The central gazette. [volume] (Charlottesville, Va.) 1820-1827, 1825-02-05


| q high Ridge on which grow few scattered
oaks of great aye and immense size. II was
| under one OF these gigantic trees. according TO
old stories, that Kidd the pi' ate buried his t,ca
sure. The inlet allowed facility TO bring the
! money in boat secretly and at night to the
very foot of the hill The elevation Of the
| place permitted good look out to be kept that
| no one was at hand. while the remarkab
| trees formed good landmarks nv which the
place might easily be found again. The old
| stories add, moreover, that the devil presiGed
at the hiding OF the money, and took it under
his guardianship: but this. it i well known,
he always does With buried treasure. particu
.Iarlv when it has been i'll gotten BE that as
il NAV. Kidd never returned to recover his
| wealth; heing shortly after seized at Boston.
sent QUIT England, and there hanged for a
pirate,
About the year 1877. Just at the time when
! earthquakes were cvalcnt in New England,
! and shook many tall sinners down upon their
| knees. there lived near this place mcagre mi.
serIv fellow o. the name Of Tom Walker lie
had vile as misery himself: they were so
| miserly that they even cons pired to cheat each
| other Whatever the woman could Law hands
| on she hid away: hen could not cackle hut
| she was on the alert to secure the new laid egg
| Her husband was continually prving about 10
detect her secret boards. and many and fierce
/ were the COnTiCtS tndt LOOK place ABOUT ~nat
| ought to have been common property. They
| ~ ed in for lorn looking house, that stood a
| lone and had an air of starvation A few strag
/ Cling savin trees. emolems of stcriiity, grew
near IT no smoke ever cu,led from its chin
nev no traveller stopped at its door A mis-
| cradle horse, whose ribs were as aIticulatc as
| the bars OF a giidirDn, stalkea about a field
| where thin carpet OF moss, sea .cely covering
the ragged beds pudding stone, 'an;alizel
and halked his hnngcr and sometimes he
would lean hi1 bead over the fence look pite.
ousv at the passcr by, and sceem TO petition
| de'i,e ance from this land of famine The
hou>c and its inmates had altogether bad
| name Toms wife tall .ermag CANT fierce
OF temper. loud of tongue and strong Of arm.
Hei vote, was often heard in wordv warfare
with her hu.banu: AMI his face sometimes
| showed signs that their conflicts were not con.
| fined To- words. No one ventured, however,
| TO 'nterfere between them: the lonely wayfar-
err shrunk within hinsefat the hor'ii ciamor
| and clappcr cla~ing: eyed the den of disco'd
askance and hurried on his way, rejoicing, if
| a bachelor. in his celibacy
| One dav that Tom Walker had been to a
! distant part of the neishhorhood, he took
what he considered short cut homewards
| through the swamp Liz: most short cuts, II
was an III chosen route The swamp was thick
| " gSown with great gloomy pines and hem.
| locks, come of them ninety feet high; which
mace II dark at noon dav. and retreat for all
| the owls of the ncighhoIhood II was foil OF
pits and qua gmires partly cove cd with wceGs
! and MOSES whcrethc Green surface often be
| t'aved the traveller into gull OF black and
! sroIhcriug mud; there a'so dark ana
| stagnant pools, the ahodes al the tadpoc. the
hull.iroo. and tire water snake. and where
TRUNKS Of pines and hcmloc Ks lay hals drowned.
! hall rouing, looking like ailigators, sleeping
! IN the miic.
| Tom had long been picking his wav eau
tiouslv through this t'cac!e' Gus forest; cp
ping from tuit to .uti oil rushes and 'oots
which afforded precarious sootho!ds among
| deep soughs: az pacing carefully, ike cat
| along tho PROSTATE Trunks OF trees; started
| n. and then BY tho sndhon screaming OF the
hittcrn, or the qmacking Of a wild duck, rising
on the wing from soTe solitary pool. At
l!cngth he arrived at peice OF firm ground
! which ran ont like peninsula into ,hc deep
| bosom OF the swamp II had been one OF the
| ST. ong holds Of the Indians du' ing their wars
| with The first colonies Here they had thrown
mp kind Of fort which they had locke ed upon
as almost impr egnable. s, bad used as place Of
| refuge Eor their sauaws and children Nothing
| remained Of the Indian fort but few embank
| mcnts gradually sinking TO the level Of the sur
| rounding eatth. and all eadv overgrown in part
| by oaks and other forest Trees. the foliage of
/ which formed contrast % the dark pines and
| hcm!ocks of the swamp.
| II was late in the dusk Of evening that Tom
| Walker reached the old fort and he paused
| there for while to rest himself Any one but
| he would have felt unwilling 20 lmger in this
lonely melancholy place, for the common PEG
pile had bad opinion Of i: from the sto les
handed down Fl ON the time ofthc Indian wars;
! when il was asserted that the @aNagcs held in
| carnations here and made acriticcs to the evil
| spirit Tom Walk cr however was not man
| to he troubled with any fears OF the kind.
| lie reposed himself for some time on the
| trunk of a ALLEN hcmock, listening TO the bod
ing cry OF the tree toad. and delving with his
| walking staff into a mound OF black mould at
his iect As he turned mp the soil unconsci
ously. his staff struck against something hard.
He raked it out OF the vegetable mould. and
| 10 a clovcn skull with an Indian tomahawk
buried deep in it, lay before him. The rust on
| the weapon show ed the tine Lhat had elapsed
| since the death blow had been given. 1t was
drrary momepto of the fierce struggle that
had taken place in this last fooihoid OF the In
dian warriors
"Humph !" said Tom Waller as he gave
| the skull kick to shake the dirt from it.
"Lct that skull alonci" said gruif voice
Tom lifted up his ewes and hehed great
black man, seated directly opposite him on
! the stump OF a tree Tic was exceedingly sur
prised. having neither seen nor heard any one
| approach, and he was still more perpexcd on
observing. as well as the gathering gloom
| would permit, that the stranger was neither
| negro nor Indian. 1t Is true. he was dressed
| IN rude half Indian garb, ami had a ed belt
or sash swatbed round his BODY, but his face