Clarksville evening chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn) 1886-1890, 1888-12-27
TIE BURIED TREASURE.

lie DU hlLD IEEANUHE.
Tie sunset light covers with splendid
glow the coast of the Pacific, and battles
in beauty the sands of lonely beach,
where the waves arc breaking gently.
This is a barra-a tidal creek, and it;
cove is smooth and peaceful, being well
protected by a line of breakers that here
lie farther out from shore than is usual
in such places. Black against the back
ground of crimson and gold with which
the great orb decks his descent to his
tomb boat looms up. rounding the
point from the sea into the creek, thence
opening inland; and presently the frail
vessel grounds and two men leap ashore
and draw the canoe up beyond danger OF
drifting
so brief is the twilight of the tropics
that it is fairly nightfall as they alight on
the bank The stars are coming out and
reflect themselves in the sea, and far
away CLEAN the lights from scattered
cabins. The chattering blackbirds have
flown home to their night haunts, and
the belated gulls are winging toward
their craggy nests. In the edge of the
darkened water the mangroves rustic
sadly. the broad banana leaves wave in
the plantation farther inland toward the
savannahs. The mournful cry Of the
lurking jackal resounds from the thicket,
and from the forest comes the roar of the
tiger---the jaguar, while thousand in
sects call from the jungle. Nature
seems calling to rest; sea, heaven and
earth, all animated creatures appear to
be at prayer. The only sounds Of activ-
ity arc the splashes Of the countless fish
that leap into the air and fall back into
the placid onward flowing water of the
barra, and the fitful CLEAN Of the myriad
fire flies against their formless back
ground. Even these, however, show the
light Of their grcenish, phosphorescent
lamps but languidly, as if they lacked
energy or stimulus for more sustained
glow.
The men from the boat, who had sat
down upon the bank, as if weary from
their task of rowing, arise as the moon
climbs slowly up from the horizon, and
turn TO where their canoe lay c2nted
upon the sands.
Just yonder in the thicliet, says one,
lis the spot / have marked out on the
parchment that we have left in youi
sea chest, that each Of us might be able
to trace the way again should aught be-
fall the other. You can see the palms
spoke of, two tall but slender ones, grow
ing close together.
II see, says the other, briefly; sit is
not far to carry, and well enough for us,
for the load is heavy enough"
There are not many who would COM
plain of the weight OF it." rejoins his
companion, ''if it were theirs for the
carrying. And it is ours, beyond ques-
ton, No one can claim it from us,
though il our comrades knew of our
having it they might determine to take a
share by foul or by fair MEANS
They have come to the boat now and
are lifting out the load from ia mas
sivc looking Golfer, under whose weight
the two, with their forces combined, still
stagger. And SO they so unsteadily up
the bank and into the jungle, to the foot
of the tall young palm trees, and there,
plying tho spade and nattock with a
fight good will, they soon have dug pit
among tho nodding ferns and other herb
G%e, rank and clustering, and with many
n gyoan and Gtr,ininG Of knotted sincws,
thoy lower into it the heavy, precious
Golfer.
"And now to bury or treasure, says
he who has first spoken. ITO cover it over
80 well thai none but ourselves can find
it ever.
faye, bury it deeply" says the other,
"for the heavy lying earth Letr&ys no
secrets
II an not so sure Of that, returns the
former; ''aa the SCI gives up its Gead
from time to time, SO the earth has been
krown to loy bare ghastly buried hor
rc"s''-- the sentence is never finished.
As The speaker has been STOPPING to push
into the pit the loose lying earth, his com
pG"ion, grasDing the mattock, has bali
lifted it now and then ir.esolutcly, and at
last he lifts it saddealy on high and sends
it crashing down upon the skull Of the
defenseless transporting man before him.
A trditorous, CowardlY murder. Tho
victim falls il Il huddieI, G,apeles5 u2ass;
his loly is convulsed in enc or two long,
horrible qUivcrs, and then that form, 50
lately fall of strength and vigor, Is iacrt
ard still forever.
The assassin stands stac':still for few
moments, gazing upon the work Of his
hands, upon the ruin he has wrought,
Then he turns hastily away from the spot,
and even takes a few wild steps toward
the creek side, but suddenly he s.eos. re-
turns, thrust3 TIE body iato the pit &bovo
The treasure, pushing it with the mattock,
carefully avoiding its touch with his
hands. Then hurriodly, frantically, he
throws the dirt upon it ulti the pit is
level with the surrounding plain, Gre he
turns away again. The freshly moved
earth shows plainly its disturbance,
largish mound remains, displaced By the
box and the body of the dead m:n, tho
ground about it is tranp,el and inlented,
and even one spot, omiuously darker
than tho rest, where the moonbcams
stream through the palm leaves, shows
where the life blood of the murdered
man had poured out, in pitcous waste
and spelling.
Bat thc red handed oacro longer notes
anglia Of this. Tho silence and the soil
tude OF the spot weigh upon him with a