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Chapter One

The Hunt for the
Secret Treasure

Last Saturday Goat and I hid treasures for each other to find. My treasure was seven pennies, a knife with one blade, a decal, and a balloon, all stuffed in a Band-Aid box. I buried it in a pot of flowers on my front porch.

Then I made a map that was very tricky. It would lead Goat all over the neighborhood. And not only was it tricky, it looked like a real pirate map. I had drawn it on brown paper and burned the edges. I was proud of that map.

After I finished, I went to the corner where Goat and I had planned to meet. Goat had probably been busy hiding a treasure for me and making a map, and he looked pleased too. He had a big smile on his face.

"Here you go, Goat my Pal," I said.

I handed him my map. He handed me a dirty scrap of paper.

"What's this?" I asked.

"Clues."

"Clues? You were supposed to draw a map." I looked at the piece of paper. It was so little, it was hard to read.

Finally I made it out:

4 to the right. 6 to the left. 7 across. 1 ahead. 2 sideways. Look up.

"What's this, Goat?" I asked again, but Goat was already running down thesidewalk.

It looked to me as if he were heading straight for my house, straight for the pot of flowers.

4 to the right. Quickly I took four steps to the right. 6 to the left. I did that. 7 across, 1 ahead, 2 sideways.

I looked up. All I could see were some clouds in the sky.

"Goat!" I ran after him. When I got to my house, he was standing on the porch. He was pulling my mom's pansies out of the pot, spilling the dirt all over.

He reached in and came up with the Band-Aid box.

"Ta-daaaa!" he said.

"Goat, you didn't even use the map. I spent all morning on that map!"

"I didn't need it," Goat said. "I saw a piece of pansy on your watch -- look, right there. Then I knew -- you hid it in the old pansy pot."

I felt cheated.

"That's not fair," I said. "You were supposed to use the map!"

"I would have if I had needed it. Did you find your treasure yet?"

He knew I hadn't.

"No."

"Too tricky, huh, Jackie?"

"I haven't even had a chance to read the clues yet."

I glanced down at the piece of paper, pretending I was looking at it for the first time. "It's not so tricky."

"It's trickier than yours," Goat said. He stuck my mom's pansies back into the pot. He opened the Band-Aid box and shook out the contents.

He said, "Money -- I can use that." He put it in his pocket. "A broken knife -- "

"It's not broken."

"It's only got one blade."

"Well, it still cuts. Look!" I showed him a scar. on my thumb.

"A decal that came from a cereal box -- I know because I eat the same kind. And a balloon that says I was a good patient . I know where you got that, from our dentist. He stopped giving them to me because I bit him.

"Well, go ahead. Find your treasure."

I stared back at him. All week I had been looking forward to hiding treasures. Now he had ruined it. I opened my front door. "I'm bored with this."

"So, Jackie, it's too tough for you, huh? Go ahead and quit."

"I'm not quitting."

"Then find the treasure. I want to see if you can do it."

"All right!" I stamped down the steps, down the sidewalk. Goat followed. I could hear him flipping the top of the metal box open and shut.

"You have to start at the corner," he said.

"I know where to start."

"Just being helpful," he said.

We walked to the corner without saying anything. I kept looking at the scrap of paper. I had held it so long that the writing was smeared.

4 to the right.

Four what? I knew it wasn't four steps. I had already tried that. Maybe it was giant steps. Maybe it was minutes. Walk four minutes to the right? With Goat it could be anything.

When we got to the corner, I was still looking at the scrap of paper. Four blocks maybe. No, that would put us on the other side of the highway. We weren't allowed to cross the highway.

"I'll give you one more clue," Goat said. "It's not four blocks. That would put us across the highway."

"I know! I figured that out!"

"So what do you think it is?" he asked.

"Houses maybe? Four houses?" I looked down the street.

"How could it be houses?" Goat said. "You can go four houses to the right, but how can you go six houses to the left? There aren't any houses there."

"No, nothing but trees."

Goat stuck his hands in his pockets. It was a quick movement, and it gave him away just as the flower had given me away.

I felt better.

"Let me see," I said. I started down the sidewalk. "Could it be four trees? One -- two -- three -- four trees?"

Goat followed slowly.

"Six trees to the left. Now, what's the next clue? Seven across. Why, yes, there are seven trees."

Goat was following even slower now. "You didn't really figure it out," he said. "I gave it away."

"Well, so did I. You didn't even have to look at my map -- just the old flower on the watch. Here we go. One ahead, two sideways. Look up. Aha!"

There was a small paper bag hanging from the limb overhead. I took it down and opened it.

Inside was half a package of breath mints, a Matchbox car with one wheel missing, and two bird feathers.

"How do you like your treasure?" Goat asked finally.

"Everything I always wanted, Goat my Pal."

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Excerpted from The Seven Treasure Hunts by Betsy Byars
All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.