Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1880-06-25
Urcle Sin,or had small shop, where

Thought no L, ore Of it for months.
. A common liners mallet is about six
! inches long, by three in diameter at the
ends. with q swell in tie middle, and
is usually made by being turned in q
lathe. This mallet was not round, but
nearly square. with the corners taken
off. 1t was seven inches long. and four
inches ~ five in thickness at the ends,
being somewhat larger il the middle.
Asa piece OF workmanship. it was
handsomely made, and vas finished per
fectly smooth. 1t certainly could not
have been q long time in the water, as
there we're ne barnacles or grass stick
ing to it, and much OF the varnish with
which it had once been coated still re-
NAMED.
One rainy day late in the fall, Uncle
Simon was a. work in the shop, when
Jake Klgore, one of the neighbors'
boys, entered. and seated himself on
the work bench. Soon after, Skipper
Harding dropped in.
1t was not long before the boy saw
the mallet.
"Upcle, where did you get that big
mallet 2 lie asked.
"Picked it up adrift," was the brief
reply.
While the OLD folks were chatting,
the boy kept his eyes on the mallet, it
was such u curious one, and he kept
turning it over anu over. Atlength he
said Uncle Simon, there's square
piece fayed into one ond of this mallet;
/ can see the seam"
81 think it's like enough my eyes
amt as sharp as your'n, and yours won't
you've fshed as many long nights as
have"
The boy worked long timo trying
to dig out with the points of pair of
compasses the piece that had been in
serted in the maliet.
Let me look at it," said Uncle
Simon; I'm afeard you'll bend the
points of my compasses."
Looking at the end of the mallet, he
said, The man that fayed that piece
in was workman. Better let it alone;
doubt if it can DO got out without
boring"
do try and get it out, Uncle
Simon !" said the boy. Its hollow,
l know it is. Idon't believe but what
there's something in there"
Hand the thing to me-" suid Skip
per Harding; and after looking at it a
moment, he said, The boys right,
Uncle Simon that mallet is hollow /;
if it wasn't you'd never have picked it
up adrift. unless it was in boat or on
a raft"
~ certainly did take it out of the
water twenty fathoms deep, between
Eagle Island and Drunken Ledge; but
why do you say that?'
linkum vitee [lignum rit@]. Twill sink
in water like stone if it is solid. 1t
never could have foated."
"The handles white ash. Wouldn't
the handle float it?"
ono, it wouldn't begin to-"
Uncle Simon put the mallet in wise,
and with chlsei, loosened and removed
the wedge-shaped piece that had been
SO nicely fttoa in. when a large cavity
appeared, stuffed with oakuul.
After pulling out the oakum, he
took the mallet from the wise, and
striking the end on the bench, out came
large number of gold coins, which
rolled over the bench and on to the
floor.
"What be they? what be they ?"
shouted John Kilgore-who had never
seen gold coin-picking up one of
them, at which he gazed with dilating
eyes, and then tried his teeth on it.
:" English sovereigns," replied the
skipper.
BE thew real GOLD. like orannv's
gold beads"
II reckon they are great deal bet
ter gold than your granny's beads. At
any rate. every one of 'em is worth al
most five dollars"
The coins were iorty in number. On
examining the cavity. it was evident
that they had occupied but a small part
OF 1t, the rest being taken up with
piece of clean new duck, which had
been laid next to the metal, and with
cakunl.
"No wonder it Aoated, with all that
hollow. That's the. way We fix our lob
ster buoys when they get water-soaked.
"Now, skipper, in your younger
days you've followed the sea, and been
In foreign parts, but I've been only a
fisherman. want you to give me our
candid opinion. Who did that gold be.
long to, AID what could possess any
person that they should put money in
such place as that?"
Well, it's my opinion that the money
belonged to some ships carpenter most
likely the carpenter of a man.of. war,
because merchant vessels don't often
carry a carpenter. Most likely that was
his money-box. He knew nobody would
think of looking in q mallet for his
money, and that piece was fayed in SO
neat that before the varnish was washed
of, no person would be likely to OBJ
serve it.
" 1 knew an old Swede, a carpenter,
that went for years in one vessel, and
he had place mortised in a timber
head, where he kept his money, and
nobody knew it till he got able to stay
ashore, and then he took it out. I ex.
pect the vessel this poor fellow was in
was lost, and he with her. You'll have
to keep the money. You can't find any
owner for this, as you did for the
other"