All eyes were fixed on the iron bar as it quickly disappearded down the small hole in the cave floor.

Just then the floor shook where Ben was standing and he jumped to next floor section. As soon as Ben landed and turned around the floor where he was standing gave way and fell from one end creating a ramp down to another room.

The cave filled with dust and the sound of the huge floor stone landing in the room below soon faded away.

All, except for the Doctor, moved to the ramps edge to look down into the newly discovered hidden room. Sally looked back at the Doctor leaning against the cave wall and gave him a stern look.

The two lit torches were brought over and all headlights came on to light up this new abyss.

There...Under three feet of clear water...Were stacked bars of gold. Shinning as bright as the day they were made.

"I'm going down" Said Vespa as she quickly rolled to the ramps edge and started down.

The lure of the gold and the inviting ramp was just another trap. It gave way as soon as Vespa set her tire on it.

Sally being the closest to Vespa, grabbed her rear wheel and also fell into the trap.

The Doctor saw his chance and quickly rolled out the cave and down the tunnel leaving behind the pair of wheel cuffs.

Sally's center stand caught on the stone edge of the opening and prevented her and Vespa from falling any further into the dark.

Ben and the Captain rushed over and grabbed Sally and started to pull her and Vespa up.

Vespa looked down and saw only darkness below her. "Please, please don't let go" Vespa whispered to Sally.

"DON'T MOVE AROUND VESPA" Sally shoughted as her grip on Vespa's rear wheel started to slip.

For a spilt second Sally thought about letting go of Vespa's wheel and saving herself, saying her grip on the wheel slipped....Then...a soft voice came to her like in a dream..."Great Granddaughter...It is not the shinning bars of gold that is the treasure in this life...But the love that you give and the love that you recieve from those souls around you on this voyage through life...That is true tresure...The real gold of the Marinette...Remember this always." And the voice fadded away.

Sally shifted her grip on the wheel and found herself being pulled up by Ben and the Captain.

Soon, Vespa was pulled up and all three friends stood quietly in the cave holding each other for a moment and giving thanks.

Sally glanced over at the wall and the Doctor was gone...


(c) DennisB 2010

Sally rolled over to the wheel cuffs on the floor and picked them up and then turned and looked at the others in the cave.

"I need to go after the Doctor. He is now a wanted fugitive and I need to apprehend him before he gets to fare away from me." Sally paused for a moment then looked at Vespa and Ben standing just a few feet away from her.

"My friends...Now that we know where the treasure is located, we can come back later and retrieve it together...I'm going to need your help in getting the Doctor back into custody."

Sally looked at the Captain. "Captain John, you know this cave system on this island. How do we get back to my boat and my radio?"

"Follow me and I'll get you to your boat. We're not that fare from it." Said the Captain as he started for the tunnel.

They all followed the Captain out of the cave and down the tunnel and soon were at the waterfall. The Captain warned them of the hidden string covered with mud and they moved on through the waterfall trap.

It wasn't long before the tunnel started to look familiar to Vespa and soon pasted the old barrel that fell through the boat house floor. "'O look, It's the paper coin we lost." And she picked it up off the tunnel floor.

They made their way through the tangle of tree roots and spider webs and saw the ramp in the old boat house floor, it was still in the down position.

All four scrambled up the old ramp and out of the boat house and into a beautiful sunny Caribbean afternoon.

"JUST SMELL ALL THAT FRESH AIR!" Ben yelled as he reached the beach.

They soon arrived at Sally's boat and a call was made to the other island for help apprehending the Doctor...

.......

The dark cloaked figure of the Doctor soon emerged form the right leg of the tunnel, where he was hidding and started back toward the gold room.


(c) DennisB 2010

Doctor LaMain entered the cave and rolled over to the entrance to the gold room and looked down into the darkness. He switched on is head light and the reflection off the gold bars almost blinded him.

"Well, well...So this is what's been hiding under my island for all these years. Your mine none...I just need to find a way to get you out." The Doctor thought for a moment.

"I have it...The rope I saw at the waterfall, that would work." The Doctor quickly turned and headed back through the tunnel and soon was standing in the pool of water under the rope.

"This looks to easy." he told himself as he removed the rope from the ceiling hooks, coiled, and placed it over his handlebars.

"The French Riviera will be a nice change for me after all these years spent on this little island." The Doctor thought to him self as he headed back for the gold.

When he got to the cave he ran the rope around center stone and dropped the other end into the gold room and started climbing down.

He found the water in the cave room was ice cold and he shiverd as he submierged himself. "I need to work fast." He told himself.

"It would not be very long before I would start to dumb up so I need to work fast." The Doctor grabbed the first bar of gold, re-surfaced and tossed it up to the cave floor above. When the bar of gold landed it made a loud "CLANGING" sound that echoed in the cave above.

As the minuets rolled by the doctor started to feel exhausted and the ice cold water was starting to numb his extremities to the point of pain.

"One more bar to go." Told himself and submerged for that one last bar of shinny gold.

He grabbed the bar and it would not budge, so he pulled on it with all his remaining strength and then... It finely pulled from it's resting place on the floor.

"CLICK" It was the last trap.

The floor of the gold room fell away. The Doctor quickly reached for the rope...but he was to exhaused and numb to get a good grip.

The Doctor fell into the bottomless pit and as he fell a voice came to him as in a dream. "GREED HAS NO PLACE ABOARD MY SHIP!" and evil Doctor LaMain was gone.

The cave above fell silent....


(c) DennisB 2010

The three additional police officers arrived on the island and a two day search of the home and surrounding jungle turned up nothing, not a trace of Doctor LaMain was found.

On the third day the three extra officers where let go by Detective Sally and they returned to the other island taking with them Captain John.

Sally looked over at Ben and Vespa, standing on the beach next to the end of the wooden pier.

It was a warm, May morning on the island and the ocean water and sky were a beautiful blue.

Sally waved to the small boat as it left and then turned and rolled down the pier to talk with Vespa and Ben. "We need to go back down in the caves and tunnels and look there." she said looking into their faces.

Both Ben and Vespa nodded in responce and started rolling toward the old boat house and soon found themselves entering the large cave room.

The first thing they saw was the pile of gold bars next to the opening in the cave floor and the rope tied around the center stone leading to the opening to the gold room.

"The Doctor must have hidden and then doubled back." said Ben as he rolled over to the opening in the floor and the large pile of gold bars.

The three shined their headlights down in the gold room and saw last gold bar hanging from a small piece of rope that went through the open trap door that was the gold rooms floor.

Sally smiled and said softly "You keep this bar Grandpa Gray Beard, it's yours."

Sally turned to Ben and Vespa "We need to talk about all this."

The three talked and all agreed on what to do with the gold.

Each took a bar home and the rest...well let's just say a year later the old Doctor LaMain house was torn down and the new "Marinette" Children's Cancer Treatment Center was built in it's place.

The cave's center stone stands in it's main lobby, incased in glass with the only surviving gold doubloon from the old pirate ship still sitting on it's top and a large painting of Captain Gray Beard standing at the helm, holding the wheel of the Marinette, is on the lobby wall.

A bar of gold was also given to Captain John and a wing of the new treatment center was named after him. He was very happy with both.

It was a sad day when Vespa and Ben rolled aboard the airplane for the long trip home. Sally had accompanied them to the airport and stood and waved to her new friends as the plane rolled down the runway and then finally, airborne.

The best vacation they ever had, is what Ben and Vespa called this trip. One they will never forget.

O'...I almost forgot...That shinny stone that Vespa found in the cave tunnel...It turned out to be huge diamond that was made into a wedding ring that Vespa wear's to this day.

Yes...Vespa and Ben were married and they both lived happy ever after.

The End.


(c) DennisB 2010

I hope you all enjoyed reading the story as much as I enjoyed writing it. Thank You.

Great job Dennis... I hate to see it end, but all good things do have to come to an end sometime. Thanks for the entertainment.

yes good stuff Dennis,

why not get it published, maybe even a bike/scooter mag might take it on could be a few$$$$$ in it too.

Hi All,

I'm amazed....1300 hits on this story. Happy to hear you like it.

Your a darn good spinner of tales!
Craig