Daily Yellowstone journal., 1888-09-11
THE BURIED TREASURE.

glow the coast Of the Pacific, and battles
In beauty the sands of a lonely beach,
where the wave are breaking gently.
This is a barra-a tidal creek, and its
cove is smooth and peaceful, being well
/. orotected by a line Of breakers that here
lie fsrtt6S out from shore than is usual
i'm 81 b places. Black against the back
grou I'd Of crimson and gold with which
the great orb decks his descent TO his
tomb, a 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 1t is fairly nightfal as they alighto 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 guls 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 the roar of the
tiger-the jaguar, while a thousand in
sects call from the jungle. Nature
seems calling 10 rest; sea, heaven and
earth, all animated creatures appear to
be at prayer. The only sounds Of activ-
ity are the splashes Of the countless fish
hat leap into the air and fall back into
the placid, onward flowing water of the
barra, and the ftful CLEAN of the myriad
ire flies against their formless back
ground. Even these, however, show the
light OF their greenish, phosphorescent
lamps but ~languidly, as II they lacked
energy or stimulus for a more sustained
glow,
The . IN from the boat, who had sat
down upon the bank, as il weary from
their task Of rowing, arise rs the moor
climbs slowly up from the horizon, and
turn TO where their canoe lay canted
upon the sands,
''just yonder In the thicket, says one.
sis the spot / have marked out on the
parchment that we have left in your
sea chest, that each Of US might be able
to trace the way again should aught be
fall the other. You can sec the palms /
spoke of, two tall but slender ones, grow
ing close together"
II see" says the other, briefly; lit is
not far to carry, and well enough for US,
for the load is heavy enough"
There are not many who would CON-
plain of the weight Of it," rejoins his
companion, IF it were theirs for the
carrying. And it is ours, beyond a ques-
ton. No ore can claim it from US,
though If 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 o and
are lifting out the load from it-a mas
sive looking Golfer. under whose weight
the two, with their forces combined, still
stagger. And so they 20 unsteadily up
the bank aud into the jungle, to the foot
Of the tall young palm trees, and there,
plying the spade and mattock with a
right good will, they soon have dug a pit
among the nodding ferns and other herb
age. rank and clustering, and with many
a groan and straining of knotted sinews,
they lower into it the heavy, precious
Golfer.
'And now TO bury our treasure" says
he who has first spoken, 80 cover it over
so well that none but ourselves can find
1t ever"
AYE, bury it deeply" says the other,
''for the heavy lying earth betrays no
secrets
IL am not so sure Of that" returns the
former; las the sea gives up its dead
from time 10 time. so the earth has been
known to lay bare CHASTITY buried hor-
rors''- tho sentence is never finished.
As the speaker has been STOPPING TO push
into the pit the loose lying earth, his com
panion, grasping & - mattock, has half
lifted 1t O and then irresolutely, anda
last he lifts It suddenly on high and sends
1t crashing down upon the skull Of the
defenseless. unsuspecRng man bcfore him.
A tr~a!torous, cowardly murderl The
victim falls in q huddled, shapeless mass;
his body is ~convulsed in one or two long,
horrible qui,ers nrd 'sSD that forr, so
lately full Of strength and vigor, is inert
and still forever.
The assassin stands stockstill for q few
moments, gazing upon the work OF his
hands, upon the ruin he has wrought.
chen he turns hastily away from the spot,
and even takes a few wild steps toward
the creek side, but suddenly he stops, re-
turns, thrusts the body into the pit above
the treasure, pushingi it with the mattock,
carefully avoiding ito touch with his
hands, Then hurriedly, frantically, he
throws the dirt upon IL until the pit is
level with the surrounding plain, ere he
turns away again. The freshly moved
earth shows plainly It's disturbances, q
largish mound remains, displaced by the
box and the body OF the dead man, the
ground about It Is trampled and indented,
aud even one spot, ominously darker
than the rest, where the moonbeams
stIeam through the palm leaves, shows
where the life blood OF the murdered
mar had poured out, in piteous waste
and spelling.
But the red handed one no longer notes
aught Of this. The silence and The soil.
tude Of the spot weigh upon him with a
potent, dreadful terror, and his only
thought and care Is 10 Zee from II. Why,
the very palms above his head, rustling
their leaves Mt him loudly, are accusing
him, he thinks, WITH intelllgible voices.