Blackbeard's Treasure

Jason finds a gold coin in Whit’s safe inside a box labeled with Jack’s and Whit’s names and the words Cove Cave, Bath, North Carolina. Jack recognizes it immediately and tells Jason how he and ten-year-old John Avery Whittaker found it during a summer visit to Bath. They stayed with Whit’s great-uncle Randy, the town sheriff, who delighted them with stories of pirates while an ill-tempered prisoner named Ewell Mosby complained from his cell.

Whit and Jack sail a small boat into Pamlico Sound, pretending to battle Blackbeard’s ship. Jack admits that a ghost pirate would frighten him, while Whit declares that Jesus is greater than any ghost and can protect him. At an unusually low tide, they notice a cave in a cove and decide to explore before the water rises.

Inside, bats startle them, but a loose rock leads to a gold coin and then a leather pouch filled with more. A board in the hiding place reads, “Dead men tell no tales.” The boys pull a rope from beneath the rocks and uncover a skeleton. Then a towering figure approaches from deep within the cave. His head glows, his hair and beard appear to burn, and he carries pistols and a sword. Certain they have seen Blackbeard’s ghost, the boys race back to their boat - but Whit keeps the bag of coins.

Sheriff Randy is away when they return, so the boys visit the library. They identify the coins as rare Spanish doubloons and read that Blackbeard’s real name was Ned Tatch, the same name connected with the terrifying figure. The discovery makes the treasure even more tempting. They decide to return to the cave in spite of the danger.

Ewell has overheard enough to understand their secret. Newly released from jail, he and his companion Jocko kidnap the boys, take their coins, and force them to sail back to the cove. Whit tries to frighten Jocko with the ghost story, but Ewell drives them onward even though the tide is rising.

At the skeleton, Ewell orders Jocko to tie up Whit and Jack and threatens to leave them there. Whit warns Jocko that a greedy partner who silences witnesses will not willingly share treasure. Ewell reveals that the warning is true, then ties Jocko as well and begins searching alone. A knife that has fallen from Jocko’s pocket gives Whit a chance to cut the boys’ ropes.

The Blackbeard figure returns. Ewell runs from it and knocks himself unconscious against a cave wall. Whit and Jack flee downhill, only to discover that the tide has submerged the entrance. Jack’s hands are still tied, and a powerful undertow pulls him off his feet. When the figure insists that he is not a ghost and warns them against entering the current, Whit trusts him. Whit grabs Jack as the stranger reaches both boys and pulls them to safety.

Their rescuer is Ned Tatch, a reclusive owner of the cove who dresses as Blackbeard to frighten trespassers. He telephones Sheriff Randy, and the lawmen take Ewell and Jocko away. Ned did not know about the coins and cares only about being left alone, so he lets the boys keep what they found on the condition that they stay off his land.

The pouch proves to be the cave’s entire treasure. Whit and Jack later sell the coins to a museum for enough money to pay their way through college, keeping one as a memory. Yet Jack has carried away something more valuable. Whit’s quiet confidence in Jesus during their first sail planted a seed in Jack’s heart. He did not become a Christian that day, but the seed eventually grew and changed his life.