The Treasure of Fort Jackalope
(Joshua’s Big Adventure)

Today was a VERY special day for Joshua; his baby brother was one day old and he was finally a big brother. Joshua left for school expecting the day to be just like any other day … never dreaming that another big event was about to happen to him.

When Joshua arrived home from school, he was astonished to find a big mysterious yellow note taped to the chair on his front porch.

The note said that he should find Silly Rabbit and he would find a clue to a hidden treasure.

Joshua ran into the house to look for Silly Rabbit!!! He hoped that the silly old rabbit would be where he had left him earlier that morning. Much to his relief, Silly Rabbit was still there with a strange blue metallic egg sitting in front of him.

When Joshua opened the egg, there was such a clatter as miniature pirates, a treasure chest, and small gold pieces fell to the floor … along with a small folded paper marked Clue. “I wonder what is on that paper?” he thought to himself. The yellow piece of paper had a clue to the Hidden Treasure of Fort Jackalope; it said that Josh should go to the mountains and loCate a Jackalope. The clue hinted that Joshua could find this strange animal in his Grandmother and Papa’s reading library.

Joshua didn’t think any of this could be true! He had friends to play with and that was more important than a mysterious treasure that didn’t exist …. He spent the afternoon playing, watching Blue’s Clues on TV, having supper, and then off to bed for plenty of rest … beCause tomorrow was another school day.

The next morning was just like any other morning. Not a sign of anything that resembled a treasure or even a map to a treasure. See…he knew it. Joshua just bathed, dressed, ate his breakfast, and left for school … never suspecting that his big adventure was still to come.

Joshua arrived home after a long day at school. It was Friday and he had the weekend to play and watch Cartoons; nothing really exciting was happening … or was it? He went to his room to find some toys to play with; the mysterious yellow note that had been left for him was on the wall where he had taped it, but to his surprise a smaller yellow note had been placed next to it. Joshua read the new note.

Joshua Called his Grandmother to ask if SHE had seen Silly Rabbit?!? She told him Silly Rabbit was NOT at the ranch, but he was welcome to come and look for himself. Joshua left for the ranch immediately; Silly Rabbit must really be on to something … why else would he have left such a strange yellow note, asking for Joshua to hurry?

When Joshua arrived at the ranch, Silly Rabbit was nowhere to be found! Perhaps the rabbit was still on his way!?! It was getting late and Joshua’s day had already been quite long … so off to bed he went, hoping Silly Rabbit would be there when he awoke in the morning.

It was early morning and the sun was just beginning to peek over the horizon. Joshua immediately went to the reading library to see if Jackalope was there; he peeked around the corner to see the top of two little antelope antlers sitting on top of a strange looking rabbit … that MUST be a Jackalope. Joshua reached down and picked the strange little creature up.

There was a clue attached to the front of Jackalope.

Joshua couldn’t believe his own eyes!?! Here was another clue to the treasure! Could there really be a hidden treasure?!? He rushed out to find the clue, the “Eye that Can see far away”; there was only one place it could be….

Joshua rushed out of Grandmother and Papa’s house heading straight to Fort Jackalope. As he headed down the drive, he could see the blue and yellow telescope that sat at the top of Fort Jackalope: “that must be the eye that Can see far away!” he thought to himself. As he reached the top of the climbing wall, he could see the glint of a strange red metallic egg!

He opened the egg and another mysterious yellow piece of paper fell to the floor of the Fort. He picked it up and read the clue: “Look for the horns that will not blow!”

What horns Can’t blow?? Where could they be? He looked to see if Silly Rabbit had left any paw prints that could show him where the horns were … maybe they were close by?!?

As Joshua turned slowly around looking for signs that the clue told him about, he spotted the horns and skull of an animal that had died long ago …. Could that REALLY be it?

He could see the sun reflecting off an object that was lying inside the skull. Reaching in, he grasped another strange shiny black metallic egg. As he opened it, another mysterious yellow piece of paper fluttered out.

The clue said to: “Look for the horse that flies through the air!” “Horses don’t fly through the air!!” he thought to himself.

Joshua looked at the clue again. The picture on the paper looked VERY familiar.

He realized that it was the image of the horse swing that hung from an old tree down near the barn!!! He started running FASTER and FASTER.

He couldn’t believe that there might really, really be a Hidden Treasure of Fort Jackalope!! As he reached the old horse swing, there didn’t seem to be any clue there. He looked everywhere and then he spied a strange shiny green metallic egg tucked neatly under the horse’s mouth.

He reached in, removing the egg and held his breath: What will the next clue be? Or could it be the one that points to the spot where the Hidden Treasure might be?

He broke the egg open! Again … another mysterious yellow piece of paper fell out … He picked it up … and SLOWLY unfolded it … as he read the clue, it said: “Find the tree that never grows.”

He knew where a tree was that never grew … it was the only tree stump on the ranch that could hide a treasure. His heart was beating FAST … the thought of finding the treasure was so exciting! But could it really be true??? Joshua headed for the old stump.

He reached the stump … and bent down to look … into the DARK hole that formed the mouth of a very, very old tree, which held a secret that he was about to uncovered.

Oh, my Goodness… To his amazement, there sat Silly Rabbit holding on to a brilliantly colored treasure chest.

Joshua grabbed Silly Rabbit and exclaimed, “Silly Rabbit! It’s true … it’s really true!”

Joshua bent down again to recover the brilliantly colored Treasure Chest. He couldn’t believe his luck! His Silly Rabbit had really found the Treasure of Fort Jackalope! Now what could the treasure be?

He opened the lid of the chest … it had a Large Skull of a Pirate Skeleton staring up at him … and below the skull were many, many gold coins that had fallen from a brown leather pouch.

He reached in and picked up one of the shiny gold coins! Examining it closely, he exclaimed, “Chuck E Cheese!”

He reached down one more time to pull the skull out of the chest. As he looked at it, he realized that it was exactly what he had been wishing for….

This was really the greatest adventure! How could Silly Rabbit have known what he wanted and how much excitement this treasure hunt would be for him???

This was the greatest!!! Maybe he could do the same for his little brother someday beCause he was a “Big Brother” now!! And of course … Silly Rabbit would be there to plan another great adventure with the help of his friend, the cute little creature Called Jackalope.

The End!!!