It had been a long time since any of us had come this way. What had once been familiar paths through the undergrowth had become overgrown trails; great castles of rhododendrons were not stunted bushes. The passing years had changed most - but not all - of our remembered landmarks.

Lacey unfolded the scrap of paper that had started this day off. It was a map, drawn in faded pencil, which showed us where we had buried our precious things so many summers ago. We had found it in a tattered copy of Treasure Island, pressed between the pages, and it had sparked memories of adventures that we had gone on in the long summers of our childhoods.

"Up the path from the beach," she said, squinting at the paper. "Then it's ten paces from the big tree and dig."

"What big tree?" Murph asked. "There's only saplings here."

"Let's look around," I said. "There must be something."

Eventually we found a stump. It was about three feet across and hidden under long grass. It was the biggest tree that had grown here in years. Murph called up a compass app on his smartphone. "East is that way," he said, and pointed.

I began to measure out ten paces, but Lacey stopped me. "Baby steps," she said. "We were smaller then." I nodded and shortened my stride.

"Here," I said. "I think."

We hefted our spades and began to dig, pulling back the grass and lifting the soil. We dug out a wide circle, and within an hour we had found our treasure: a metal box, ridded with rust and brittle with corrosion.

Lacey sighed. "I don't think we'll find anything in that."

"Let's see." I opened the lid of the box, almost ripping out a fingernail from the effort. Instead of the shiny toys and trinkets, there was only black slime filled with unidentifiable lumps.

Murph shook his head. "Ah well. Never mind. Still, it was good to go on one last adventure, wasn't it?"

Lacey looked at us and smiled. "The day's not over yet. Shall we see if that old rock pool is still there?"

We ran down to the beach, laughing and shouting at each other like the kids we were.