The Lost Isle of Solomon (standard:adventure, 3305 words)
Author: Daniel Chance	Added: Jul 27 2008	Views/Reads: 3386/2172	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
When one man inherits the map of a lost island, he and his friend go on a quest for the ultimate treasure!

Click here to read the first 75 lines of the story

me a ship." said George. Phineas started getting up from his seat. "It 
may get you out of financial distress, that is something, right?" 
Phineas began to flare. "I said no! Now you made me miss an important 
meeting over this silly legend!" he yelled. "Come on, please. I am 
going to go so far as to say you can come with me." reasoned George. 
Phineas stopped. Perhaps it was the alcohol, or perhaps his love for 
adventure, but whatever the reason, something clicked. "Okay, I will do 
it. When do you plan on leaving?" he asked. "Whenever is convenient for 
you.", answered George. 

Two weeks later, Williams arrived at his docks on his stage coach. His
servant opened the door to the coach, and he stepped out. "Go ahead and 
park it at the manor, take the time I am away off." he said, applying 
powder to his wig. The servant bowed and got back onto the coach. It 
sped odd, carrying two other servants riding on the rear. 

Phineas turned to his docks. They were going to take his personal sloop,
the Black Dawn. He was personally financing this hunt, and he hoped 
that the reward wasn't a myth. He was taking his families old musket. 
There was a flurry of movement, beside and on, the ship. Phineas stood 
waiting for George. "He had better not be late this time, or I will 
cancel this expedition!" 

George pulled up soon after in his less than elaborate stage coach. "I'm
here. Sorry I took so long, I ran into trouble over the map upon 
leaving the house. That is why I was late the other day." he said. 
"Fine, let's go, the ship is ready." said Phineas. "By the way," he 
said boarding the ship, "What is that book you have?" 

"This is a book telling of how to find the treasure. My father
translated it from the original Hebrew, and updated the navigation 
notes to our time." answered George. They walked up on deck. "Captain!" 
called Phineas. "Take this map, and get us to this island. Here are the 
coordinates." The captain took the map, and looked closely at it. 

An hour later, the Black Dawn raised it's anchor. The sails dropped, and
after a few seconds pause, the ship moved swiftly forward, assisted by 
it's outriggers. For several days, they sailed along the coast. From 
Massachusetts, to Williamsburg, to Charlotte, down to Georgia. Finally, 
they got to Florida, and then into the Caribbean. 

It had been several weeks at sea by now. Phineas had given up hope. The
captain was having a hard time finding the coordinates. George however, 
kept his hopes up the entire time. Finally, the captain said they were 
approaching the area. He was confirmed, as after he said that, A call 
came from the crow's nest, "Land ho!" 

The Isle of Solomon was a rather large island. Phineas inspected the
map. There were several lakes and many acres of woods, and a couple of 
fields. Also, according to the map, there were a few rivers. "Are you 
ready?" asked George. "Yes, let's go." Phineas answered. Though no one 
on the Black Dawn saw it, there was a ship in the distance that had 
been following them the entire time. 

On the lifeboat, George could hardly control his excitement. " I really
hope the treasure exists!", he said. "Are you sure binging that gun was 
a good idea? Look at it, that crack going down it, amaturely welded 
back together, bonded with plastic, and held together with a strip of 
rubber!" Phineas laughed. "I am sure. This gun has never failed my 
family, It single handedly killed fifty redcoats in our war for 
independence!" 

They arrived on the Isle of Solomon. "Well, what now? asked Phineas. "We
chip our way in!" answered George. There was a wall of greenery 
blocking them from getting in. George pulled a saber out, and proceeded 
to attack the jungle. After nearly an hour of non-stop chipping, George 
took out the book, and began reading. "When we get to a waterfall, we 
have to cross over it. We will then enter a field, where we will 
re-enter the woods to the left." 

So, for the rest of the day, they chipped their way to the waterfall,
which was smaller than they had expected. The next morning, they drank 
from the waterfall. "On we go!", cried George, with great enthusiasm. 

That enthusiasm, however, left him when he became terribly sick two
weeks later. His face was pale,and there was a series of large, red 
splotches on his body. He had a fever, and was extremely weak. Phineas 
had been prepared for something like this, and so had brought a 
medicine chest. He procured a vial, and poured the red liquid down 
Georges throat. George shivered, then the color came back into his 
cheeks. Within minutes, he jumped up, and they were off again. 

One day, while looking for a clump of twisted trees, they heard a
rustling in the woods. They stopped. "What is that?" asked George, 
scared. They had heard nothing during the entire time on the island, 
except for themselves. "Perhaps wildlife?" asked Phineas. "No, I don't 
think so, we have been the only life on this island for almost a 
thousand years." said George. They got down and waited. No sound was 
heard for over an hour that they waited out in fear. 

"Do you think it's okay?" asked Phineas. "I think so." said George. They
slowly got up. POW! The tree behind them shattered into splinters. 
George yelped, and they both got back down. "Someone else is here, and 
they want us dead! They must want the treasure for themselves!" cried 
George. Phineas covered his mouth. "We need to get rid of them!" 
whispered Phineas. He got his musket out, and began loading it. "That 
old thing will never get them!" George whispered. Phineas didn't 
listen. He ripped open a paper container of powder, and poured it down 
the barrel. Then he took a bullet and placed it into the barrel, and 
pushed it in with his ramrod. 

Phineas waited for George to load his pistol. When he finished, Phineas
pulled the hammer back, and stuck his head up a little. He saw the feet 
of a human in the distance. He pulled his musket up to him, and took 
aim through the sight. He puled the trigger slowly... and... BAM! There 
was a bloodcurdling scream, and the body of the feet revealed itself, 
hopping up to them. 

George hopped up and fired a few rounds at the man. He dropped dead.
There was one more man out there. They loaded their guns again. "Don't 
let that man get away!" said George, adrenaline pumping. They hopped 
up, and chased after the now fleeing foe. George pumped a few rounds 
into the man's side. Phineas struck him dead, first firing, then 
striking the side of his head Davy Crockett style. 

They approached the corpse and turned him over. Phineas gasped. "This
man worked for me!" George looked at him, then to the corpse. "He did?" 
Phineas nodded. "He was one of my helmsmen. He was always causing 
trouble." They didn't bury the corpse, but went on, and never brought 
up the subject again, nor thought about where they came from. 

Soon after, the two began getting bitter towards each other. Their food
was running low, and they accused each other of hoarding and stealing 
food. They had been on the Isle of Solomon for nearly a month, and it 
seemed they were getting nowhere. 

Each day, they just chipped more and more of their life away. They
hardly spoke to each other, lest they would begin arguing again. 
Phineas would be glad to get that treasure if it did indeed exist. 
George had not one drop of enthusiasm left. He only wanted to finish 
this quest. 

Soon, the food ran out. They could do nothing but argue and get
delirious from hunger and the heat of the Caribbean. Phineas was sorry 
he had ever come, and was about to go back to the ship. 

However, he would not have to do that. A week after running out of food,
the two hungry men stumbled upon a primitive house. "What is that?" 
asked George, finally saying something other than an argument starter. 
"Obviously a house.... and that means food!" 

They ran into the house, not caring if the person was in there or not.
No one was. Phineas ran to one corner, and tore open a bag of hardtack. 
It felt so good to swallow something solid, something besides stale 
water. George found a jar of fresh water. For once, they couldn't be 
mad at each other. They made a fine mess, broken pots and jars, ripped 
sacks and crumbs were everywhere. 

Soon, the owner of the house came back. He was an unknown native to the
island. He carried three fish he had just caught. He was dressed in 
nothing but a cloth around his waist. He stopped as he entered the 
house. He could not believe the mess in there, and he was surprised to 
see two other people making the mess. Phineas and George jumped a foot 
in the air as a loud piercing cry came from the entryway of the home. 
They looked over, and saw the native. 

The native ran to another corner, and grabbed his bow and arrows.
Phineas knew what was coming, and so began loading his gun. Twang! The 
arrow whizzed through the air, narrowly missing George. Phineas took 
aim-------- BAM! and launched a ball of burning lead into the natives 
stomach. 

However, the gun did no good! The native only fell back some, and
quickly regained himself. Phineas' eyes widened, and he loaded the 
musket again. George followed suit, and they both fired at the same 
time. Still, nothing happened. George took his saber out again, and 
lunged at the native, just as another arrow flew at them. 

The native struggled with George as he tried to stab him with the saber.
Finally, Phineas held the native back, and George stabbed him. The 
native fell to the floor. The red blood stood out against his darkly 
tanned skin. 

"What was that!?" screamed Phineas. "A gunshot won't kill him, but a
stab will?" George cleaned his saber. "Something not natural, I can 
tell you that!" he replied. "But now we have food, and several weeks 
worth as well." They gathered up the provisions, and put them into 
their packs. "George, I am sorry I got mad at you. We were running out 
of food, and I got scared." apologized Phineas. "It's okay, I shouldn't 
have gone along with it. Two wrongs don't make a right." answered 
George. 

Finally, a few days later, they got to the end of their trip. They
followed the last of the clues and arrived at the end. "An 'X', how 
cliche'!" remarked George, noting the marker on a tree. There was a 
tangle of trees and weeds, and in the opening, there was a chest. 

Ironically, after all that trouble, none of them knew what to do next.
They stood there, looking at it. "Are we going to grab it? asked 
George. "We made it and the treasure exists..." said Phineas. He moved 
forward to grab it. 

Slowly, he moved his hand forward. "Almost two months, and here it is!"
said Phineas. His hands touched the sides. Phineas pulled it out, and 
finally speeding it up, he tried to open it. 

However, as he did, his hands suddenly got the sensation of being pushed
with a thousand needles, and being burned on a stove. 
"AAAAARRRRRGGGGGHHHH!!!!" he screamed out in terrible pain. The pain 
was persistent. "We forgot about the curse!" said George, with fear in 
his voice. 

"How do we get rid of the curse?" yelled Phineas, waving his hands in
the air wildly, trying to ease the terrific pain. "I don't know! It 
doesn't say anywhere in the notes or in the legend..." George trailed 
off. 

"What?" said Phineas. The pain was getting worse every second. "There
are a few capitalized words in the legend. Let me see what they say. 
DEAR...LORD...PLEASE...REMOVE. ..THIS...CURSE...AMEN... Phineas sighed 
with relief. The words had removed the curse. 

"Are you okay?" asked George. "Yes, much better." replied Phineas,
wringing his hands. "Let's get this treasure back to the ship." So, 
they took the chest, and made the two month trip in two weeks. Finally 
on the shore, they opened it. They both gasped. Inside, there were 
crowns, jewels, coins, finger rings, ear rings, necklaces, and pearls. 

Back on the ship, they were met with applause. Phineas put the chest in
a safe in his cabin. He and George took a much needed nap and rest. 
After they got their energy back, they ate a large, quality meal. 

However, their troubles were not over. The ship that had followed them,
and sent the stalkers, was now coming at them. "Captain, a ship is 
coming for us." said the lookout from the crows nest. "What colors do 
they fly?" asked the captain. "Ours, country and company." 

The ship, Lady Luck, pulled up next to the Black Dawn. The Captain
walked up to the side to call over to the Lady Luck. However, he saw 
they were armed with cutlasses and pistols. 

Phineas came up on deck to see the problem. He knew the captain of the
Lady Luck. "What is the meaning of this?" he called out to the ship. 
"Give us the loot, or we attack!" answered the captain of the Lady 
Luck. "Why are you doing this?" asked Phineas. 

"We are all tired of you, and we will either take the reward and buy you
out, or kill you and take the company for ourselves by battle!" yelled 
the captain. "Arm your men, captain!" said Phineas to the captain of 
the Black Dawn. "We are not going to give you the chest! he yelled to 
Lady Luck. 

Some of the Lady Luck's crew pushed a plank across the outriggers.
Phineas loaded his musket. George also loaded his pistol, and handed 
Phineas a bayonet. The Lady Luck's sailors ran across the plank to the 
Black Dawn. Phineas took aim and picked one of the men off the board. 

The Black Dawn's sailors fired as well. Some of the Lady Luck's sailors
made it to the other side of the plank. Sword fights broke out. Phineas 
suddenly got an idea. "Captain, do you still have the cannon I had 
installed to fight off pirates and impressment?" he asked. "I do, yes." 
answered the captain. 

Phineas, George, and the captain stood alone in the hold, next to the
cannon. "Let's load it up!" said the captain. George and Phineas pulled 
the cannon back, and opened the wooden slat so that they looked on the 
Lady Luck. "Here's the gunpowder!" said George, pushing a bag down the 
barrel. Phineas took a needle, and poked a hole and fuse into the bag. 
"Cannonball!" said the captain, loading one of the heavy spheres into 
the barrel. Phineas rammed the ball into the back of the barrel, next 
to the bag of powder. 

George and the captain pulled the ropes, and brought the cannon up to
the opening. Phineas aimed the barrel at the amidships of the Lady 
Luck. Then, he lit the sparker on the ramrod. "Here goes!" he yelled, 
lowering the flame to the fuse. 

CRACK! The cannon belched the ball out of the barrel, through the air,
and right on the water line of the amidships. Water gushed through the 
Lady Lucks hull. 

Meanwhile, on the deck, the Black Dawn was overtaking the Lady Luck's
sailors. Swords clanked, guns exploded, and fists flew But slowly, the 
enemy's numbers dwindled. Soon only the captain of the Lady Luck 
remained. 

"Do not kill him!" said Phineas. They threw him into the brig. "We are
going to have you tried for mutiny when we get back on shore." said 
Phineas. The captain said nothing. 

Finally, they made port. Phineas and George took the treasure to a
banker to get an estimate. He had it at 35,000,000 dollars. The banker 
was right, when they took it to a pawner to get an exchange, they split 
it in half, each getting 17,500,000 dollars each. 

Phineas bought out his business rivals, and became one of the largest
shipping companies in the United States. George bought himself a nicer 
home, and lived the rest of his life in splendor. The captain of the 
Lady Luck was tried at court, in a special case, and was hung for 
mutiny, and mass murder. The End 


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