St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1888-09-29
pend entirely upon myself. Then I

Il pend entirely upon myself. Then
q walked clear around the island an,
= across it, and | decided that my bes
location was near where | had com
u ashore. Had | gone to the east end 0
9 the island and raised signal, shoult
$ have been taken Off within week, 81
d there was q channel between that ant
q the next island north much used, bu
q this | had no means of knowing
e When found myself the sole inhabit
Il ant. L made up my mind that escape
< was impossible. and that ! was to live
e out my years right there. The cap
tain called me leper. had never
: heard the name before. He had sent
me ashore because ] endangered the
safety OF the crew. While suspected
that this was subterfuge, | was not
quite satisfied about it. If I was some
thing to be stunned and afraid of, why
should | desire to escape? If taken
: Off had no home to go to, no friends
} to welcome me. | was lonesome and
somewhat afraid here. but was, never
theless enjoying the novelty of the
situation.
| built me rude shelter, wandered
over the island. fished, set snares and
captured parrots and monkeys, and
the first week was quite content. I
had been on the island three weeks
before the second mystery occurred.
The peninsula Or neck on the western
end OF the island was composed of
sand, and bare of tree or bush. 1t
was about three hundred feet long.
There had been heavy blow from the
| south, with a big sea roll
ing in, and after this had
lasted two days there was an
unusually low tide. / caught sight of
timber heaved up on this spit, and
went out to inspect it, and while sur
veying the banks which the low tide
had uncovered l caught sight of some |
queer little boxes half buried in the |
sand. dug one out to find it so heavy
that | could hardly drag it away.
They were of wood, hoped with iron,
and ten or twelve inches long by eight
or ten inches high. / had little curl
oslty as TO the contents, and the idea
that they contained treasure never
crossed my mind. I got out four be-
fore the tide turned, and there were
several more in sight. After I had
them all together above high water, |
began to wonder whether they con-
tanned nails or bullets, and set about
breaking one open. When rows upon
rows of silver coins greeted my eyes /
came near losing what little sense /
had. Two others contained silver.
The fourth one gold. 1t was English
money, every piece of it, and as [ had
never seen any of it before l was at a
oss to estimate the value. ;
before the discovery Of that money ,
wanted nothing but a pair of shoes,
md the sight of sail would not have !
Effected me. Now | was wild to get at
he other boxes, and my eyes were /
searching the sea for sight 7
# relief. | dragged the boxes to nv +
louse, and most of each day for the O
ext week was spent on the neck in v
opes OF getting at more treasure. a
he water continued high, however,
nd got nothing more.
On the eighth day after | got the h
'easure, and about thirty days after s.
~ landing, the third mystery was C
evealed, At about nine O'Clock in !,
he morning, while the tide was set a,
ng in strong, | observed a ships G
Dat drifting in from the south d,
list. 1t was not ten minutes after | te
wv her before she. was cast on the Of
each, and as she rolled over two bodies
ere flung out. To my horror / m
'cognized them as the bodies tn
the captain and mate of the ca
lbatross. although it was more
the clothing than by
cir features. It was plain at glance ne
at they had died of exposure and pa
ant. There was neither food nor
ink In the boat, and the bodies were in
tie better than skeletons. It was
e captains gig, and it seemed that hi
csc two got away alone. They must a +,
We drifted here and there for days, eli
: there was neither sail nor oar. vi
was scooping out a grave for the hi
dies when turtle sloop rounded
, island and was in the cove before tal
aW hef. one mad crew of three fri
N and boy, and they had come for ]
tay OF a week or two, it being the a L
son when the turtles came ashore pol
lay their eggs. They were not from j
J mainland, but from larger island Ac]
the north, and were native West bee
lians. The captain spoke English T
'ly WELL and gave him a full ex- hoy
nation, even to the finding of the ma
asure. They could have knocked his
On the head and safely taken all, L
they did not do it. The captain
ked over my money, and said | had
ut 5000, and it was agreed that -
epayment for a passage to Porto 800
l was to surrender all rights to !.
further find and to the ships boat. now
our days those poor turtle catchers. avn
e OF whom had ever had $50 at tho
., took $4,000 out of the sands. ord
re We're more boxes left, or it was will
believed, but they required other on
1t to secure them. was not only the
led in Porto Ricoxas agreed, but sub,
how to take care of my money, emit
OF which was exchanged for ism
u, and my passage on a sailing vo,,