Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, W.T. [i.e. Wis.]) 1843-1844, 1843-03-18

From Borrow's new work on Spain, extracted from
the London Alhenaan.
BENITO MOL, THE TREASURE HUNTER.
"He was a bulky old man. somewhat above
the middle height, with white hair and rudy
features; his eyes were large and blue, and
whenever he fixed them on any ones copn'en-
ance, were full of an expression Of gfea' ca
leerness, as if he was expecting the commune
cation of some important udings. tie was
dressed commonly enough. in jacket and
,rowsers Of coarse cloth of a russell color; on
his head was an immense sombrero, the orim
of which had been much cut and musilated, so
as in some places to resemble the jays OF Den.
,iclss Of saw. He returned the sautailon OF
the orange man, and bowling to me, forthwith
presented two scented washballs. which he Of
Ifered for sale 10 rough disonant jargon, inten'
ded for Spanish, but which seemed more like
the valencian or Catalan, Upon my asking
him who he was, the following conversation
.nsued between us:.-.I am Swiss of Lucerne,
Benedict Mol by name, once a soldier in the
Walloon Guard, and now a soap-boiler, para
servir usted.' You speak the language Of
Spain very imperfcctly,' said /; how long
have YOU been in the couniryr 'Fory-fve
years. replied Benedict. Il should
soon have deserted from the service of Spain.
as did from that of the Pope, whose soldier
was in my early youth. before came here; but
] had married a woman Of Minorca, by whom
| had two children; il was this that detained
me 10 these parts SO long; before. however,
left Minorca. my wife died, and as for my chill.
dren, one went east, the other west, and
know no, VIVA, became of,hem; intend short.
Ily to return to Lucerne, and live there like
Ill, AZ skaa cd IayHo "a nj
tai in Spainl said /. glancing at his hat and
the rest Of his apparel. Not Quart, not a
Quart; these two wash balls are all that pos
sess.' perhaps you are The son Of good par
ents, and have lands and money in yonr own
country. whercwiih to support YOURSELF Not
heller, not heller; my father was hangman
} of Lucerne, and when he died, his body was
seized TO pay his debts.'"
10 spite of these unpromising appearances.
however, Benedict was sanguine as to his fu.
ture fortunes. He would return TO Lucerne,
he said, in coach drawn by six mules, and
with mighty treasure. which lay buried in
, church at Compostella; and on Mr.. Borrow
expressing his disbelief in the existence of any
such hoard,-.-
"My good German Herr said Benedict,
, lit is no church schaiz. and no person living
save uyS6ll kUOWS VI N0 cAlotcutcs 4NcdIiJ
thirty years ago, amongst the sick soldiers
who were brought to Madrid, was one of my
, comrades Of the Waloon Guard, who had ac-
! compznied the French to Portugal; he was
very sick. and shortly died. Before, however.
he bresihed his last. he sent for me, and upon
. his death bed told me that himself and two 9TH
ef soldiers. both Of whom had since been killed,
had buried in a certain church in Compostel.
l. hol 10 De-,
iugaI; it consisted Of gold moidores and of a
; packet Of huge diamonds from the Esazila' Tho
whole .--s contained in a large copper Kettle.
listened with greedy ears. and from that mo-
ment, may say. have known no rest, neither
by day nor night, thinking Of the scha,z. 1t
is very easy TO find. for the dying man was SO
exact in his description of the place where it
lies. that were once at Composiels, | should
have no difficulty in putting my hand upon il;
several times have been on the point Of Set
ting out on the journey, but something has al
! ways happened TO stop me. When my wife
died. left Minorca with determination to go
to Saint James. but on reaching Madrid, fell
into the hands Of Basque woman. who per-
suaded me to live with her. which have done
for several years; she is a great hax witch
and says if | desert her she will breathe spell
which shall cling TO me forever. Dem Got
sey dank-..she is now in the hospital and daily
expected 10 de-"
II was walking one nigh, ia the Alameda
Of Saint James, considering in what direction
should next bend my coarse. for had been
already len days 10 this place; the moon was
shining gloriously. and ilumined every object
around to considerable distance. The Ala.
media was quite deserted; everybody. with the
exception Of myself, having retired. l sat
down on bench and continued my reflections,
which were suddenly interrupted by heavy
stamping sound. Turning my eyes in the di.
reciion from which it proceeded, perceived
wha, a. first appeared shapeless bulk slowly
advancing: nearer and nearer il drew, and
could now Distinguish the outline of man
dressed 10 coarse brown garments. kind OF
Andalusan hat. and using az staff the long
peeled branch of tree. He had now arrived
opposite the bench where was seated, when.
stopping. he took off his hat and demanded
charity 10 uncouih tones, and 10 a strange jar
gon, which had some resemblance TO the Gaia
Ian. The moon shone on his grey locks. and
on rudy westher-beatsn countenance, which
at once recosnized Benedict Mol said I
is it possible iha, see you a, Compostella,'
(It came out that the halfcrazed dreamer
had "walked all the long way from Madrid"
subsisting on charity.)
20, he exclaimed. the misery Of Galica!
When arrive at night at one of their pig-s,ies,
which they call posadas, and ask for bread to
ca, in the name Of God. and straw to lie down
on, they curse me. and say there is neither
bread nor straw in Galicis; and sure enough.
since have been here have seen neither. on
ly something thai they call hroa. and kind
Of reedy rubbish with which they litter the