Free Cora Flash and the Treasure of Beggar's Bluff by Tommy Davey

replied.
    Mr. Burton had made his way to the Bluffs in a small yellow dinghy that was now tied to a rock just behind the fishing boat we'd come in on. It had a small motor on it, which he must have turned very low when he made his way into the cavern. Either that, or he'd paddled his way in.
    "I know you broke into my house and destroyed my bedroom," I said. "I found your library card. You were looking for the other half of the map, weren't you?"
    "You're smarter than I thought. I had the other half of that map for almost twenty years. I bought it from someone who found it in a bottle on the beach, but he said the other half was hidden in the library. I worked at that library every day trying to find that map, and you come in and find it without even trying!"
    "Do you even like books?" I asked.
    "Who cares about books?" Mr. Burton yelled. "I care about GOLD! I never wanted to work in that stupid library. I just wanted to be there every day so I could find the other half of the map before someone else did."
    "And Cora found it," said Gerald, laughing at Mr. Burton.
    "Well it doesn't matter much now, does it, because here we have the gold. This can't be all of it, but it's certainly enough for me to get far away from this ugly little town and start living the life I deserve!"
    "Then take it," I said. "Take all of it and get out of here. We have no interest in the gold."
    "We don't?" asked Gerald.
    "It's not ours," I said. "We can't keep it."
    Gerald looked terribly disappointed. "Oh," he said. "But maybe there is a reward."
    "You can't get a reward for something you don't have," said Mr. Burton. "Since I am going to take the gold and skedaddle, you have nothing to claim. And just to make sure you don't try something foolish, like chase after me, I borrowed this from your boat."
    He held up a large pile of rope that Gerald used to tie down cargo on his boat.
    "Tie up the girl," he said, throwing the rope to Gerald.
    Gerald looked at me and then at the rope in his hands. "I'm sorry, Cora," he said, "but he has a gun...."
    "I understand."
    I sat down on the ground with my back to a large rock and let Gerald tie me to it.
    "When you're done with her," he said, "then I will tie you up."
    Gerald tied the knots behind me tight enough that I would not be able to escape, but not so tight I was uncomfortable.
    "That should do it," he said. "You're sure you're okay?"
    "Yeah," I said.
    Gerald then sat down beside me so Mr. Burton could proceed to tie him up. The entire time, Ethan stood watching everything, not sure what to make of this funny game. Calvin, surprisingly, had disappeared.
    "You're not going to tie up a two-year-old, are you?" I asked Mr. Burton.
    "No," he replied, "I'm going to take him with me!"
     

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
    "What?" I exclaimed. "You can't!"
    "He's my insurance policy," he said. "I know you won't try anything stupid if I have him with me, and when I know I am out of danger, I will drop him off with a note to tell everyone where to find you two."
    My worst nightmare. Mom had just started to trust me with Ethan alone and I was about to lose him to a gold-thieving librarian who hated books.
    Mr. Burton pulled out a duffel bag and started to transfer as many of the gold bars as he could fit into it. After he had moved about ten of the bars, he dragged it down to where the boats were tied up, temporarily remaining out of site.
    "Each one of those weighs close to thirty pounds," said Gerald. "He's not going to be able to carry very many of them in that little boat of his. It will sink."
    "Sink?" I cried. "But he has Ethan with him."
    This was shaping up to be a much more dangerous situation than I'd bargained for.
    Mr. Burton returned with another bag and began to fill that one, too. When he'd put in another six or seven bars of gold, he zipped it up and started to drag it behind him.
    "Come along now," said Mr. Burton in his librarian voice.
    He took Ethan by the hand and started to lead him away from us. Ethan knew