Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1888-06-22

b called jewslry. There were crosses and
badges and medals by the score. end no
less than six jewelsd hits Of swords-
There were at least City gold chronoms-
ters, and verify believe tho number Of
gold watches would have reached 800
Unlettered and unlearned. and brought
up to look on ESQ note as fortune,
would not have believed that the world
held as mach money as l found here
There were English. American. French,
German. Russian, Swedish. Belgian and
all otAsr sorts Of paper money, and gold
and silver was heaped up until my eyes
were ready to answer for hat pegs.
Strange how human nature worksi
Before fading this wealth would have
given q year Of my life to know that /
could make the next hundred miles IN
safety l had no sooner got my eyes on
the great wealth than began to figure on
bow eeud Keep every last shilling Of it.
would not 60 without It. A quarter Of
an hour ego Twas alarmed at the slightest
sound Now I would havs faced and
fought the whole pirate gang. / never
suspected | had such determination, or
that would care SO much for money. Il
took me q good while to cool of and calm
down, and then found myself In favor Of
sticking right there. It was like two men
arguing. There wasn't ono chance In a
Thousand of my getting of with tenth
Of the plumber, and TO remain there was to
invite discovery. Then the other chap,
as 1T were, argued that / was . fool to
leave such wealth behind, and that had
only to remain in the cave to be hidden
from any search the pirates may make
As result l stayed There was fresh
water at hand, plenty Of wild fruits
around me and the only unpleasant thing
was the corpse As soon as my mind was
made up to stay Ipulled it out from under
the stone and buried it In the bank as well
as could with only stick and my hands
to work with
There was no alarm that day, but on
the next day | had no sooner eaten
hasty breakfast and returned to the cave
than | heard men In the woods. From an
hour after sunrise to sunset the pirates
were constantly coming and going through
the ravine. calling to each other and to
the missing man It was the same for
the next three days. and then the hunt
was given up or extended far beyond me.
They may have reasoned that the man
had sailed away from the island, and
have 10 doubt that searching parties were
started out by sea IS well as by land |
had to lie quiet now, and during the three
days | suffered much from hunger and
thirst knew the fellows would not
give up as Long as there was any hope,
end it was well that | was over cautious
On the fifth day 100 OF more OF them were
In the ravine for several hours pulling
down rocks. upreoting bushes, and pass,
ing so near the mouth of the cave that |
held my breath This minute search
satisfied them. and no one came near me
again
1t was two weeks to a day before cen
tinued my journey On the second day
after burying the body exhuned it and
stripped it Of outside clothing. and when
ready to go left my sailor togs behind
mo in place Of them After handling
everything over and over again | fought
down nay avarics and used judgment in
determining whist to take. unset and
took over eighty diamonds. upward Of
$4,000 in English paper money, about
60. 900 in English and American gold, and
q little over q 900 in French notes The
paper money was all bills of large demon
nation | waited to load myself down.
but | had sense enough TO realize the
tramp before me | could not, however,
resist selecting three of the finest geld
watches, one Of which can to this day be
seen in the Royal museum at London Il
is of French make, but has never been
further identified
It was terrible trip undertook For
six days lived on fruits and berries, and
was often without water. and in this time
/ did not make ten miles in a straight line,
being constantly alarmed and paying no
heed to the compass points On the sixth
night, about midnight, came to beach
and settlement II may have been the
one near which first landed, and prob
ably was. After making sure that no one
was about. approached the beach. hunted
out canoe like craft which thought |
could manage with paddle and launched
1t and put into the straits without raising
an alarm. Wind and tide were both in
my favor. and at sunrise next morning
was picked up by the Lord Nelson, an
English ship inward bound fifteen miles
below and of the island Two or three
years later, when we had the pirates on
the run. headed party to secure the
rest of the treasure. but we found an
empty cave Accident OF search had ct
last revealed the storehouse to others
New York Sun.