BEEEEEP! BEEP! BEEP!
“The metal detector found something else, Frank,” Joe said. “I wonder what.”
He continued walking around the attic with the device, moving it back and forth. It beeped wildly as he approached something big and bulky. It looked like a box underneath a Jolly Roger flag.
“What’s in there?” Frank wondered.
“Good question,” Joe said. He put aside the metal detector and pulled off the flag. The box underneath looked exactly like—
“A treasure chest!” Joe exclaimed.
“What are we waiting for?” Frank said. “Let’s open it!”
The brothers knelt next to the treasure chest. Together they took hold of the heavy lid and lifted it.
“Whoa!” Joe exclaimed as they peered inside.
“Check it out!” Frank said under his breath.
The chest was filled practically to the brim with coins. Golden, ancient-looking coins!
Chapter 7
YO HO—OH NO!
“Take out the coin Jason found on his windowsill, Frank,” Joe said, “so we can compare it to these.”
“Check,” Frank said. He was about to reach for the coin when voices rose from the bottom of the staircase.
“It sounds like Tobias and his club are back!” Joe hissed. “We’ve got to hide!”
“Why?” Frank asked. “Mrs. Singh knows we’re up here.”
“She knows we’re here to wait for the club,” Joe whispered. “She doesn’t know we’re here to snoop!”
Joe rushed over to the mummy sarcophagus. “There’s probably room in there for both of us,” he said. “And the mummy, of course.”
“Are you nutso?” Frank said, running after him. “It’s dangerous to hide in there!”
“Maybe it’s not a sarcophagus,” Joe said.
“Huh?” Frank cried.
“Maybe it’s a secret door leading somewhere else!” Joe said. He grabbed the edge of the sarcophagus lid and began to pull. The lid popped open and—
“Ahhhhh!” they both yelled as a tall, bandaged mummy tumbled out and pinned them both to the ground.
Through the chaos, Joe’s cap flew off his head. As the brothers tried to roll the mummy off, the Junior Diggers of Bayport rushed over.
“My mom said you guys were up here, but what are you doing with our mummy?” Tobias demanded.
Frank and Joe dragged themselves out from underneath the mummy.
“What are you doing with an Egyptian mummy in your clubhouse?” Joe asked as he and Frank stood up. “Don’t tell me you found it in Bayport.”
“We totally found it here,” Tobias insisted. “It was at the Bayport Fun Fair before they tore it down.”
“A fun fair?” Joe asked. “So the mummy is really a dummy?”
“It’s not ancient?” Frank asked.
“Nope,” Lily said, waving the musty smell from her nose, “it just smells that way.”
Lily and Mikey lifted the mummy, leaning it back inside the sarcophagus. Tobias patted the side of the sarcophagus proudly and said, “You guys would be surprised how many treasures can be found in Bayport.”
“Speaking of treasures,” Frank said, nodding toward the treasure chest. “Jason Wang found coins on his windowsill last night. Coins like the ones in there.”
“And we found a hole in the Wangs’ backyard,” Joe added. He pointed to the red cap on the floor. “Plus that!”
Mikey smiled as he picked up the cap. “So that’s where I lost my club cap.”
“Aha!” Joe exclaimed. “So you guys were digging at Jason’s house.”
“After he said you couldn’t,” Frank added. “What’s with you guys?”
The club members traded guilty glances.
“We were going to ask Jason’s parents,” Tobias admitted. “But nobody was home.”
“Except that crazy bird,” Lily said with a frown.
“We figured it would be okay to look for old pirate stuff above the ground,” Tobias said. “But we’re diggers, so we couldn’t help ourselves!”
“Did you also leave pirate stuff around the house?” Frank asked.
“You told Jason his house was built over the old Peg-Leg Inn,” Joe added. “Maybe you tried to scare him into believing there were pirate ghosts still hanging around!”
The club members shook their heads no.
“We were the ones who were scared,” Mikey admitted. “That parrot started singing some creepy old pirate song.”
“So we left,” Tobias put in.
“Then what about that treasure chest of coins?” Joe asked. “Where did you get that?”
“Take a closer look at the coins and see for yourself,” Tobias said.
Frank and Joe scooped up handfuls of coins, checking several at random. Each one was stamped with Tobias’s face on one side, a saying on the other. . . .
“ ‘Tobias Singh—Good as Gold’?” Frank read.
“That doesn’t sound very ancient,” Joe said.
“It’s not,” Tobias confessed. “The coins were from my birthday party last month. The theme was archeology.”
“Cool,” Frank admitted.
“Most of it was,” Tobias said. “Except, where do you put candles on a pyramid-shaped cake?”
The Hardys tossed Tobias’s birthday coins back into the treasure chest. They did not match the coins Jason had found on his windowsill.
“Does this mean we’re clean?” Tobias asked.
“Yeah,” Joe joked. “But your hands are covered with dirt!”
Frank smiled as the Junior Diggers frowned at their muddy hands. “Thanks for your help,” he said. “Did you find something cool on your dig today?”
“Just some kid’s retainer,” Lily said.
“We’re hoping it belonged to King Tut!” Tobias added with a grin.
Frank and Joe said good-bye to the diggers and Mrs. Singh. As they walked away from the house, Joe crossed the Junior Diggers off the suspect list.
“I’m glad Tobias and his club are innocent,” he admitted. “But they were our last suspects, and we’re back to square one.”
“Yeah,” Frank sighed. “Who could have put all that pirate stuff around Jason’s house? And taught Crackers that song?”
Joe stared at his brother. “Maybe Jason’s house really was built over an old pirate inn,” he said. “Maybe it really is haunted like Jason thinks.”
“If that’s true,” Frank said with a smirk, “then Captain Scurvydog wouldn’t be the only ghost dropping by to say ‘Boo!’ ”
“Mom, Dad,” Joe said later that day as he carried a platter of corn into the Hardys’ backyard. “This corn on the cob reminds me of a joke Jason and Crackers told at the Pirate Palooza.”
Frank looked up from placing plates on the picnic table. It was a warm spring
