“How do we keep getting into these situations?” Magellan asked, leaning back against the stone wall. 

“Eleven years of friendship and I still don’t know,” Monk replied as he paced by the wall. He ran his hands over the rocks. They were damp. Reaching the door, Monk examined it. The wood was thick, and it was bolted from the outside.

“There are no boards to pry away this time,” Magellan remarked. 

“No,” Monk said. “And I don’t have my crowbar. I was not planning on getting caught today.”

He grabbed hold of a stone and started climbing toward the small window that was high above them. Magellan shook his head but did not say anything. Monk grasped the bars of the window. They held firm. Monk looked outside. He could see some of the gang members in the yard below. They pulled everything out of Monk and Magellan’s jeep. After examining each item, they disagreed it into a pile. When they had removed everything, the leader turned away in disgust. A couple of the guys picked through the piled and grabbed what they wanted before leaving the rest of the stuff.

Monk dropped back onto the ground and told Magellan what he had seen. They wondered what the guys were looking for but could not come up with anything.a

A few hours later, two gang members opened the door and dragged Magellan out. They led him into an empty room where the leader of the gang was seated at a table eating dinner. “Where did you guys hide it,” he demanded. 

“Hide what,” Magellan asked puzzled. 

“You know what,” the leader, Black Mac, snapped back, picking up a hunk of meat on his fork.

“Actually, I don’t, “Magellan replied. “The only thing I hide recently was my bananas so that my cousin would not steal them. They are in the top cabinet in my cabin.”

“And where is your cabin?”

“Just outside of Up North.”

“Up North?” Black Mac questioned, shoving the meat into his mouth.

Magellan started to give the leader a lesson in geography when Black Mac slammed his fist down on the table. “Stop talking nonsense,” he thundered. “Tell me where you hid the secret.”

“Nowhere, “Magellan replied. “I don’t know what you are talking about.”

“Don’t play dumb,” one of the gang members snarled, slapping Magellan across the face.

Magellan glared at the fellow. 

“Maybe a few days of hunger will make you talk,” Black Mac remarking, shaking another piece of meat in his face. The guards dragged Magellan back to the prison cell. 

Monk looked up at him as he entered. “They’re a nice bunch,” Magellan remarked, rubbing his face. “They want to know where the secret is.”

“What secret,” Monk asked.

Magellan shrugged. “I have no clue. But I did steal a piece of metal from one of the guys. Perhaps we can pick the lock.”

Monk smiled and nodded. Both monkeys settled down until it became quiet in the hallway. Once all was dark and still, Magellan edged to the door. He looked both ways. No one was in sight. Noiselessly, he slid his tail through the bar and slipped the metal into the lock. It took a bit of wiggling to get it in the right position. The bolt snapped open. Magellan smiled and pulled his tail back in. He motioned for Monk to come over. Slowly, he pushed the door open breathing a thankful sigh that it did not creak. 

They scurried along the hallway and through the first doorway out into the yard. Magellan stopped to look for their jeep. Monk grabbed his arm. 

“The noise will get their attention,” he whispered, “Let’s hide in the woods.”

Magellan nodded. They snuck along in the shadow of the building.

“What do we have here,” A large burly fellow bellowed grabbing Magellan by the neck. “Trying to get away, are we? And where is your friend?”

“I don’t know,” Magellan whined trying to wrench free.

“His friend is right here,” another guard said dragging Monk up. 

The two monkeys exchanged despairing looks. The two guys carried them back inside. “I’ll teach you to get away,” the one growled at them, pulling a whip off the wall.

He lashed out at one monkey and then the other until he tired out. Finally, he gave a command to tossed them back into their cell. Neither monkey said anything as they lay there.

The next morning, Monk was brought before Black Mac. “Where is the secret,” he demanded. “And don’t say in your jeep. We already searched it.”

Monk shrugged, “I wouldn’t have said it anyways. It wouldn’t fit in the jeep.”

Black Mac laughed, “Don’t try and pull a fast one on me. I know that it fits in your hand.”

“It really isn’t that important of an item,” Monk remarked casually. “It does not have any value of itself.”

“Of course not,” Black Mac retorted. “You and I both know its what it opens that has the value, many have wanted the lost kings’ treasure, and I will open it first.”

“Only if you know where to find it,” Monk remarked. “The secret does no good if you do not have the lock.”

“Yes, but the lock is located in the southern mountains. We have the map. We just are missing the all-important piece to get in. Now tell me where it is or I will torture you until you do.”

“Well,” Monk said, “There is no way you would travel with something like that unarmed. So, of course, we left it hidden.”

“Where?”

“Didn’t the map tell you the riddle?”

“Riddle?” Black Mac asked, leaning forward.

“Yeah,” Monk said carelessly, “It tore off of some of the maps. At least the first one I saw was missing it.”

“And what is the riddle,” Black Mac demanded, partly raising from his chair.

“Let’s see,” Monk said glancing up as though trying to remember. “How did it go again… Oh yes, ‘There is no place like home beyond the pink deluge of morning.’”

“And you just left it there,” Black Mac asked standing up and walking closer to Monk.

Monk shrugged. “We weren’t ready to go beyond and figured it was safest there. It was a challenge to get to with the climb and all that.”

Black Mac walked over to his desk and started rummaging through his papers. “Take him back to his cell,” he ordered his gang members. Turning to Monk, he bowed and said, “Thank you for your assistance. You have been most helpful.”

Monk was tossed back into the cell with Magellan. 

“Well,” Magellan inquired sitting up, “How was it?”

“Informative,” Monk replied. “The secret is a key of some sort that leads to a treasure hidden in the southern mountains. There is a map to the treasure. It sits in your hand and is not valuable in and of itself. It supposedly opens the value that contains the lost king’s treasure.”

“Well,” Magellan said settling back down, “that is interesting. But that is not helpful to us.”

“No,” Monk replied, “But they will be heading to the large eastern waterfall probably before the night is over, and that will take most of them away for a few days.”

“How do you know that,” Magellan asked sitting back up in interest. “Did he tell you all his plans?”

“Not quite, I told him that was where the secret was, just not in those terms and he took the bait. Now we wait till they are gone and try to figure out how to get out.”

“I might have an idea,” Magellan said holding up the wire again. “I was able to get the window partly loosened using this and think we can slip out.”

“Brilliant,” Monk said, “We can slip across the roof and get a lot closer to the woods.”

They settled down until late in the afternoon when several trucks roared out of the yard. As the sun sank into the west, the monkey’s scrambled onto the roof and headed across toward the woods. Monk glanced behind him. He could see the guard pacing around the perimeter. 

The guard stopped and turned. He brought his flashlight across the building. In a moment, Monk realized that the guard would see Magellan dropping to the ground. He slid toward the edge of the roof and pushed a loose tile off. It landed with a clatter on a pile of metal. The guard snapped his attention and light to the noise. Magellan dashed toward the wood as Monk hid behind a chimney.

The guard walked over by the building. He circled it, scanning the roof. The sound of a car engine behind him caused him to turn away. He let out a yell, as one of their jeeps drove toward the road. Three guards gave chase. Monk darted from behind the chimney, down the side of the building, and dashed into the woods.

Magellan joined him a moment later. They watched as the guards ran frantically after the jeep until it crashed into the trees. Disgusted covered their faces when they reached the empty vehicle. Empty that is except for a stick in the steering wheel and stone on the gas metal.

Monk and Magellan exchanged high-fives and plunged deeper into the forest. Working together they were free once again.