The Treasure That Wasn't On the Map

The map was old and brown and very official. There was a big red X in the middle of an island, and the island had a name, and the name was Skullbeard's Last Hideaway, which sounded very promising.

Captain Vol and her crew sailed for three weeks to get there.

The X was on a small rocky beach with a perfectly ordinary palm tree. They dug. They dug everywhere. They dug for the whole afternoon. They found:

— a coconut
— another coconut
— half a flip-flop
— absolutely no gold

The crew were getting cross.

"Maybe the map is wrong," said First Mate Cob.

"Maps are not wrong," said Captain Vol, who had certain principles.

"Then maybe we are wrong."

That was an interesting thought. Captain Vol sat on the empty hole and thought about it.

While she was thinking, a small girl walked out from behind the palm tree. She had a copper kettle and a cup of tea on a tray. She looked about six years old.

"Hello," said the girl. "I'm Marsa. My grandfather was Skullbeard. He left a note for whoever found this map."

"A note?" said Captain Vol.

The girl handed her a piece of folded paper. It said:

Dear digger,

You came a long way. There is no gold. There never was. The treasure my friends always remembered me for was the tea I made when they came home cold. So my granddaughter will make you tea, if you found this. The kettle is the treasure now. Take it with you — but only if you promise tomake tea for sailors who land at your island, too.

— Skullbeard

Captain Vol read it twice. Then she looked at the kettle. It was a perfectly ordinary copper kettle.

"Do you want it?" said Marsa.

Captain Vol nodded slowly. She accepted the kettle, and the cup of tea, and she shared the tea with her crew, and the tea was very good.

When they sailed away, Captain Vol stood at the prow holding the kettle. Cob was a little disappointed.

"It's just a kettle," he said.

"No," said Captain Vol. "It's a duty. That's a different kind of treasure."

She set the kettle on the galley stove that very night, in case anybody came knocking who was cold.