The DeSmet leader. (DeSmet, Kingsbury Co., Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1890-02-01

by his poverty.
II play my last stake now" said he II
will throw no chance away"
He reflected, with great bitterness, on the
misery that want OF money had already
! brought OH him; and he vowed TO reach Eng
| land rich, or 20 to the bottom Of the Pacific.
This may seem a strange vowfor a man to
make on an unknown island; but Robert
! Penfold had powerful understanding.
sharpened by adversely, and his isjudgmsnt told
him truly thnt te possessed wealth on this
island, both diret tly and indirectly. In the
first place, knowledge is sometimes wealth,
| and the knowledge OF this island was thing
ne coui" sell to the American merchants on
| the coast Of Chill; and, with this view, he put
, on horrd his boat spec'nsUS Of the cassiA
and other woods, fruit spices, pitch, guano,
| pink and red coral, pearl oysters, shells,
cochineai, quartz, cotton, etc, etc.
Then he took his chsel, aud struck all the
| larger pearls off the shells that lined Helens
cave. The walls and room yielded nine enor-
nous pearls, thirty large ones, and great
many OF the usual size.
He made n pocket inside his waistcoat TO
hold the pearls SAFE.
Then he took his spade and dug into the
Spanish ship for trSasure. But this was ter
rible work. The sand returned upon the
spade and trebled his labor.
The condition to which time and long sub
mersion had reduced this ship and cargo was
truly remarkable. Nothing to be seen OF the
deck hut thin brown streak that mingled
! with the sahl in patches; Of the tim bers moth
ing but the upright, and Of those the larger
| haEeaten and dissolved.
He dug Ave days. and found nothing solid.
On the sixth. being now at the bottom OF
the ship he struck his spade against some
| thing hard and heavy.
On inspection il looked like ore but ofwhat
metal he could not tell; it was as black as a
coal. He threw this on one aide, and found
nothing more; but the next day he turned up
| a smaller fragment, which he took home and
| clea ned with lime. juice IL came out bright
in places like silver.
This discovery threw light on the other.
The piece of black ore, weighing about seven
pOundR was in reality silver coin, that q
century Of submersion had reduced to the
very appearance IL woIe before 10 ever went
into the furnace.
lie dug with fresh energy on this discovery,
but found nothing more in theshlp that day.
Then it occurred TO him to carry OF few
hundred weight of pink coral
He got some fine specimens; and while hc
was at that work, he Tell in with piece that
looked very SOLID at the root and unnatural
| Iy heavy. On nearer examination this
proved to be foreign substance incrustsd
| with coral. 1t had twined and twisted and
curled over the thing in n most unhsard-of
way. Robert took il home, and, by rubbing
here and there with lime juice, at last salts.
fed himself that this object was q silver box
about the size Of an octave volume.
1t had no keyhole had evidently been sold.
cred up for q greater security, and Robert
was left to conjecture how IT had come there.
He connected 10 at once with the ship,
and felt assured that some attempt
had been made to save It, There IL
had lain by the aide OF the vessel all these
years but falling clear of the sand had been
embraced by the growing coral, and wasnow
a curiosity, il not treasure.
He would not break he coral. but put ID
on board his life boat just ns IL was.
And now he dug no more He thought he
could sell the galleon as we'll Rs theisland, by
sample, and he was impatient to be gone.
He repro ached himself, little unjustly. for
allow wing a woman u undertake the task Of
clearing him.
TO what annoy ances, and perhaps AZ
fronts, have ! exposed her." said he. mo,
II is a mans business to defend, not to be de-
Tended
To conclude; At high tide ono fine after.
noon he went on board with Ponto, and,
hoistlng his tOresal only, crossed the bay,
ranging along the island till he reached the
bluff. He got under this, and, by msans of
his compass, and previous observ vations set
the boat = head exactly on the line the ducks
used TO take. Then he set his mainsail too
and stretched boldly out across the great
| PHrihc Ocean.
Time seems to wear out everything, even
bad luck. 1t ran strong against Robert Pen.
fold for years: but when IL had struck it's
worst blow, and parted him and Helen Rol-
lesion, it relaxed. aud tide OF good luck set
in, which unfortunately, the broken-hearted
man could not appreciate at the time How.
ever SO 1t was He wanted oil; and whale
came ashore. He wanted treasure, aud the
sea gave him a little back OF all ii had ewal-
lowed, and now he wanted fns weather; and
the ocean for days and nights was like peach
coIored glass. dimped here and there; and
| soft westerly airs famed him along by night
and day.
To be sure he was on the true Pacific
| Ocean, at q period when IL is really free from
storms Still, even for that latitude, he had
wonderful weather for six days and on the
seventh he fell in with q schooner, the skipper
and crew Of which looked over the bulwarks
at him with wonder and cordialty, and, cast
ing out a rope nstern, took him in TOW.
The skipper had been eying him with amaze
ment for some hours through his telescope
hut he was a man that had seen great
many strange things. and ii was also point
OF honor with him never to allo " that he was
astOnishsd, or taken by surprise, or greatly
moved.
oval, stranger said he, what craft IA
that?"
The Helen
Where dye hail from not that am curl
Gus"
| ~ rom An NnkHOWO hIHuu'
"Uo tell What, another. Is II anyway,
nigh"
, Not within seven hundred miIes."
"Js-russIem' Have you sailed all that ir
> | q cookie shel1'
' Yes"
why, whet are go the Wandering Jew
, aioat. or tho Ancient Mariner? or only q
| kinder nautilus
. I'm n landsman"
~ landsmanl then 40 is Neptune. Wha
. s your name when you are asbOre?'
. Robert Penfold. The Reverend Rober'
: | Ppnfold "
4 The Rpverend-Je -rusaem'
; May ! ask what is your name sir?"
. "Wal reckon you may, stranger. In
Joshua Fullai0ve from the States, at pres
4 ent located on the island Of Juan FerDan
. dez!'
|, Joshua FuIlaove That is lucky. w
r | got something that belongs to you.
. lie looked about, aud found the harpoon
and handed II up IN - mighty stralghtfor
. ward simple wny.
/ Joshua stared at him incredulously at first
4 hut n terward with 8mazemsnt. He handled
. the harpoon, and inquired whore Robert haC
n :all"u in With it, Robert told him.
You We an honest m0n, saId FuiIaIoSe
4 "you air. Come aboard" He was tbel
. p'cnsed 10 congratulate himself on hi
/ strange luck in having dritted across an hon
j st man in the middle Of the ocean. Nv
= heerd, ;" said he, "uf IN old chap as grope'
u about ali his lie with lantern, and couldn'
!. | = > ~. I"''s li,-'''~'
!, He had some celestial mixture or othe
/ made, including rum, mint, and snow iron
the Andes, and then began his interrogato
ries. again disclaiming curiosity At set intei
n walls.
whittier bound. honest mani
. THE coast OF Chill
4 What fort"
TRADE"
. by. buy or SELF Not thntit is my bu'
I. moss"
. II wish TO sell -
Q What's the merchandise.
. knowledge, and resSure.'
i FulIalove scratched hs head. III amt y
I got q few eonundrums TO swap for gold duS
a az weil?"
: Robert s,uilcd family; the first time thi
q | six weeks.
, II have to sell the knowledge OF an tsian'
1 rith rich products and | have to sell tn
!. contents of n spanish treasure ship that
}. found buried in the sand Of that island.