Wilmington journal., 1874-08-07

him if the whole story had been told
him. Colonel E--vouched for
bis kinsman, ard the ex-Secre-
tary opened the box, glanced at
the cipher dispatch, and turned
very pale. ''Have either of you read
this ?" he asked. "No." said H,
81 intended to make out the cipher,
but have not yet had time" Mr.. r..
answered nothing. but, taking the
drafts out Of the box, applied alghted
match to the remaining papers, and
watched them burn to ashes with a
sigh of satisfaction. "Perilous secrets,
young man., said he, "and happy am
L to dispose of them thus. Not only
regulations, but lives would have been
sacrificed had those matters become
public. Now, as to those certificates,
they are very probably worth nothing,
but you have done me real service in
this manner. and more besides me, and
if you cas, get anything out of them
and it is worth trying, you are per-
fectly welcome to it all. The money
belongs to nobody strictly speaking
for [ do not consider that the late
Confederacy had any heirs-and, if
you can get hold of it, do So"
What money is it, or was it ?"
asked Colonel E.
I'm going to tell you," answered
t, ''and it is remarkable instance
of the hard fortune of war that seemed
to pursue the Confederacy throughout.
You recollect the sterling cotton loan
we made during the last year of the
war-the loan by which our English
brethren were made so sick? d? That
money was raised to pay for ironclads,
you know. The gunboats were built
the Stonewall was one of theIn-but
not delivered. Diplomacy kept us
from getting to sea with the English
built ones, and it was thought the
same reason kept the French-built
steamers from going to sea, but that is
not exactly the fact. We would have
succeeded IN getting them out if they
had been fully paid for. We made
what we thought were ample arrange
ments for completing the payments,
but they failed through our persistent
bad lack. For instance, take the case
Of these very certificates. It was nee
essary for us to use all sorts of precau-
tions in buying this sort of goods to
protect the parties we dealt with, for
we knew the Yankees would throw
every mothers son of them into court.
Hence the money was deposited in
various banks in the names of private
persons, but so that it could not be
drawn unless the certificates were in
dorsed in particular way. This is a
deposit, you see, of Gunter's money,
payable t. Brown on certain terms--in
other words. it is a Confederate draft
sent out by express messenger and
payable when indorsed by the agent
to whom sent. The agent must indorse
it III particular way, and would not
do SO unless the messenger brought
certain credentials This system of
checks and balances was necessary for
our financial security, but, in this case
and several others like it, was fatal to
our plans.
''The messenger to whom this par
ticular box was intrusted-young
Ricaad, [ remember the very morning
sent him-was instructed to go to
cross to Bermuda in the
blockade-runner Fannie, sail thence
for London, report to an agent there,
and from him get further or
ders. Ricaud, instead of going
on the Fannie, took another
steamer, the Gannet, for Mas
sau. The Gannet was captured, Ri
caud's dispatch-box went to feed the
and Ricaud himself to rusti-
cate at Johnson's Island Meantime
we, who knew of the Fannie's safe
voyage, were congratulating ourselves
that our agent was on the road to Bor-
deauX, and we did not discover the |
truth until it was too late to provide a
This sort of thing happened !
several times, and our French gun
boats never got to sea-"
''Then those Bourdalese still have
our money ?" said Colonel E..
"That remains to be seen. [ was
Just coming to that point. This par
ticular deposit has never been checked
Out-of that [ am quite sure. It was
quite forgotten. Ricand never got
South again till June, 1865, and then
his story was only partly credited.
But whether Animas Freres will pay
the money or not is quite another mat
ter, and depends upon variety of cir
which It IS useless to spec
ulate about. AS [ said, [ want our
young friend here to try, and / hope
he will succeed"
So saying, Mr.. T took pen and
paper and wrote hurriedly. Here"
said he, sis check for 5000. You
must look upon it as yolr reward for
restoring to me these dangerous pa
pers. It will pay your expenses to
Bordeaux and back; so, if you gain
you will lose nothing. I have
endorsed these certificates with my
own name. Take them and this note
to London, to Mr.. b. He will tell
you what further can ie done. if any
thing. Do not expect much, but at
least try-fortune may favor you, and
[ am sure you deserve it."
It seemed indeed as if s. H-'s
good fortune had begun. Taking leave
of his friends he came over to London,
found Mr.. B., and made such a
friend of that gentleman that he un-
dertook personally to look after the
matter which Mr.. T had recon-
mended to him. The ex-agent, whose
endorsement was needed, happened at
the time to be in Nice, and Mr.. b
went thither with H, and
secured the requisite signatures.
Then he accompanied him to
Bordeaux. Alas for the best laid
schemes of mice and meni The firm
of X. Animas Freres was bankrupt, and
all their assets and affairs in the hands
of the syndic. The elder brother of
the firm was dead, and there was but
little hope of getting anything out of
the surviving brother, who indeed did
not bear the best of names.
Mr.. B. looked pensive, but told
H not to despair. eff he's an
honest man we won't get a cent, of
course; but, as he seems to be slip
perry fellow, there's chance for it
yet" He called on the syndicate, con-
suited notary or two in town, and
then sent M. Animas message to call
upon him that night at his hotel. M.
Animas came, sallow, little Gascon.
with purple gills and an uneasy eye.
He denied everything, of course, and
said that anyhow he was totally insol-
vent-couldn't pay 10 centimes in the
hundred.
Exactly" said Mr.. B." Your
debts amount to 100000 francs. You
have given in assets to the amount of
3, 500, 900 francs. You still have in
yonr possession the sum of 5000. 900
francs, property of the late Confeder-
acy, Brown, Gunter. and all that firm.
This money you have not returned to