastest in the Pacific and it wouldn't take as long to sail to Hawaii as The Fifth Glory.
Two weeks after they had left Oregon, a watch-out on Relphy's ship called, "Land, ho!" It wasn't Gormon, but with the map Relphy knew how to navigate to the right island. After being delayed by several fierce storms, one day later, Alburt saw land, as well.
"I don't know exactly which island it is, but if we hurry we can spot their ship before they find a cove to hide it in," said Alburt.
From far away, Relphy couldn't see the island of Gormon. Even when they were close the island looked blue. The circular island was a mile in diameter. There were no palm trees; there was no grass, but there was a well exactly in the center of Gormon Island. Men spread out to start digging because there was no "X" on the map. After a while of digging, the men got thirsty. They all thought that instead of going back to the ship to get water, they would try the well. Just as they lifted the empty bucket, a man on The Fifth Glory shouted "Ship ahoy!" The Dark Wing had found them. Men ran back to The Fifth Glory. Half of them died, getting hit by falling cannon balls. Having never fought in their lives, Tom and Relphy went down the well. The bottom of the well was unlike any well they had ever seen. There were five passageways going in different directions.
"They must be underground tunnels," Relphy said. "C'mon, let's warn the others."
They popped their heads out of the hole, just to be inches away from the back of Murray Darling's head. Murray Darling was fighting with a crew member. Looking the other way, Tom could see men spreading gunpowder on the deck of The Fifth Glory.
"No!" he cried, which caused Murray's head to turn around. Quickly Tom and Relphy slipped back down the rope. Murray Darling slid after them. When Tom hit the ground, he drew his sword.
"Run, Relphy!" he yelled.
Still up above, on the island, Alburt called, "Evacuate the Wing. Search for that treasure, all of you!"
The tunnel seemed to go on and on until Relphy came to a stop. It was a dead end which had a hole in the ceiling. He ran back just to meet Darling in his tracks. Relphy drew his sword.
"Where's the treasure?" Darling asked.
"Boom!" The explosion distracted Murray Darling. Relphy turned and ran back down the tunnel toward the dead end with Murray Darling after him. When Murray reached the dead end, Relphy was nowhere to be seen. Suddenly Relphy jumped on him from the opening above. Relphy ran back toward the well. Tom was gone.
"Relphy," he called from another passageway.
"Comin'," Relphy yelled. "The treasure?"
Tom was sitting next to the treasure with one bloody shoulder.
"Look Relphy. Another well up above."
"You're right. C'mon!"
Luckily, the well led up right next to an anchored rowboat not too far from the Dark Wing. Tom and Relphy hoisted the treasure up the well and set it neatly in the boat. The sound of victory calls on the shore and the pillar of smoke from the bay, told them everyone else from The Fifth Glory was dead and their ship had been destroyed. So they rowed to the Wing. No one was aboard but Captain Alburt himself. I do not want to tell you what they did to him first, but afterwards they threw him overboard and he swam to shore. To this day Alburt and his crew have been on Gormon Island.
When Tom and Relphy got home, they told their wives all that had happened. The wives insisted they return the treasure to the men it first belonged to. This turned out to be a great idea. Many of the owners gave them generous rewards, but the best reward of all was a new treasure map.
The End
