Litchfield enquirer., 1870-04-14
FoRrU1Tous CIRCUMSTANCES.

happened by accident to meet h little wayside tavern: "fortuitous circumstance, indeed I think 1t is lame explanation of l these inexplicable incidents which meet us at every turn. could relate tale, only l know well what you would all think and lsay about it." ...~...... .tsr... :. l ''Devilish tough. eh, Desbrooke, 2 laughed Charles Maillard, ''for you to balk at telling it. Come begin; only warn you that l, too, have history, q Ia Schez. erade, to relate. Whether more extraordi- do know is, that will suffer from it's un- lucky truth to the longest day I live''
 ''Tell! tell!' cried Henry Wayne, light ing his cigar, and stretching himself at full length on a settee. Audience meet though few, ready to judge between fort uitous circumstances and special providen- ces. for I suppose one of you is :pour.' and the other contre." ,e,
 " Mo-" said Mailard, 'mine is simply a vein of ill-luek, which I stumble upon whenever that jade, Fortune, seems about to make herself most agreeable. Begin, lDesbrook; you may beat me at the marvel ous, but I'll be hanged if you or any one else can beat me en one stroke of ill-fort- une."
 "Two years ago." began Desbrooke q was travelling by stage between Shreveport aud Alexandria. In one of the toughest portions of the pine woods, about night fall, the stage broke down. -.-.,
 ''It was not far to house, so the pass engers trudged on foot through the deep sand leaving the stage to follow at leisure. We had made ourselves comfortable with a good supper and rest at the farm house, before the stage arrived. Iput my hand in my pocket to defray my portion of the reckoing, and found my pocket book gone. tell you boys my heart was in my throat at this discovery. had travelled that road fifty times before, and might have turned the contents of my pocket inside out on the road without any loss, but this time. of all others, I had several thous. and dollars, my hard earnings since the war, which was going to invest in New Orleans. -.E
 ''I knew that just before leaving the stage l had felt the pocket-book in taking out my knife to give the driver. There was hope had dropped it in the stage, and we all searched with torches in every ing on was out of the question until had made further search-so the stage went on without me. At daylight next morning  and child in the spsrsely settled neighbor- hood was enlisted into service. I offered reward. high enough to keep them at work for several days, and they went at it with will can tell you,
 ''But after every step of the ground was traversed to the place where the accident had occurred, it seemed the worst of folly | to continue bootless quest, and with a heart turned my back on the ill-omened spot. r..
 Ut was all work and no play, can tell I you. from that day with me, to make both | ends meet. I never was hard pressed without cursing the carelessness or ill luck of that episode, and never passed through that section of the country-which l did pretty often-without an aggrieved feeling at having been chosen out for such dis pensation. ..
 "Six months ago I found myself in a buggy with friend, and nearing the fatal spot We talked over the circumstance, and I said:
 Ut was just about here that the stage broke down. remember that tall pine blasted by lightning. don't think it could have been fifty yards from that little piece of bark lying by the road"
 My friend looked keenly before him. Bark indeed! he laughed, if your vision wasn't clearer when you made the search, I'm not surprised you didn't find the pock- et-book. Why man. that's no bark, it's an old rusty piece of leather
 l II insisted upon my own opinion, and 1 puted object. Boys, it was pocket.book! The notes mildewed, indeed, but all there. have nothing more to add but that the road was unfrequented and the pocket book might have been hidden in the long grass which the winters frost killed down and left exposed to view. Soddened and soiled, though, out of all identity, unless closely examined" rs..
 You were fortunate," said Maillard, when comments had been exhausted on the incident "Yours is treasure trove, mine treasure lost! You have heard of my good fortune in getting my cotton to Brownsville during the war, and selling it for fabulous sum in gold. brought my treasure safely as far as the Trinity on my homeward route, but there discovered l had been pursued, and that my life wouldn't be worth copper If attempted to convey it farther. In the little settle. ment where I stopped, the people, though seemingly honest, were all strangers to me. There was but one course left open, to conceal my money in some safe place, and return, when the country became qui- eter. for it.
 "You all know the nature of the coun- try in Trinity bottoml The densest swamps ever saw, interlaced with vines, through which nothing but axe and hatchet can clear the way. chose my spot in the very centre of Yupon thicket, marked certain hieroglyphics in a tall oak, and at sunset one evening fastening my horse outside of the swamp, carried my treasure within its depths. Digging the hole and other preparations consumed 30 much time that night came down before they were con- pleted. knew it was useless to attempt to find my way through the darkness, and striking light, kindled some fire and spent the night comfortably enough.
 "I did not even return to the tavern for my portmanteau the next morning, but at dawn turned my horses head homeward and fairly distanced my pursuers, if, in deed, they reached the Trinity.
 "Waiting for Texas to settle into quiet, seemed as remote possibility six months after the close of hostilities, as it had ap. peared to me the day left my gold in Trinity bottom. grew weary of wait- ing, and at last determined, with two or three tried companions, to go for my treasure.
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