Lesson 46

Exercise #1—Compound Words some to any somebody tonight anybody

Exercise #2—Word Reading boiling certain sharply face straight price while alarm place dream load chart

Exercise #3—Irregular Words eight weight child whole knew peered gold island woke nobody Rizzo worth check asleep gifts already tomorrow adult buy

Dreams of Gold

Now Tony and Rosa and Old Salt had broken the whole code. Numbers stood for letters and letters stood for numbers. Z-16 was a code for twenty-six paces. “Not a word of this to anybody,” Old Salt said when Rosa and Tony were leaving his house. “Tonight we cracked the code. Tomorrow I’ll see about getting on a ship to Rose Island.” Rosa and Tony walked slowly down the street. They talked for a while in front of their house. Then they went inside. Tony went to the bedroom and sat on his bed. He sat for a long time, thinking about the map and treasure. It was funny, thinking about a real treasure.

Tony felt like an adult and a child at the same time. He felt like an adult because treasure hunting is something that adults do. On the other hand, he felt like a child because he wanted to tell everybody about the treasure. He wanted to tell his mom and his dad, his little brother, and his dog. He wanted to tell his friends at school. He wanted to tell everybody. Think of it---Tony Rizzo finding a treasure! Was all of this real, or was Tony just having a dream? Would he soon hear the buzz of an alarm clock going off in the morning?

He shook his head and started thinking about gold. Gold. Gold was something you read about in fairy tales. Gold was something for wedding rings. That was about the only place Tony has every seen gold---real gold. He kept trying to think about how much money gold was worth. But he wasn’t sure. How much does a chunk of gold weigh? How much gold would be in the chest? How much would the chest be worth? Tony asked himself these questions. But he wasn’t sure of the answers. So he began to think of something else.

He began thinking about how he would spend the money he got from the treasure. He’d buy the best bike in town. He’d get a motorcycle, too. Maybe he’d buy a motorboat. Maybe he’d buy two motorboats. Maybe he’s buy gifts for everybody. He could give his mother a new coat. He could give his father a new car. He could give his brother a horse. He could give himself five or six horses. “Tony, are you are there?” It was his mother calling from downstairs. “Yeah, it’s me,” he said. “I’m getting ready for bed.” “Well, it’s late, Tony. You should be asleep by now.”

So Tony went to sleep. And what do you think happened in his dream? Tony was trying to move a chest of gold. But it weighed so much that he couldn’t make it move. That was pretty bad. And in Tony’s dream, three people were after him. They were running to where the chest was. If he couldn’t move the gold, they would take the chest. If he tried to stay with the gold, they would catch him. If he ran away, he wouldn’t have the gold. So again and again in his dream, he tried to move the chest. But he couldn’t.

Tony woke up three or four time that night. In the morning he dressed quickly and left for school as soon as he had eaten. He stopped at Old Salt’s house and called, “Hey, Salt.” Salt came to the window. “What is it?” he barked. “How much is gold worth?” Tony didn’t mean to ask Salt about the price of gold. He really wanted to talk to Salt. He wanted to see the map and make sure that it wasn’t part of his dream. He wanted to talk to somebody who knew about the treasure. But Tony didn’t know how to tell this to Old Salt. If he had tried, it would have sounded silly.

“That not a thing to be talking about,” Salt said sharply. He looked boiling mad. “Don’t talk about gold he said. “I’m sorry, Salt,” Tony said. “Are you going to see about getting a ship?” Salt shook his head. “Don’t talk about that,” he said. “Just go off to school and think about something else.” So Tony went to school. It seemed like a long day. It seemed as if the three o’clock bell would never ring. But at last it did, and Tony ran all the way to Salt’s house. Now he would find out about the ship.

Lesson Review Who Did It? Tony or Old Salt 1.This person said, “Not a word of this to anybody.” 2.This person was going to see about getting on a ship to Rose Island. 3.This person sat in his bed for a long time, thinking about the treasure. 4.This person wanted to tell everybody about the treasure. 5.This person had a dream about a chest of gold. 6.This person was boiling mad.