tj jensen 01 - barkleys treasure by Kathi Daley Read Free Book Online

on Friday nights.”
    Boy, had that guy read me wrong. I’d sooner sit on hot coals than sing in front of a crowd.
    “You have that look,” Grandpa stated as soon as we got to the car.
    “What look?”
    “That look you get when you’ve gone and sunk your teeth into a mystery.”
    I shrugged. “I do admit I’m interested in finding out who killed Buck and why. Do you feel up to checking out the museum?”
    “Yeah, I’m game.”
    I opened the driver’s side door and slid inside. “Both Garrett and Deputy Savage recommended that we speak to a woman named Meg about the history of the legend, as well as the history of the island. Maybe we’ll get lucky and she’ll be volunteering today.”
    Luckily for us, she was. Meg looked to be in her midsixties. She had neatly styled hair in a natural silver-gray color that almost matched the lightweight blouse she wore with darker gray slacks.
    “Welcome to the Gull Island Museum,” the woman, whose name tag read M EG C OLLINS, greeted us. “How can I help you today?”
    I explained who we were and what information we were interested in obtaining. Meg seemed delighted by our questions about the history of both the island and the treasure. We were the only visitors in the building, so she urged us to take seats at a table that was littered with several large photo albums and yellowed books. Once we were seated she began a narrative that seemed rehearsed yet informative.
    “The Sea Islands,” Meg began, “of which Gull Island is a part, are a chain of tidal and barrier islands off the southeastern coast of the United States reaching from South Carolina to northern Florida. Gull Island is the easternmost island in the chain, which, according to oral history, was originally settled by a group of pirates led by John Barkley in the late seventeenth century. Other islands in the area were populated by indigenous people until the Spanish began to colonize the islands in the mid-seventeen hundreds.”
    “So if the treasure everyone is looking for belonged to a pirate who lived in the seventeenth century, the supposed treasure would be over three hundred years old?” I realized.
    “If the legend is correct, John Barkley used the island as a base of operations for several decades, until he and his men were forced to head south toward the Caribbean. Unfortunately, the pirates didn’t maintain a written history, nor did they keep any type of records, so what we know about pirate activity in this area is limited to oral history and hearsay.”
    “Okay, so say the fact that pirates lived on this island is true. And say there actually was a treasure. Why wouldn’t Barkley take it with him when he left?”
    Meg smiled. “That’s where legend trumps history. As far as I know, there’s no way to know exactly what Barkley did or why he did it. If we are to give credence to the legend, we’d be accepting that Barkley made the decision to leave because there were war ships in the area. It’s said Barkley felt it could be difficult to protect his ill-gotten gains at sea, so he left the treasure behind with the intention of returning for it once things cooled down. According to legend, Barkley died before he ever made it back to this area.”
    “Seems like a stretch.”
    “I agree. Most believe, as I do, that the story of Barkley’s treasure is just that: a legend. However, there were those, such as Garrett’s father and grandfather, who believed very adamantly that the treasure was not only real but is still buried somewhere on the island.”
    I looked down at the book I’d been thumbing through. It was filled with maps of the islands in the area as surveyed in historical times. If the treasure did exist, and if Garrett’s ancestors did indeed have a map, I found it hard to believe that any clues from hundreds of years ago would still make sense in terms of landmarks that could currently exist.
    “According to Garrett, his father and grandfather possessed a map that revealed