Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1879-08-28


found the inscription to be exactly what
he was seeking.
"Now," said he, "Mr. F., where did
this stone come from2'
Medad sat down and related the whole
history Of it so far as he knew, and end
ed by saying that he ''guessed" he could
find the very spot from which the stone
was taken. However, they defer ed the
search until the next morning. The Wis
itor then desired Medad to enter into an
engagement with him that he would not
only show him the spot IRON which the
stone was taken, but woulc not hinder or
modest him in removing from his premi-
SEES anything he might be able to find be-
low the surface of the ground, and offered
as compensation for his forbearance and
assistance, to crafty any wish that he
might then have. Medad thought it a
very strange proposal, and shrewdly sus-
pected the gentleman must be in search
of money, and if he were to let good
windfall slip through his fingers, which
might then be lying on his farm, he would
certainly repent it.
"Tell we what" said he to the captain,
. %1al s 60 ye halves in what yo're looking
"No sill" answered the stranger; ''what-
ever it may be, it belongs of right to your
sister or rather to her husband, and neith-
er you or 1 have any moral claim to it;
so name the terms and strike the bar
gain"
'ttBut s'pose / don't choose to; and
s'pose Id rather make the search on my
own hook %
"You never would find it, sir" replied
captain, IF you were to pillow your whole
farm over again and again."
Medad thought about 1t while, and
finally concluded that he would try, at
last, for he did not relish the idea of
being outwitted by skipper.
Accordingly, the next morning they
went into the woods to the place whence
the stone was taken, and Medad began
to dig. After he had thrown up all the
earth which the roots of the tree would
suffer to he removed, he gave up thtre,
and went to another spot. In this man
ner he spent the whole day with the cap
tain at his side, who felt very confident
that he alone could find the object of
their search.
At night Medad stole out alone to the
woods, having made his wife hang the
family bible around his neck by silken
thread, and taking a wand of witch-hazel
IN his hand. He CROPPED about the wood
sometime until he thought his stick bent
down to the ground, where he began to
dig again. Presently he took his crowbar,
and strikinf into the hole, felt it in con-
tact with some large and hard object. He
struck it second time; and just then, as
he said aloud to himself, "' have it, away
it rolled, Under the ground, with harsh,
rumbling noise; the crowbar was violent
ly wrenched from his hand, and he found
himself lying On bis back!
He went home, and told the captain if
he would pay. off mortgage of fifty
pounds, now existing against his farm, he
would sign the agreement. He hardly
expected such demand would be acced-
ed to, for he really had no definite con-
ception Of any larger sum than the mort
gage against which he had been strug-
Cling, and which was his measure of pc
buniary magnitude. The captain paid
down the money, however, and Medad
signed the bargain.
On the following morning the captain
and Modad repaired to the original site
of the stone, and the former after con-
sulting his memorandum of the inscrip-
ton, walked directly out Of the woods in
a northerly direction, and crossed a
small hill, at the foot of which he desired
Mcdad to dig. The search was soon re-
warded by finding large leather bag,
very much rotted, and which, on being
taken, burst asunder, and scattered upon
the ground q heap of gold and s;loer
coins.
Medad stood perfectly aghast at the sight
of so much money; and as the captain
told it over, each piece glittering in the
morning sun, and ringing with the sound
of the true metal, Medad thong ht it was
rather hard that all this cash should have
lain on his own farm, without his know
ing word aboutit However, he had got
the mortgage off his farm, and that was
enough. The captain put up the money
in some small leather bags he had brought
with him, and then told Medad how it had
been secreted there by three men; how the
younger of them, who remained behind
was the son Of a French planter IN the
West Indias, and had been taken in the
summer nf 1899. Oh his voyage to France
by pirates, with two of his sailors; how
the pirates had been forced to run into
Long Island Sound to quit their vessel
by which means the young man ha0
made his escape, with a large sum OF
money, intending to get out of the Eng.
lish colonies into Canada; and how whe1
he had been obliged to delay, and various
obstacles lad arisen, in the difficulty Of
communication between the two coun
tries, and his fears of being recognized
as Frenchman, he had remained at the
deacen's until he fell in love with Mary
and persuaded her to run away with him
that wars between France and England
had prevented him from making any at
tempt to recover his money until now
and he finished by informing Medad thai
his sister and her husband were living ir
great prosperity in one of the West In
dia Islands.
I have only t. add, that before the Wis
it-of the captains, the inscription on thu
stone had long been an object of curiosit,
among the learned as we'll as the litter
ate. Some supposed it to be decisive
proof that the ten tribes of Israel mus
have wandered to this continent. But
clergyman, who had in his youth been t,
Spain, and seen The Arabian manuscript
there, maintained that the character
we're Arabic; that it furnished conclusive
evidence of the descent Of the indians
from some Arabians driven by a storm
off the coast of Spain, and across the At
lantie. In support of this, he wrote |
very ingenious paper which was read be
fore the Royal Society of Antiquaries, il
England. .
! What has become of the stone, AMI
whether any of the descendants of tn
F. family are now living, I do no