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Mac lay sleeping in the
tree, having a wonderful dream about t-bone steaks, jacket potatoes
dripping with thick, creamy butter, peas, and a piece of rhubarb pie with
cream. He was licking his lips. "Mac! Mac! Wake up!" Ian shouted, shaking
Mac back and forth.
"This had better be good,
Ian. I was having a nice dream." Mac sat up and rubbed his eyes. "What is
it?"
"I found a treasure chest!"
Ian said, excitedly.
"You found what?" Mac
asked.
"I found a big chest. I
know its filled with treasure," he giggled.
"Slow down. Now, tell me,
where did you find it?"
"I was chasing a lizard and
it ran into a cave. I followed it and that’s where I found the chest. It’s
made of wood with gold locks on it and its very heavy. I think the two of
us can carry it back to the tree," Ian explained.
"Take me to see it. Maybe
it’s filled with t-bone steaks and jacket potatoes. I’d like that much
more than gold and jewels," Mac sighed.
They climbed down the tree
and Mac followed Ian to the cave. The lizard was sitting on a rock just
outside. "Shoo," Ian said, flicking his claws at the lizard. It scuttered
away behind the rock. "The chest is in here. Come on."
They walked deeper inside.
"There it is," Mac said. "It does look like a treasure chest. It’s wooden,
like you said and there are gold locks." He tried to pick it up by one of
the handles. "Yikes! It is heavy. It’s sort of dark in here. Let’s take it
back to the tree and then we’ll try to open it." They picked it up by the
handles and carried it back to the tree. They had to stop every now and
then to rest. It was very heavy. When they reached the tree, Mac looked
up. "Um, how will we get the chest up there? There is no way we can carry
it?"
"You’re right, Mac. It’s
too heavy. Say, I’ve got an idea. Let’s make a pulley and hoist it up
there."
"Good idea, Ian. Do we have
any rope lying around?"
"We can surely find some.
Let’s leave the chest here and look around," Ian said. The raccoons ran
off. Ian looked under some bushes, behind the largest oaks and next to a
pile of rusted barrels that someone had left in the woods. He didn’t find
any rope, but he did find an old pulley. "Mac! Mac!" he called as he ran
towards the tree. "I found a pulley! Now all we need is rope!"
Mac came walking from the
pines holding a long piece of rope. "Not a problem. Look what I found.
Great! We can get to work. Climb the tree and hook the pulley onto a
branch with this," Mac said, handing Ian a smaller piece of rope. Once
that’s done, call down and I’ll bring this long piece of rope up. This is
going to work out just fine!" Ian tied the pulley up. Mac handed him the
rope. Ian slung it through the pulley. Two long ends dangled to the
ground. Mac tied one end to one of the handles of the chest. "Climb down!"
he called up. Ian came scurrying down the tree. "When I say go, we pull
the other end of the rope. The chest will lift into the air and up towards
the branches. When it’s at the top, you go back up and put it on the
branch and then I’ll let go. Now, together, pull!"
GRUNT! GROAN! WHEW! MOAN!
GRUNT! GROAN! WHEW! MOAN!
"Can you hold it, Mac?" Ian
asked, letting go of the rope.
"It’s not going to be easy.
Hurry up then," Mac replied. He had to pull with all his might so that the
rope didn’t slip and the chest plummet to the ground.
"I’ve got it!" Ian shouted
down. The chest was sitting on one of the stronger branches. "Great! I’m
letting go of the rope now," Mac said, dropping it. He climbed up the tree
and sat next to Ian.
"We’ve got it up here, but
how do we open it?" Ian asked.
"We bang the lock with a
rock. Sooner or later it will open!"
Ian ran down to the ground
and brought back two big rocks. "Here. Hit the locks," Ian said.
They pounded at the locks
for hours and hours but it didn’t break and the chest stayed shut. "This
isn’t working and my arms are tired," Mac complained.
"Mine too," Ian agreed.
"Let’s take a wee nap and
we’ll try again when we wake up. Right?" Mac asked.
Ian nodded. The two
raccoons curled up on the branches and fell asleep. What they didn’t
realize was that all the banging, combined with the weight of the chest,
had weakened the branch. Suddenly it snapped! Ian, Mac and the chest went
falling to the ground. "Yikes!" cried Ian and Mac together. They landed in
the bushes with a thud! The chest came crashing down and hit a large rock
at the bottom of the tree. It burst open and something came rolling out.
"Are you all right?" Ian
asked Mac. Mac sat up and picked leaves out of his nose and ears and
nodded. "Look! The chest is open. Now we can see the gold and jewels," Ian
said, excited and giggly. They climbed out of the bushes and walked to the
chest. "What is that?" Ian asked.
Mac bent over and examined
the contents. "It’s only cannonballs, probably left over from the Jacobite
Rebellion! There’s no treasure here. Not only that, but our favorite
branch is now lying in splinters at the bottom of the tree. This is just
great!" Mac was angry.
Ian sat on the chest and
pouted. He picked up one of the cannonballs and threw it. "It’s heavy. No
wonder the chest weighed so much."
"We can’t use the chest any
more either. It’s broken to bits. Help me clean it up," Mac said. They
spent the next few hours tidying up the woods. The bits of broken chest,
the cannonballs and the locks were tossed behind some large boulders. The
raccoons walked back to their tree. Ian grabbed hold of one of the pieces
of rope. Mac grabbed hold of the other. They started swinging back and
forth. "Wheeeeeeeeeeee!"
"This is fun," Ian said as
he swung past Mac.
"Yes it is!" Mac answered
as he swung up past the branches. "Don’t let go of your end or we’ll both
crash."
"I know. I won’t," Ian
assured him.
They had fun that day
swinging and playing with the rope and pulley. "I guess this wasn’t a
total waste," Mac said. "We’ve got this wonderful swing now!"
"Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeee!" Ian
shouted as he swung by again.
What fun the two raccoons
had! |
