Jolly Roger’s Cave

Here is the next installment in a series of winning pieces from the Friends of the Palisades Library’s Children’s Summer Creative Writing Contest. Oliver O’Donnell, a Palisades Charter Elementary School student, took home first prize for third and fourth grade. 

By OLIVER O’DONNELL | Special to the Palisadian-Post

LONG, LONG, LONG AGO…

The pirate, Jolly Roger, was sick and weak from running away from Black Beard, who was trying to steal his treasure. Jolly Roger anchored his ship along the Pacific coast next to a rocky beach with a cluster of tall trees on the right and a steep hill on the left. As he hiked inland, Jolly Roger found what he thought was an abandoned cave. Jolly Roger dug a hole in the floor of the cave and made a trap door. Then, he put his treasure in it and covered it with dirt. But, he felt he wasn’t alone. Jolly Roger turned around and pulled out his sword to find a black bear with red eyes leaping at him! The two of them wrestled for a minute. Then, Jolly Roger sliced off the bear’s head with a sword. At the same moment, the bear scraped Jolly Roger on the neck. The battle ended both of their lives. A few days later, Black Beard found the cave, but Jolly Roger’s treasure was nowhere in sight!

June 19, 2017

“Let’s play tag!” Peter, our camp counselor, said. “1,2,3, go!”

Max and I took off in the direction of Jolly Roger’s cave. Everyone, even the counselors, were scared to go to the cave because of the legend of the bear’s spirit. But Max and I didn’t believe in that myth, so we kept running to the hills. About two minutes later, we reached Jolly Roger’s cave. Then, Max and I heard a loud howling sound. Since it was pretty windy, we thought it was just the wind. But those thoughts were WRONG!

As we got into Jolly Roger’s cave, there as a rumble. The ground shook really hard. It was an earthquake! We looked behind us. Huge boulders fell and blocked the way out! Then, the howling got louder, I turned around. For an instant, I saw the spirit of a bear howling at us! All of a sudden, I started falling down a deep hole. On my way down, I caught a glimpse of a big lit cavern and then, all I saw was black.

I woke up in the cavern and I realized that Max was not with me. The candle that was lighting up the cavern cast an eerie glow in the room. I saw some strange writing across the wall. It must be another language, I thought. Then, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a skeleton grinning at me! It had a black eye patch on its eye and it was wearing a moth-eaten pirate hat! At its side, it had a gleaming sword with rubies, gold, and diamonds embedded into the handle. The sword was in an old, crumpled leather sheath.

Then, I noticed the skeleton was sitting on a brown box with an old ink bottle in its hand. When I walked toward the box, I realized it was a treasure chest! I moved aside the skeleton and opened the chest. Inside, there were tons and tons of gold coins, rubies, and diamonds as big as your palm and tons of gems like emeralds.

Then, I found  a note that said:

To the Person Who Finds This Note: I give you good luck on the beginning of your adventure, by the way take all of the treasure!

-Jolly Rogers

The note was signed in scrolling black letters: “Jolly Rogers.” But my mind wasn’t set on the letter. It was focused on making a plan of how to get out of the cave with the treasure! I looked around and found a rope ladder, and then, checked to make sure it was sturdy. It was, so I planted my foot on the first rung and my other foot on the second one. Then, I heaved the treasure chest with the sheath and sword around my belt up the ladder.

When I got to the top of the ladder, I saw that the bear’s spirit was still there! So, I took one of the rocks I found and threw it against the back cave wall. The bear’s spirit bounded after it. While he was chasing it, I ran to the entrance and moved aside the big rock from the earthquake, but the bear was coming after me! I used Jolly Roger’s sword to defend myself. When the bear’s spirit saw the sword that killed it, the bear whimpered and backed into a corner.

Then I, with the treasure chest, jumped out of the cave and raced down the hill. I heard someone calling my name. Then, I saw my whole group yelling for me. I hoped that Max was safe with my group. I looked for him, but he wasn’t there.

Three Hours Later

I was driving back home in my mom’s SUV telling her about what happened. I was happy because we were now very rich! But, sadly, to this day, no one knows what happened to Max.