Treasure Trouble Read Online Free Page B

those crabs were bad news!” I said.
    “Ahoy! We’re starting to spin faster!” Gary shouted as he tried to steer the
Sea Rat
out of the whirlpool.
    “What are we going to do?” I asked.
    “Let me see,” Clegg said. “By chance, did every seasick pirate take a piece of the treasure?”
    “Aye, except Rotten Tooth. He took six pieces,” Vicky said.
    We all made grumble noises because fiveof those pieces were supposed to be ours.
    “That’s it, then. The treasure is making them sick,” Clegg said.
    We stopped grumbling right then. I guess Rotten Tooth stealing our boot buckles wasn’t so bad after all. It kept us from being icky sicky.
    “We need to get all those pieces back in the treasure chest!” I said.
    “Aye aye!” my friends agreed.
    “I’ll stay here and man the wheel,” Clegg told us. “Ye better hurry. And remember, if ye touch the treasure too long, ye will be as sick as the others.”
    We all made faces. None of us wanted to be icky sicky. Then we all put our hands in a circle and said our pirate cheer.
    “Swashbuckling, sailing, finding treasure, too. Becoming pirates is what we want to do!” we shouted.
    Then we split up to find every last piece of treasure before it was too late!

Chapter 9
Snoop and Sneak
    “Shhhh!” Inna whispered with her finger pressed to her mouth. “We have to be extra quiet,” she told us as we sneaked down the galley stairs to where the sleeping quarters were.
    “Aye,” I whispered back. “If any pirate catches us taking their treasure, we’ll be shark bait.”
    “Sink me,” Gary whispered. “We’re only trying to help.”
    “Aye,” I said. “But stealing is against the pirate code, even if it’s for a good reason.”
    “What are we going to do when they wake up?” Gary asked. “Will we get in trouble?” If there was one thing Gary was afraid of, it was getting in trouble.
    I shrugged. “We have to hope they’ll believe us about the curse,” I said.
    “If you two don’t stow it, we’ll wake them up before we have the chance,” Inna whisper-shouted at us.
    Gary and I quickly covered our mouths.
    “That’s better,” Inna said. Then she slowly pushed open the door to the main sleeping quarters. It creaked and squeaked, but the pirates inside didn’t budge.
    “Arrr, it looks like the curse has changed from seasick to sea sleep,” Gary said. He was right, too. Every pirate inside was snoring away. But it wasn’t the good kind of sleep. I could tell because every one of them was also green and sickish-looking.
    Inna snooped over to one side of the room and Gary snooped to the other. I snooped right down the middle. We went from sickbed to sickbed, quietly snatching the pieces of treasure. The
Sea Rat
continued to sail around in circles faster and faster, and we had to try hard to keep our balance.
    Inna finished her row first. She had bracelets dangling from both arms and necklaces all around her neck.
    I finished my row second.
    “Hurry up,” Inna whispered to Gary. We had to be quick or we would be seasick, too.
    Gary hurried as best he could. Only whenever Gary hurried, he got clumsy. I could see him getting clumsy as he tried to climb up the last bunk.
    He wibbled and wobbled.

    Inna and I covered our eyes and waited for the thump!
    But that thump never came.
    Gary never blundered!
    “Done!” Gary said once he sneaked over to us.
    “Good work,” I said.
    “Aye,” Inna agreed. “Maybe you’re not such a blunder head after all.”
    We were all happy. But our good cheer didn’t last long. That’s because with all the treasure we were carrying, we were starting to feel a little seasick.
    “We have to hurry and get this back into the treasure chest before we get icky sicky all over the place,” I said.
    “Aye,” Gary moaned.
    “Aye, let’s hope Vicky and Aaron were able to get the rest,” Inna said.
    When we got on deck, they weren’t there yet.
    “I hope they didn’t get caught,” I said. Vicky and Aaron had the