The free press. (Poplarville, Miss.) 1890-19??, 1892-04-21
A BOX OF DIAMONDS.

prop
" In the year 1867 | found myself at
- Rio Janeiro, Brazil, just out of hos
. pitsl, not dollar in my pocket, and
ready to ask the American Consul to
\ send me to the United States in the
name Of charity. had been out with
an American whaler, and had been
= left there so broken in health that no
one supposed that l could live two
weeks. As the ship had taken no oil
there was nothing coming to me. In
= deed, Twas in debt to her, and but for
s,,, the few dollars raised among the men
HM should have been a pauper on land
SqS ing.
aE One afternoon, while l was on my
,ula Way to the Consulate to see what help
'ua could obtain, / encountered an Eng
'rsa lishman, whom 1 at once identified as
fIl Is Z sailor--captain or mate. He stopped
'a1 'lF and inquired my name, nativity
tim and occupation and when | had given
''st him the Information he slapped me on
Ian the back and exclaimed:
IN, cts bit of luck that l met you!
wv I've got D place for you, and We'll
O drop in somewhere and have talk" J"
He was q biunt-spoken man, but a
us cautious one. He did not unfold his
@ plans until he had pumped me pretty
'oc u apparently satisfied himself
s ass that was man he wanted. Even
aaai then only got part of the story,
u, !, and am still in the dark as to many
m@s particulars. The strangers name was
, ,''.n Captain Roberts, and he had given
g, Ii up the command of an English brig
G hh
ON purpose to enter upon a hunt for
o. treasure. Two years before, as he
e., ,M informed me, q coastipg schooner,
= which was carrying half a million
v dollars worth of diamonds, besides a
| large sum in rough gold, between Rio
s0cs and Montevideo, had been wrecked
about seventy miles below Porto Ale
y gre. Why this treasure had been in
8 BE trusted to sailing vessel and wheth-
Nal er It belonged TO church or state or
DnlDer some Individual / never learned. The
= captain had nothing 10 say about that,
|and bound myself to secrecy regard
,p,s Ing the whole affair.
,o,,u How Captain Roberts had located
Nv .,u the wreck was matter / did not ask
EAN about, but | did hear it said that all
the crew were lost. / was sailor and
sxaR diver and he offered to stand all the
uauupxpense of the search and give me
IMENy10 900 in gold if we recovered the
M&iiamonds only. If we got the gold as
well was to have larger share. He
xskhad chartered coasting schooner for
Ea(!hree months, and was then getting
aboard whatever he thought would be
5 which aeeded. i signed with him that after
iSriataoon q mate, and three days after
Sc. S. We had picked up all our crew. For
for us a ship came in with
LES TSwelve seaman rescued from q burn
2
: 5,sD ri ing bark at sea, and we took eight of
" SSspspsn PSI hem and cook. This gave us eleven
i Gqaands all told on the little craft, but
TssSf lss% syrecking is a thing demanding plenty
sar.onsF,f Or STIF,f muscle at the cranks, windlasses
! eottsS ind tail ropes. The crew proper were
Cent .1ot let into the secret, but signed for
- voyage to Buenos Ayres and return.
There was a Rio banker behind the
xpedition, as ! accidentlly discovered,
nut he did not come near the schooner,
nd Captain Roberts visited him only
ynight. We were so well proys-
med and provided that it must have
kon : snug sum of money to fit us
This the banker no doubt ad-
need and took his chances. At the
1f0m House we cleared for the La
ballast, but some of that bal
been taken aboard under
over darkness. We had divers
'utnts mbers, planks, spare casks,
xtra rcpes and chains, and about the
asst package received contained a
lozcn muskets and a lot of fixed am
nunlsion. We slipped out quietly one