Free The Goose's Gold by Ron Roy Page B

hip. “And Dinkus could wash my clothes and make my bed!”
    “Yeah, right,” Dink said. “And make you walk the plank!”
    “Listen! I hear music,” Josh said.
    A radio stood at the end of the dock next to a man holding a paintbrush. He was painting curly gold letters on the side of a white boat. So far, he’d finished G and O.
    Smears of gold speckled the man’s tanned fingers. He was short, but the muscles on his arms made him look like a weightlifter.
    Another man stood next to him, eating a muffin. He was tall and skinny, with a blond ponytail. Both men wore tank tops over baggy jeans.

    The skinny man nodded at the kids. “Howdy,” he said.
    “I like your boat,” said Josh. “Do you live on it?”
    The skinny man turned down the radio. “There’re two beds up front,” he said. “A kitchen and a bathroom, too.”
    Dink noticed a yellow rubber dinghy strapped along one side of the boat. Two long fishing poles were lying on the deck.
    “Is it a fishing boat?” Dink asked.
    The skinny man shook his head. “Naw, we’re after treasure. We dive for gold.”
    “You do?” Josh said. “Cool!”
    The man waved his muffin out at the ocean. “There’re plenty of sunken ships out there,” he said, grinning. “Me and Spike here found one.”
    The man with the paintbrush gave his friend a sharp look. “Chip, maybe these kids don’t want to know our business,” he said.
    Chip shrugged. “Just bein’ neighborly,” he said.
    Spike went back to his painting.
    “Did you find any gold yet?” Josh asked.
    Chip looked at Spike.
    “Yeah, we got some,” Spike said.
    “Could we see it?” Ruth Rose asked.
    Spike thought for a minute, then handed Chip his paintbrush. “Sure, why not?” he said. “Come aboard and watch your feet.”
    Spike climbed down some stairs to a little cabin. When he came back up, he had something shiny in his hand.
    “These are Spanish coins,” Spike told the kids. “Almost four hundred years old.”
    The kids stared at the gold coins in Spike’s hand.
    “Pretty neat, huh?” he asked.
    The large gold coins gleamed in the sun.
    “Awesome!” Josh said.

The kids thanked Spike and Chip and walked back along the dock.
    “I wonder how much those coins are worth,” Josh said.
    “A lot!” Ruth Rose said.
    Josh sighed. “Wouldn’t it be cool to dive for treasure?”
    “Josh,” Dink said, “you need to know how to use an air tank and everything. They go down deep!”
    Across the street, a small orange train was loading up with passengers.
    “There’s the trolley!” Ruth Rose said. “Let’s catch it!”
    The kids rushed over. They climbed aboard and sat right behind the driver. When most of the seats were filled, the trolley gave a jolt, then moved down the street.
    “Where does the trolley go?” Dink asked the driver.
    “We go everywhere, my man!” said the driver. He handed Dink a map. “See those blue circles? Those are my stops. You can get off at any of them, then hop back on when I come by again.”

    The driver stopped the train in front of a white building with overflowing flower boxes. The sign in front of the building read MEL FISHER’S TREASURE MUSEUM. SEE SPANISH GOLD AND SILVER INSIDE .
    “Who’s Mel Fisher?” Dink asked the driver.
    “Mel Fisher found an old Spanish ship loaded with gold and silver,” he said. “Some of what he found is in this museum.”
    He pointed at the sign. “Why don’t you kids hop off and check it out? I’ll swing by again in about forty-five minutes,”
    “All right!” Josh said.
    The kids got off the trolley and followed a few of the other sightseers to the museum.
    Inside were rows of glass cases. Each case held gleaming gold, silver, or jewelry.
    The kids walked around the room staring at the priceless treasures.
    After a while, Ruth Rose stopped in front of a picture of Mel Fisher. He was wearing a long gold chain. The real chain was displayed in a glass case below the picture.
    “Listen,” Ruth Rose said.