Pete nodded. “All my bags have the same treasures,” he said. “It’s a great way to promote my new CD!”
“Does your CD have the song we heard you sing at the museum before?” Joe asked. “The one about the blowy wind?”
“Aye!” Plunderin’ Pete exclaimed. “That’s one of my greatest hits!”
“Bingo,” Joe said under his breath. If the song was on the CD, Jason could have taught it to Crackers!
“Now, then,” Pete said. “Do you lads want a treas-arrrrgh bag?”
“We’ll take this one, thanks,” Frank said. “Then Joe and I will go.”
“But not before I ask one more question,” Joe told Pete. “Was there or was there not a Captain Scurvydog?”
Pete looked Joe straight in the eye and growled, “Dead men tell no tales.”
Joe gulped, until Pete smiled and said, “But this pirate does tell tales, and Captain Scurvydog is my favorite!”
“So he’s not for real?” Joe asked.
“Shiver me timbers, no,” Plunderin’ Pete said. “Why do you think I call them tall tales?”
The brothers thanked Pete for his help and the treasure bag. As they walked to their bikes, Joe said, “This bag is filled with the best treasures we could find.”
“You mean the eye patch?” Frank asked. “The compass?”
“The clues!” Joe declared happily.
The brothers pedaled straight to the Wang house. Jason stepped out onto the porch. His eyes widened when he saw the treasure bag in Frank’s hand.
“Look familiar?” Joe asked.
“It’s got a blue bottle, pirate coins,” Frank said, “and a CD of old pirate songs.”
“One of Crackers’s new favorite songs is on it,” Joe said. “The one about the blowy wind.”
“The ghost of Captain Scurvydog taught Crackers that song!” Jason blurted.
“I’m sorry, Jason, but there was no Captain Scurvydog,” Frank said gently. “Or his ghost. We talked to Plunderin’ Pete, and he told us that the legend of Captain Scurvydog was a tall tale.”
Jason stared at Frank and Joe. “I’d better go back inside,” he said suddenly. “I have to cram for a science test tomorrow.”
“It’s spring break, Jason,” Joe said. “No school tomorrow.”
“Rats,” Jason mumbled.
“Come on, Jason,” Joe sighed. “We just want to know if you left those pirate ghost clues around the house.”
“You got the same treasure bag on Friday,” Frank pointed out. “You also had time to teach Crackers a new pirate song.”
“Yo-ho-ho!” Crackers sang from his cage. “Blow the man down!”
“Two new songs,” Joe said.
Jason shuffled his feet. He then heaved a big sigh and said, “I did teach Crackers that pirate song. I also put the fake pirate doubloons on my windowsill and wrote the message, too.”
“How come, Jason?” Frank asked.
“Why would you want to trick us like that?” added Joe.
“Because I didn’t want to dig up the treasure chest and make Captain Scurvydog mad,” Jason admitted. “So I used stuff from Pete’s treasure bag and wrote my own warning message.”
Jason then cracked a smile and said, “I should have known that Frank and Joe Hardy would find out the truth!”
“It’s okay, Jason,” Frank said, smiling too. “Solving mysteries is what we do.”
“And this mystery is totally solved!” Joe said, and wrote Case Closed in the clue book.
“Awesome!” Jason exclaimed. “Now that I know there’s no Captain Scurvydog, I want to use the map I won to find the buried treasure.”
“Can we still help?” Frank asked.
“You bet,” Jason replied.
“In that case,” Joe said as he traded high fives all around, “pirates ahoy!”
“Are you sure this is the place?” Jason asked. “Under this rock?”
It was later that day, and Joe was studying the treasure map. It had led him, Frank, and Jason to a spot near the snack stand in Bayport Park.
“X marks the spot!” Joe declared.
“What are we waiting for, mateys?” Frank said as he picked up the rock. “Let’s start digging!”
Using his mom’s gardening shovel, Jason dug a hole in the ground. He kept digging until his shovel hit something with a clunk.
“I found it, you guys!” Jason declared. “I found the treasure!”
The boys pulled out what looked like a pirate’s old treasure chest. Jason spit on both hands, then popped open the lid.
“Cool,” Frank said as they peered inside. The chest was filled with all kinds of things to have fun with.
“Thanks for helping me dig it up, guys,” Jason told Frank and Joe, “and for telling me the truth about Captain Scurvydog.”
Frank smiled as he pulled a plastic telescope from the chest. “No problem, Jason,” he said, peering through the telescope. “The ghost of Captain Scurvydog may be fake, but this buried treasure . . . is the real deal!”
About the Author
Franklin W. Dixon is the author of the ever-popular Hardy Boys series of books.
Santy Gutiérrez resides in the seaside city of La Coruña, Spain. He has won awards such as the Best Spanish Young Editorial Cartoonist and Best Galician Caricaturist, among others.
DON’T MISS THE NEXT HARDY BOYS CLUE BOOK:
The Time Warp Wonder
ALADDIN
Simon & Schuster, New York
VISIT US AT SIMONANDSCHUSTER.COM/KIDS
Authors.SimonandSchuster.com/Franklin-W-Dixon
Authors.SimonandSchuster.com/Santy-Gutiérrez
Don’t miss any of the cases in the Hardy Boys Clue Book series!
#1: The Video Game Bandit
#2: The Missing Playbook
#3: Water-Ski Wipeout
#4: Talent Show Tricks
#5: Scavenger Hunt Heist
#6: A Skateboard Cat-astrophe
Coming Soon
#8: The Time Warp Wonder
This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
ALADDIN
An imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division
1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020
www.SimonandSchuster.com
First Aladdin paperback edition April 2018
Text copyright © 2018 by Simon & Schuster, Inc.
Illustrations copyright © 2018 by Santy Gutiérrez
Also available in an Aladdin hardcover edition.
All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.
ALADDIN and related logo are registered trademarks of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
THE HARDY BOYS and colophons are registered trademarks of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
HARDY BOYS CLUE BOOK and colophons are trademarks of Simon & Schuster,
