“It’s Morning!” cried Bentley as he ran into his room to look for his best friend Beau. Beau woke up suddenly and bounced up out of bed. “What is it,” barked Beau. “We’re going on a treasure hunt!” yelled Bentley excitedly as he laid out a map he got from his board game and put it out on his bed.
Bentley petted Beau’s soft brown fur and ran into his closet. Beau wagged his tail and waited patiently as Bentley put on his favorite pirate outfit. He slipped on his pirate vest and peg leg and then he told Beau “you don’t look ready to go on a treasure hunt! You need to look like a pirate too!” “But what would I wear,” said Beau in confusion.
Bentley turned to his closet and grabbed a costume for Beau. He gave Beau a red and white striped shirt with a black eye patch and tied it around his head. “Here you go Beau! Now you look like a real pirate!” Bentley turned to his bed, pointed to the big red X where the treasure is supposed to be, and grinned. “We need to hurry before someone else gets there before us.” Beau and Bentley smiled at each other in excitement. Bentley packed a backpack with a flashlight, a rope, and some snacks in case they got hungry while Beau headed outside.

When Bentley ran down the front porch steps of his home, he saw Beau waiting in the distance in front of the forest. Bentley ran to Beau and when he got there, he held the map out in front of him and pointed to the first stop. “It says we need to go through the forbidden forest and walk until you see two paths.” “But how will we know which path to take?” said Beau. Bentley looked over the map for clues and flipped it over, “Ah ha! It gives us clues on how to find the treasure!” exclaimed Bentley.
“What does it say,” said Beau with excitement. “It says we need to take the path that has the least amount of trees,” stated Bentley. “Look over there,” cried Beau, “There’s the path!” “Where?!” question Bentley as he scanned the forest. Beau ran to the path to show Bentley and said “See! Look! Over here!” As Bentley followed closely behind Beau he praised him and said “Good job Beau! You got the first clue!” Bentley took the map out of his pocket and started reading the second instruction.

“Once you have found the path with the least amount of trees you follow the little marching ants to the cave,” said Bentley. “That doesn’t seem too hard,” exclaimed Beau. The two of them started their way down the path and giggled. “Be careful,” said Bentley. “You don’t want to crush the marching ants!” Beau wagged his tail and panted as he tried to keep up with Bentley. “Why don’t you look over there and ill look over here, but remember watch where you step!” said Bentley. The two of them separated and started looking for the marching ants. “What’s that moving over there,” said Beau as he sniffed the ground. “It looks like lines moving on the ground!” said Bentley. “I bet you anything that’s them!”
The two of them ran towards the moving lines on the ground. As they got closer and closer, they could see the ants marching in a line that looked like a tiny string being drug across the ground. “Look there they are marching towards that direction.” Bentley pointed in front of them and all they saw was a cliff. “Oh no!” cried Beau. “How are we going to get to the cave now?” Bentley fumbled for his map. He opened it up and turned it over to the back. “Hmm, it says once you find the marching ants go down the big yellow slide.”

Beau and Bentley looked around and saw no yellow slide. “Where do you think the slide is,” asked Beau curiously. “I don’t know let’s look over the cliff and see if we see anything.” Beau excitedly ran off in front of them, suddenly Beau disappeared. When Bentley saw this he screamed, “Beau! Where are you?” It looked as if Beau fell through an imaginary hole. Bentley rubbed his eyes in disbelief and started to get scared.
Bentley took off in the same direction as Beau when all of a sudden it felt like the ground came out from underneath him. All Bentley could see was darkness and all he could hear was the wind zooming past his ears. It felt as if he were falling. He looked down and at his feet; he saw light getting closer and closer to him.

All of a sudden, he popped out of a small opening and landed in a pile of leaves where Beau was laying. “Beau,” exclaimed Bentley as he hugged him. “Where are we?” They both looked around them and saw walls with water dripping from them. “I think we made it to the cave,” said Beau laughing. Bentley took his map from his pocket and turned it over.
“I think we rode the big yellow slide all the way down here,” said Bentley as he was scanning the map. “It now says once you arrived in the cave walk all the way through to the other side.” They both got up from the pile of leaves and brushed themselves off. Bentley took off his backpack and opened it. He brought out the flashlight he packed before they left. “Here, now we can see!” “Good because I’m scared of the dark,” said Beau sticking close to Bentley.
Bentley started humming a tune to comfort Beau. Beau looked up at Bentley smiled and started humming along. As Beau started to get nervous he asked “Where do you think we are.” “Somewhere underground,” said Bentley. “How much longer do you think it’s going to be until we see light again,” asked Beau. “It shouldn’t be too much longer,” replied Bentley.
In the distance, you could slowly start seeing a beaming light coming towards them. When the two of them saw this, they immediately ran towards it. On the other side of the cave, there was a huge lake out in front of them. The lake was wide and narrow and was surrounded by enormous pine trees. The water gleamed in the sun and there was a strong wind.

“Now where are we,” asked Beau. Bentley took his backpack off his back and put up the flash light. He then next pulled the map out of his back pocket. “Hmm, it says once you reach the other side there should be a lake in front of the cave. And we need to cross over a bridge to the other side.” The two of them looked up and saw no bridge. Bentley looked down at Beau and saw his head turn sideways out of confusion.
“I don’t see a bridge Bentley,” said Beau in dismay. “How are we going to find the treasure now?” Bentley looked around for a simple solution. In the far distance, he could see a tree blown over from the wind. He followed the tree trunk and to his surprise, it made a bridge all the way across the lake.
“Over there look, we can use the tree as a bridge to cross,” exclaimed Bentley. When they got to the tree beau was a little scared to cross. “What if I fall in,” whined Beau. “I promise you won’t just look forward and don’t look down,” said Bentley in reassurance. Beau jumped up on the log and hesitated. “You will be fine,” said Bentley, “Just don’t even think about it.”
Beau put one paw in front of the other and shut his eyes. “Don’t shut your eyes,” cried Bentley as they were walking across. “Sorry,” Beau said, “I’m just scared that’s all.” When Beau reached the other side, he could not have been happier. “See Beau I told you could do it!” smiled Bentley as he looked down at Beau.
“I never would have made it, if it wasn’t for you,” said Beau. “That’s what best friends are for,” said Bentley. The two of them hugged each other. “Are we almost there yet,” asked Beau impatiently. Bentley pulled out the map and turned it over. “It says now that you have crossed the lake look for the X marks the spot.” They both looked up from the map and saw no X.

Bentley scratched his head as he flipped over the map a couple of times. In the far distance, a beam of light pierced through the clouds onto a grassy hill. On top of the hill was a huge treasure chest, with gold chains hanging out of the side of it. Bentley and Beau looked at each other in astonishment. Beau’s jaw dropped and Bentley’s eyebrows rose so high they barely reached his hairline.
The two of them dashed for the hill and stumbled up it trying to get there first. Bentley threw open the treasure chest and to their amazement was a chest full of gold pieces and a long shiny sword. Bentley grabbed the sword while Beau dove into the chest of gold pieces. The two of them played on that grassy hill until it was nearly dark.

“We should be getting home soon,” Beau said looking up at Bentley. Before they left Bentley stuffed as many gold pieces he could into his pocket, and put the sword into his backpack. On their way back to the house they made a bet that could make it home first and they both raced each other home. Once they were in Bentley’s room safe, and sound they could not stop talking about how much fun their adventure was. When all of a sudden they hear a knock at the door… “Bentley honey, who are you talking to?”