“What’s in the chest, Myth?” I said.
Folding my arms across my tummy, I went on, “Don’t tell me there really is a treasure—a proper one with gold and such. You’d look foolish if there is.”
“I knew it!” shouted Bumble, rubbing his hands together. “Toys! Ho! Ho! Ho! Very clever, Babe, but you can’t fool Bumble. So, what’s in the chest—gems?”
“Gold?” said Bard as he jumped up and down.
“No, it’s toys,” said Myth. “But…”
Myth reached inside the chest and pulled something out of it. She stood still for a moment with her back to the rest of us. I think she was gazing at the object in her hand. Then she turned around and showed it to us—it was a stuffed kitty cat toy.
“I had a stuffed kitty that looked exactly like this one when I was a girl,” said Myth.
Smiling, she caressed the kitty cat. Then she looked at Bard and Bumble and declared, “I’m taking this as my share of the treasure.”
Walking over to me, Myth took the torch and asked, “Do you want anything, Iz?”
I shook my head. “No, thank you. I’m just happy that we found the treasure together.”
Myth smiled at me. “Right,” she said, “boys, you can have the rest of the loot. But play nice.”
Bard and Bumble rushed over to the chest and rummaged inside it.
Holding up a yo-yo, Bard shouted, “It’s just toys!”
“Junk!” roared Bumble. “All that work for a bunch of junk!”
Bard threw the yo-yo against the wall. Looking at Bumble, he said, “What did you do, pixie?”
“What did I do,” replied Bumble. “What did you do, bard?”
Bard grabbed hold of Bumble’s shirt and shook the pixie. “You stole the real treasure last night, didn’t you?”
“No!” shouted Bumble, clenching his hand into a fist. “You stole Bumble’s treasure!”
Bumble smacked Bard’s jaw—and the brawl for Black Bart’s bountiful booty began.
Bard bopped Bumble’s brow. Bumble responded by biting Bard’s bicep.
Then Bernice bashed Lawless Tom in the belly so brutally that he literally flew out of his boots. “Bluh,” bellowed Lawless Tom as he blasted through the air and landed upon his back.
Meanwhile, And Dan became bewildered, booting Ducky in the bum. “He-he-he,” Ducky burst out laughing as he bounced against a boulder.
At the same time, Barnaby bounded away as briskly as his tiny legs could bustle, proving that he boasted the best brains of the bunch.
Boom! Bam! Boom! Bam! Bam! Boom! Boom!
The bout continued as my big, unblinking eyes bobbled about their sockets, watching one brawler and then another…
Be still, Buster. Your bawling is beginning to bother me. Bear with it and stop blathering about too many B words…
Oh, fine. Have it your way, Buster. I was nearing the end anyway. Thinking of words that begin with B is hard work.
Anyway…
“We should leave them alone,” Myth said to me. “They have some issues that they need to work through in private.”
Side-by-side, we headed towards the cave’s entrance. I should add that Myth was carrying the only torch. So Bard, Bumble, and the other buffoons were left to battle it out in blackness. But even so, they continued to brawl as evidenced by the sounds of bashing and bopping that boomed through the cave…
Okay, Buster, I promise that I will stop overusing the letter B…
So…
“I hope they find their way out of there,” I said as we exited the cave. “None of those fools are very nice but being stuck in the dark would be terrible.”
“Don’t worry, Iz,” said Myth. She stuck the torch’s shaft in some mud just in front of the entrance. “We’ll leave this torch alight to help them out. Besides, we didn’t go too far into that cave. They’ll stumble out of it eventually. But let’s get away from here before they do. I think it’s time we parted ways with Bard and Bumble.”
“Now that is an excellent idea,” I said, grabbing hold of Myth’s hand.
We glanced back at the cave one last time.
“So,” said Myth, “did you enjoy our treasure hunt?”
“Oh, absolutely!” I exclaimed, beaming at her. “I had such a great time. Thank you so much for coming with me, Myth.”
Hand-in-hand we headed off, leaving Bard, Bumble, and Black Bart’s bountiful booty behind us.