Litchfield enquirer., 1873-02-20

".Yes, precisely so; and do you know to what that refers ? ' r. -.r<Caz o.
 sssThe Cocos group, replied. - Right, said the Doc, share they are' (opeaing the chart and laying his finger tn particular point)-.here they are. The Coeos Islands--lat. 5o 2T N., lon.. 87o 15' w 's'' '-'- -'
 "'Well, and what do you deduce from that?' ~s.
 's That No. 13 knows some secret Ca valuable one perhaps)s connected with those islands =l.,t -~,
 tt:And do you know what that secret is?' -, r ..-- ---.sg - f-.-.-
 '''I can guess-buried treasure of some kind ? - '0- ~
 "'Exactly my idea; and neither you nor have as get the key to the secret -s=
 sssNo.'
 "For nearly minute the Doctor paus- ed. his head resting on hiB hands and his eyes fixed on the elnst Then, rising quickly from his chair, like man whose mind is quite made up, he came round the table to where was sitting. I rose. too, and we stood facing each other, looking into each others eyes. sao e Fc
 '''O Brien, if there is anything to be done in this matter We must trust each other entirely. ..' a'
 ''I nodded assent. E. -r--,
 's1 tell you frankly that would do without you if I could; but chance has placed a great secret equally within your reach and mine; if we can find the means by which to render ourselves masters of the key to that secret, our fortunes are made-of that am morally convinced; and working together as allies that key We shall find. Now I will tell you what I know already, and what deduce from my knowledge, then what propose to do. AS you may have noticed, have spent a considerable amount of time by the bed- side of Mo- 13, and have now and then ta- ken notes of various rambling statements and hints, all of winch have reference, more or less, to the subject we have in hand. You doubtless have also heard and may remember many things severally un- important, but which collectively, or when taken together with what I have heard, may be most valuable. Lsk us now see to what deduction your data ad- ded to mine will bring us.
 ''I willingly agreed, and for the next half-hour we were busily employed in putting together mass of facts and con- clusions from which we deduced this theory: that No. 13 was in possession of the secret of the exact locality of an i'm mensely valuable hidden treasure; that he himself was one of those who original ly buried it; that it had .besfi accumulat- ed by unlawful means, nroDably by pira- cy; and that it was still .Where it was originally buried--on hn1iS ksscain the Co., cos group, lat. 5 2 2Ts9gsaepgs 87o 15' W. n "a. ,s +Eale1 es <. ',.Ss'sa sal.1 .
 '''ro my mind, pursued. MGnl, these deductions are as clear and exact as pos- slble. But one things puzzles me, and that IS this, ,-it is so long since anything like real pirate has beeH oa these coasts, that, granting No. 13 ta have been con- nected with these gentag, i&@mst have been when he was qui ycunR. How comes it, then, that for alzthess years nei-s ther he nor his former comrades have re- turned to recover the treasure? He must, fancy, have had some good rea- son for believing that it has remained un- discovered till now, or he would hardly have come here to look for it after such a lapse of time' --s-~e -s-e-- e--~. s--as z-e'=---
 Possibly said I, his mates were all hanged, and he on account of his youth escaped
 "'Ah, see what you mean-transpor- tation for life. Yes, that may be it, but trust we shall know more soon. Now will tell you what I mean to do. In the first place, I take it for granted that, chance having placed this secret within our reach, we are perfectly justified in making what use of 1t we can. Certainly we are more entitled to it than the Gov ernment, who, if they got scent of the af- fair would not leave as . dollar; and as for our piratical friend No. 19, he can't last out the night. And even if he should recover by miracle, I doUht if he could substantiate any legal claim; and as for his sailor friend, look upon hin as mere ly an accomplice. Nov you know that ''by the rules, after the death of any pa- tient l shall have to make an inventory of his belongings, and hand them over to the governor, who grves them in charge of the consul pending inquiries. Ineel not repeat that should there be amongst them any plans or papers by which the police might be able to obtain the clue to this secret, our chance would be gone for ever. So what propose is this,-you must sit up with No. IS, and, when necessary, have me called. You understand me-?
 "sYes.'
 "'Then when all is over we will make
 
 IS useful we can retain; for, as have said before, we have as good or better right to this information than the beggarly Government, or that consequential ass the consul, who, you may swear, would make a good thing of it.
 ''I objected that we could not take away any of the papers, e, if we were found out, that would get us into trouble.
 Perhaps yon are right, said the Doc tor-'but we can make copies; and as far as destroying link or two in the chain, 8 few drops of aquafortis will do all we require
 'sThen we parted, and I returned to my ward, and to the bedside of No. 13. He was much quieter now, poor fellow. confess I had several qualms of conscience T had some of that left the7a-about the business; but l was so excited at the thought of becoming rich man, that all the ten commandments would not have stopped me. Even the short time had been away in M'Gill's room had made marked alteration in the patient He was evidently sinking fast, and was still quite before ten o'clock, longer and longer became the intervals between each breath; and by midnight it was all over. I at once sent for M'Gi1, without, howev- er,telling the messenger that No. 13 was dead, and in about ten minutes he was with me. He looked pale, and trife nervous, I thought; and, to tell the truth. 1 did not feel comfortable myuelf. After satisfying himself that tho paEisnt was really dead, M'Gill selected isOm small box at the bed -head-in whiGA Ar articles found on the persons of patiGpts were sl- ways put, and the key of which was kept by the surgeon-the key of the sea-chest at the foot of the bed. This we opened, after first making sure that the black screen entirely hid us from view. We carefully examined its contents one by one. There was nothing differing much from the usual run of articles comprised in a sailors kit, till we came to near the bot tom; there, carefully rolled up in piece of oiled cloth, we found a black-leather case secured with a strap. In moment the Doc bounced on 1t, and with trem- bling hands spread ont it's contents on the lid of tha chest which xuaa nnanad hack