Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1889-06-01

,, wAsHI1GToH IRVING.

oefes. there b deep inlet, winding sew.
esal miles into the interior Of the coun.
try from Charles bay and terminating
IN = thickly wooded swamp. or morass
On one side Of this inlet Is beautiful
dark grove, on the opposite side the land
rises abruptly from the waters edge into
high ridge on which grow a few scat
tered oaks Of great age and immense
size. II was under one of these gigantic
trces, according TO old stories, that Kidd,
the pirate, buried his treasure. The in.
let allowed facility to bring the money
IN . boat secretly and at night 10 the
very foot Of the hill. The elevation of
the place permitted good lookout to be
kept that no one was nt hand, while the
remarkable trees formed good landmarks
by which the place might easily be found
again. The old stories add, moreover,
that the devil presided at the hiding Of
the money and took il under his guar
dianship; but this. il is well known, he
always does with buried treasure, par
ticularly when IL has been iii gotten.
Be that as 1t may, Kidd never returned
to recover his wealth. being shortly after
seized at Boston, sent out 10 England,
and there hanged for pirate.
About the year 1927, just at the time
when earthquakes were prevalent in
New England. and shook many tall sim
ners down upon their knees, there lived
near this place meager, miscrly fellow
OF the name Of Tom Walker. He had
wife as miserly as himself; they were so
miserly that they even conspired TO cheat
each other. Whatever the woman could
lay hands on she hid away; hen could
not cacklc but she was ON the alert to Sc
cure the new laid egg. Her husband
was continually prying about TO detect
her secret boards, and many and fierce
were the conflicts that took place about
what ought TO have been common prop
erty. They lived in forlorn looking
house, that stood alone and had an air OF
starvation. A few struggling savin
trees, emblems Of sterility, grew near il;
no smoke ever curled from its chimney;
no traveller stopped at its door. A miscr-
able horse, whose ribs were as artculate
as the bars of a gridiron, stalked about
field where thin carpet Of mosa.
scarcely covering the ragged beds Of
pudding stone, tantalizcd and baked his
hunger; and sometimes he would lean
his, head over the fence, look piteously
at the passer by. and seem to petition de-
hverance from this land of famine The
house and its inmates had altogether a
bad name. Fom's wife was n tall ter
magant. fierce of temper, loud of tongue
and strong OF arm. Her voice was often
heard in wordy warfare with her hus.
band; and his face sometimes showed
signs that their conflicts were not con-
lined TO words. No one venturcd, how
ever, to interfere between them, the
lonely wayfnrer shrunk within himself
at the horrid clamor and clapper claw
ing: eyed the den of discord askance and
hurried on his way rejoicing, IL bach
elor, I'm his celibacy.
distant part Of the neighborhood, he
took what he considered short cut
homewards through the swamp. Like
most short cuts, II was an if, chosen
route. The swamp was thickly grown
with great gloomy pines and hemlocks,
some OF them ninety feet high, which
made it dark at noon day. and retreat
Tor all the owls of the neighborhood. II
was full of pits and quagmircs, partly
covered with weeds and mosses, where
the green surface often BETRAYED the
traveller into gulf of black smothering
mud; there were also dark and stagnant
pools, the abodcs of tho tadpole, the bull
frog. and the water snake, and where
trunks " pines and hemlocks lay half
drowned, half rotting, looking like alli-
gatorY sleeping in the mirc
Tolh had long been picking his way
III .l'e s"'"gh this treacherous for
next per'hjm tuft 10 tuft of rlishcs
and tn afforded precarious foot
This H., eep sloughs; or pacj,,v
u~ ph,laaepnis.t nhs pa fist' among the ~
81 game, 5es; startled now add then b,
n Colan screaming of the bittern ol
,.,.-,.7-hing Of wild duck, rising or
I'M ,';s y ha from some solitary pool. Al
mr''7anhe arrived at n piece of firm
mgr, I. which ran out like peninsula
&c, tsne deep bosom of the swamp. II
>Ad been one of the strongholds of the
Indians during their wars with tho first
colonists. Here they had thrown up a
kind Of fort which they had looked upon
as almost impregnablc, and had used as
place Of refuge for their squaws and
children. Nothing remained of the In,
dian fort but few embankments grad
ually sinking to the level of the sur
rounding earth, and already ovcrgrowr
the foliage of which formed a ,,on,ras,
TO the dark pines and hemlocks Of m,
swamp.
1t was late in the dusk of evening tina,
Tom Walker reached the old fort and h,
paused there for awhile to rest himself
Any one but he would have felt unwill
ing to lingcr in this lonely, melancholy
place, for the common pcSpIe had n ho.
opinion of it from the stor;as HANDED
down from the time of tbo Indian wars
~xhen il was asse,ted that tbo savn"n.
hi al ftncantations here and made .octi
fices TO the evil snirit Tom IyaiIar
however. was NOT 81 m,n ~ In ,,rniJaJ
with any fears Of the Lind eo
He renosed himself for som. ,;mo or
the trunk of a fallen homIorI ,istau;oa u NJ