Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1870-08-04

ooaiu RiBe amount VI opecit, ana wa
preparingto sail in ballast. A gentlemal
was introduced to you as an English mer
chant, and propossito charter your yesse
Tor the homeward voyage
81 remember it"
'Do you remember that you invited tn
merchant to dine with you, and that tn
next day you received notice that your shi,
would not be wanted?"
II do"
"Well, Captain, was the pretended
merchant, and was pleased with your hos
pitality The real object of my visit wa
70 ascertain the day OF your sailing ant
your destination. All that night deliber
ated whether to carry out my plans with
regard to your ship or to engage in arotheI
enterprise at hand, but less promising
The recollection of your gentlemanly enter
tainment led me to decide the question il
your favor, and three days after was en-
gagged in business altogether different
On another occasion when you, with quite
fleet OF merchantmen, was lying in the
mouth OF the Mississippi, hesitating t.
sail on account of suspicious craft report
ed to be lowering on the coast q friendly
quented channel, and, to your astonish
ment, passed safe within hailing distance
OF the very craft you we're eager to avoid
But no matter about all this. / relate these
circumstances to prove to you that we are
not entire strangers.
''My father continued to freight his ships
and send them to all parts OF the world. hn,
he never knew that superintended large
part OF his business, and that many of his
cargoes found sale in ports to which they
had never been consigned. His agents
sometimes falleo to report.
Captain, have said enough. Before to.
morrow 8 sun sets, l shall be in the caverns
of the deep. My sins have been great, but
| hope to be forgiven, and have forgiven
him. | have fortune il the Bank of Eng
land, and with it is deposited will. and
the orphan son Of Ina is my heir.
"Iou have been kind to me, Captain, and
IN token of my gratitude | beg you to ac-
cept my watch and cutlass, and this paper,
which you will carefully preserve.
SO saying, he held out folded scrap OF
paper, which my grandfather put into his
pocket.
Morning dawned, but the strangers eyes
did not open upon it--they were closed for
ever In the afternoon the burial service
was performed, and the shrouded body OF
the pirate, with gentle plunge, broke the
CLASSY surface of the ocean, and sunk
swiftly into the mysterious depths.
1t was many hours afterwards that my
grandfather bethought himself of the paper
IN his pocket. He opened it and read as
follows:
captain LANE:-On the eastern point
Of Nantucket, at high water mark, is u tall,
sharp cliff. A quarter league due west
from that cliff is large round s. one, and
near the stone a thorn bush. The thorn
grows in a Uery rich soil :"
The duties of his station kept my grand
father long time abroad; and when he
was next in Boston, about three years after
wards, having few days of leisure he was
thinking of acting on the hint of the enig-
NAUTICAL paper still folded in his pocket
book, when the eye CHANGED to fall upon
the following paragraph in the old Boston
Sentinel:
"WoNDERFUL DISCOVERY. As Mr.. John
Rogers was breaking piece OF pasture
ground on the eastern shore of Nantucket,
about fortnight ago his ploughshare turn
ed up stout thorn sticking to the roots
of which were several pieces of silver.
Upon this he went to digging Justify, and
did not give over till he hauled out coins,
chiefly Spanish doubloons, of more than
twenty thousand pounds value. No doubt
it was buried there by Captain Kidd or
some Of his pirate kim"
"No doubt p thought my grandfather,
as he threw down the paper with slight
nervousness. In week he was again fac
ing the storms of the ocean, enriching his
employers by his skill and toll, till infrmi-
ties drove him high and dry on shore. -
There, in due time, on his old homestead
in 'Squam, he died of old age, leaving little
to his family, except a good name, sea-
and the pirates cutlass, which
three generations of boys have used in
their juvenile trainings and which, rusty
and blunted, may still be seen hanging in
the Office of his great grandson, lawyer,
on Wall street, New York.