“Wow!” Joe exclaimed. He had heard about messages in bottles floating in the sea—but what was one doing on Jason’s front porch?
“What did the message say?” Frank asked.
Jason flipped the bottle upside down. A tightly rolled-up sheet of paper dropped out. Jason unrolled it and handed it to Frank. “Read it yourself,” he said.
Joe looked over Frank’s shoulder as he read the message out loud: “ ‘Hands off the buried treasure. Signed, CS.’ ”
The brothers studied the note. The message was written very plainly in block letters with black ink.
“You think CS stands for ‘Captain Scurvydog’?” Joe asked.
“Well, it doesn’t stand for ‘chocolate sprinkles,’ ” Jason said sarcastically as he grabbed the message back. “But there’s more.”
Frank and Joe traded surprised looks. With so many mysterious clues, no wonder Jason needed their help!
“I found these on my windowsill last night,” Jason said as he pulled a handful of coins from his pocket.
The brothers studied the golden-colored coins in Jason’s palm. Each small, flat coin had uneven edges and was stamped with an old-timey sailing ship on one side and a Jolly Roger flag on the other. The black flag with a skull-and-crossbones design had been flown by pirates hundreds of years ago.
Frank took one coin from Jason. “Looks like pirate booty to me,” he decided, turning it over in his own hand.
“The coins were another sign from Captain Scurvydog’s ghost,” Jason said, stuffing the coins back into his pocket. “He’s warning me not to dig up buried treasure!”
“So you’re not going to use the treasure map you won in the contest?” Joe asked. “You said you didn’t believe in ghosts, Jason!”
“I didn’t,” Jason said, “until now.”
Jason turned to swat a bee away from Crackers’s cage. Frank and Joe stepped away to discuss what they’d just heard.
“Jason totally believes in that pirate ghost,” Frank whispered. “How are we ever going to change his mind?”
“There’s only one way,” Joe said with a smile. He pulled their clue book from his pocket and sang, “Ta-da!”
“What are you guys doing?” Jason asked.
“We want to figure out who left that weird pirate stuff around your house, Jason,” Frank said, “and taught Crackers that song.”
“And we don’t think it’s Captain Scurvydog!” Joe declared.
“Who else could it be?” Jason asked.
“We think someone is trying to scare you,” Frank explained. “Maybe someone who wanted to win the Talk Like a Pirate Contest.”
“Can Frank and I take some pirate coins with us as clues, Jason?” Joe asked. “Or the message in a bottle?”
“Maybe we can study the handwriting in the message—” Frank started to say, before Jason firmly shook his head.
“No way,” Jason said. “I know you guys are detectives, but don’t make this one of your cases.”
“Why not?” Frank asked.
“Because,” Jason replied, turning toward the door. “You might upset the ghost of Captain Scurvydog!”
Without a good-bye, he entered the house and shut the door.
Joe heaved a big sigh and said, “Our bud Jason is going to be a tough nut to crack.”
“Which is why we have to crack this case anyway,” Frank stated. “Let’s get to work!”
Joe opened the clue book. Tucked inside was his favorite pen, which was also a mini flashlight. After turning to a clean page, he wrote: Pirate Ghost—or Pirate Hoax?
“Let’s look for more clues while we’re still here,” Frank suggested. “Then we’ll figure out who could be scaring Jason.”
Crackers suddenly squawked and began to sing, “Congratulations, Jason! You’re pirate number one! And with that awesome treasure map . . . treasure map . . . treasure map . . .”
Crackers’s singing voice trailed off as the brothers stared into his cage.
“That doesn’t sound like an old pirate song to me,” Frank said.
“I guess Crackers has a long playlist!” said Joe.
The brothers walked to the doorstep, where Jason had found the message in the bottle. Looking down, they noticed gold-colored specks shimmering from the floorboards.
“Since when do ghosts leave pixie dust?” Joe asked.
“It’s glitter, Joe,” Frank said, “and a great clue.”
Joe wrote the clue in his book. “Let’s check out Jason’s window where he found those gold coins.”
The brothers headed around the house to Jason’s bedroom window.
“Jason’s window isn’t very high,” Joe pointed out. “Any kid could have put the pirate coins on his windowsill.”
Frank had pocketed the one coin that Jason had let him see. He held it up and said, “But who has old-looking coins like this?”
“Yeah,” Joe said, studying the coin. “It looks like they were dug up somewhere.”
Dug up? Frank’s eyes lit up.
“Joe,” he said excitedly. “The Junior Diggers of Bayport bragged about some treasure chest full of coins they had, remember?”
“How could I forget?” Joe asked. “They wanted to dig for ancient pirate stuff in Jason’s backyard!” He smiled as he wrote the club’s name in the clue book. “I think we have our first suspects. The Junior Diggers of Bayport!”
“Good work so far,” Frank declared. “What should we look for next?”
“A place to have lunch,” Joe said, shutting the clue book, “before my stomach growls more than Plunderin’ Pete!”
When the boys went home to ask their mom about lunch, Mrs. Hardy offered to drop Frank and Joe off at one of their favorite places: Beefy Burger. The burger place was packed with kids celebrating the first day of spring break.
“I’ll pick you boys up in a bit,” Mrs. Hardy said as she parked outside the restaurant. “Have fun!”
Walking toward the food counter, the brothers saw something popping up from the crowd of diners. Something yellow with floppy green leaves.
“It’s a pineapple!” Frank said.
“Pineapple burger?” asked Joe.
“No,” Frank said. “A pineapple hat!”
The boys noticed something else. Wearing the pineapple hat was Reilly Voorhees!
Reilly sat at a small table with her friend Paisley Horner. Reilly wore another dance costume and a supersize pineapple on her head. But what really caught the brothers’ eyes was what she had on her feet!
“Reilly is wearing gold shoes,” Frank whispered. “And they look glittery to me.”
“Like the glitter we found by
