Read Online The Mystery of the Pirate's Treasure by Penny Warner - Free Book Online

Pirates used the symbol to frighten other ships,thinking it would make them easier to conquer. Even the colors of the flag are codes. Black means death, white means surrender, and red means ‘show no mercy.’ Flags have been used to communicate between ships for centuries.”
    Cody and her club members already knew semaphore code, where each letter of the alphabet was represented by the positions of two flags. The first letter of her real name—Dakota—was made by holding one flag straight up and one straight down. Sometimes the Code Busters just used their arms to communicate in semaphore code, when they didn’t have any flags.
    Cody turned to the other Code Busters and spelled out four letters using the semaphore code.

    Code Buster’s Key and Solution found on this page , this page
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    â€œSo you already know semaphore, eh?” Chad called out to Cody. She blushed. “Well, here are three flags you might want to learn, in case you’re ever in danger,” Chad said. He held up the first flag,yellow with a blue horizontal stripe in the middle. “This means ‘watch out!’ ” He held up a second flag, a red triangle on top of a yellow triangle. “This means ‘man overboard!’ And this one—white with a red X—means ‘help!’ ”
    Cody jotted down the flags and their meanings in her Code Buster notebook, thinking they might need them someday if they were ever in real danger at sea. She thought it would be fun to make the flags at their next club meeting.
    â€œThat concludes your tour this afternoon, students from Berkeley Cooperative Middle School,” Chad said. The crowd gave him an enthusiastic round of applause.
    He bowed in thanks. “You’re all welcome to peruse the rest of the museum. Pleasant voyage!” With that he disappeared behind the door in the back, where Cody had seen him retrieve Franco Bouchard’s knapsack, map, and journal.
    The kids shuffled off, free to investigate the museum. After fifteen minutes, Ms. Stad collected all the students in the main room. Suddenly, thelights went out, plunging the windowless room into darkness. Cody froze. M.E. grabbed her arm and held it tight.
    â€œWhat happened?” someone whispered. Cody heard students repeat the question.
    Just then, an ear-piercing foghorn sounded at the back of the room.
    Then came the loud boom of a cannon being fired.
    Several students screamed. M.E. tightened her grasp on Cody’s arm.
    â€œCalm down, everyone,” Ms. Stad whispered to the group. “It’s all in fun.”
    Cody turned in the direction of the noise and saw a strange glow, like lighted fog. The eerie cloud filled the back of the room. A ghostly image rose up from the fog, unfurling a red-lined white cape with dramatic flair.
    There stood a pale-faced pirate, dressed all in white except for the inside of the cape.
    The ghost pirate laughed, a booming hollow laugh that sounded as if it came from an echo chamber.
    And then the ghost spoke: “Beware the spirit ofHippolyte de Bouchard, who haunts the mission in search of a long-lost treasure …”
    The spooky fog faded away, along with the pirate.
    The museum lights flickered back on.
    â€œThat was awesome!” Jody said.
    â€œWhat was that?” M.E. asked.
    â€œDid you see his face?” a student named Maile questioned.
    Cody smiled. She knew the ghostly pirate had been Chad. She’d recognized his cowboy boots under the white bell-bottom pant legs. She wished docents on other field trips were as entertaining and exciting as he was.
    Under Ms. Stad’s direction, the students began filing out of the room to prepare for the trek back to camp. Just outside, Cody spotted the pair she’d seen earlier at the museum lurking nearby. They leaned against the building, eyeing the kids.
Creepy
, Cody thought.
    â€œLima, Oscar, Oscar, Kilo,” Cody said to the other Code Busters as