The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1885-07-16
THE NATIONAL TRBUNE wAsHINGroN c. THURSDAY 49,

~ y ~ 49, ~ AOOSs
weight of water, is sometimes employed; q
green tint results. The regulus of cobalt, dis
solved in spirit of inter, gives a red. These
colors disappear at longer or shorter intervals
after the material written upon coois, but again
become apparent upon the re-applicatiOn of
heat.
IL now scrutinized the death's-head with
care. Its outer edges-the edges Of the draw
ing nearest the edge of the vellum-were far
more distinct than the others. 1t was clear that
the action of the caloric had been imperfect or
unequal. / Immediately kindled q fire, and
subjected every portion of the parchment to q
glowing heat. At first, the only effect was the
strengthening of the faint lines in the skull !;
but. upon persevering in the experiment, there
became visible, at the corner of the slip, dag
onally opposite to the spot in which the deaths
head was deiineated, the figure of what at
first supposed to be goat. A closer scrutiny,
however, satisfied me that it was intended for
kid"
"Ha! hal" said ], "to be sure have no
right to laugh at yOu-a million and half of
money is too serious matter for mirth-
but you are not about to establish a third
link in your chain-you will not find any
especial connection between your pirates and .
gOat-pirates, you know, have nothing to do
with goats; they appertain to the farming in
terest."
"But have Just said that figure was not that
of goat"
"Well, kid then-pretty much the same
thing"
"Pretty much, but not altogether" said
Legrand. "You may have heard of one Captain
Kidd. at once looked upon the figure of the
animal as kind of punning or hieroglyphcal
signature. / say signature; because its position
upon the vellum suggested this idea. The
death s-head at the corner diagonally opposite,
had, in the same manner, the air of stamp, or
seal. But was sorely put out by the absence
of all else-of the body to my imagined instru-
ment-of the text for my context"
II presume you expected to find q letter
between the stamp and the signature"
Something of that kind. The fact is, 1 felt
irresistibly impressed with presentiment of
some vast good fortune impending / can
scarcely say why. Perhaps, after all, it was
rather desire than an actual belief;-but do
you know that Jupiter's silly words about the
bug being solid gold, had a remarkable effect
upon my fancy? And then the series of acci-
dents and coincidences-these were so uery ex-
traordinary. Do you observe how mere an ac-
cident it was that these events should have
occurred upon the sole day of all the year in
which it has been, or may be, sufficiently cool
for fire, and that without the fire or without
the Intervention of the dog at the precise mo-
ment in which he appeared, l should never
have become aware of the death 's-head, and SO
never the possessOr of the treasurer"
But proceed am all impatience."
swell; you have heard, of course, the many
stories current,-the thousand vague rumOrs
afoat about money buried somewhere upon
the Atlantic coast, by Kidd and his associates.
These rumors must have had some foundation
in fact. And that the rumOrs have existed SO
long and SO continuous, could have resulted, it
appears to me, only from the circumstance of
tho buried treasure still remaining entombed.
Had Kidd concealed his plunder for q time, and
afterwards reclaimed it, the rumors would
scarcely have reached us in their present un-
varying form. You will observe that the stories
told are all about oney-seekers, not money
finders Had the pirate recovered his money,
there the affair would have dropped. 1tseemed
to me that some accident-say the loss of
memorandum indicating its locality-had de-
priyed him of the means of recovering it, and
that this accident had become known to his
followers, who otherwise might never have
heard that treasure had been concealed at all,
and who, busying themselves in vain, because
unZuided. attempts to regain it, had given first
bifth, and then universal currency, to the
reports which are now SO common. Have you
ever heard of any important treasure being
unearthed along the coasts"
"Never."
"But that Kidd's accumulations were i'm
mense, is well known. took it for granted,
bntItiOIc, tudb tuC cdItu StllI uci0 CHClA duu
you will scarcely be surprised when tell you
that l felt a hope, nearly amounting to GER
tainty, that the parchment so strangely found,
involved lost record of the place Of deposit"
But how did you proceed?"
81 held the vellum again to the fire, after
increasing the heat, but nothing appeared. I
now thought it possible that the coating of
dirt might have something to do with the
failure; so carefully rinsed the parchment by
pouring warm water over it, and, having done
this, placed it in tin pan, with the skull
downwards, and put the pan upon the furnace
of lighted charcoal. In few minutes, the pan
having become thoroughly heated, removed
the slip. and, to my inexpressible joy, found it
spotted in several places, with what appeared
to be figures arranged in lines. Again placed
it in the pan, and suffered it to remain another
minute. Upon taking it off, the whole was
just as you see it now"
Here Legrand. having re-heated the parch-
ment. submitted it to my inspection. The fol-
lowing characters were rudely traced in a red
tint. between the deaths head and the goat:
53ttf3O5) ):sO6s; ;4stssGo)) )e5;lt(;t
%StS3lSS)5@ ;S6* *96@?;S ;4S5);5 ;4956
*2( 5*-4)Sf ;4O692S5); t9;480S1 1;S:8t
1;4sts5; 4s5t52sSO6 (6S;4( 1874;
61;:lss;tf;
"But," said /, returning him the slip, 81 am
as much in the dark as ever. Were all the
jewels of Golconda awaiting me upon my solu-
tion of this enigma, / am quito sure that
should be unable to earn them"
To be continued