The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-10-09

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watching stiu the dancing Of the lantern.
The the light sailed over the water aud
she knew the men were carrying the
treasure out into the river ia a Skin.
A dark object arose Just above the sui.
len water, touched here and there into
blood BY the light they bore. and here
the boat paused, and there was few
moments silent work; then three OF the
figures strengthened up in the vessel aud
took the oars, but an instant after there
rang across a succession Of rapid shots,
and two of the rowers pitched forward
out of the boat and, striking the water,
sunk out of sight. The third gave shrill
shrek and flung its arms about the tall
man wrapped in a cloak, crying;
Dent shoot again, Murrell. Spare me,
and You shall have all the treasure for
yourself Only let me livel"
But as he prayed a shot went blowing
its way through his brain, and Murrell,
Selling his oars, sent the boat toward the
shore with long, skillful strokes He
stopped here to wash from the vessel the
stains Of fresh blood, and taking advan-
tage of the moment, Mary Shannon fed
back TO the house, and, slipping past the
colonel, whom she recognized by his long,
white beard, seeking the shelter OF the
huge pillars of the porch, she regained
her room and bed. But as she slipped
off her wooden cloak she heard from the
window:
Yes it is in a safe place"
"And Harper and Free and Urwin?n
"They have crossed the river and are
flying toward the border"
My horse readyl Good-by. You shall
hear from me-
When the Shannons descended in the
morning it was to find the place deserted.
Every man, woman and child had fitted
during the night. OF the hundred slaves
not one was left, all had been trans
ferred across the river and were
far on their way with their master
in his fight from Justice. They had gone
so silently that the Shannons' servants
had not even been reused. After an hour
or so the officers from jackson arrived ;
they had lost their way during the gloom
of the night, and came now to find their
birds flown, and though F'redericks led
the way to the spot where the treasure
had lain, that too was gone, and none
might say whore it now was.
Years passed away, the war was over,
the south lay PROSTATE, suffering for her
sublime folly, and Mary Shannon was IA
widow, with povery staring her in the
face. Too delicately nurtured to under
stand how to work protitably, she had
won a bare livelihood with her needle,
when one day, musing over her past life,
the memory of that awful night in
that robbers den came to her like an in
SEPARATION. The treasured None could
claim it, or, if she could find an owner for
the stolen articles she had heard men
toned, she would, of course, restore them,
but the great mass would be impossible of
Identification.
With her last coin she bought ticket
back to the Kenneth plantation, to find it
lNfaWa 81 l. l.
blackberry vines, weeds and rank vegeta-
ton, in which the bob whites" made
merry and the nimble hares skipped
fearlessly. Recalling every incident of
that night she stole once more across the
open yard and soon found the tree under
which she waited to see the fearful trag-
edy on the water She knew it by the
great gnarled branch that reached out over
her head like menacing arm, and on the
line of her vision as she looked at the
river she beheld small islet and knew
that there hidden lay the treasure pur-
chased by crime and dyed with blood and
sealed by treachery. Murrell had been
taken that very night and brought to
prison, where he never told his secret
but suffered it to die with him. The rest
Of the gang had scattered to the four cor
ners of the globe, or venturing back haC
looked in vain for the hiding place. the
story of which had never been told them
Hiring small boat, and accompanied
by four negroes from the nearest village
to whom she told Of the family plate con
cealed there during the war, Mary Shan
non had the islet thoroughly searched
but nothing was found of the box, and
she was about to conclude that the whole
scene had been but phantom seen in q
dream, when she remembered to have
seen the boat bend nearly to the water's
edge by the weight of the four men on
that oventful night, as If they lowered
something into the river to give it to the
keeping of the river god itself. She noted
a stump that leaned far out over the
water, and, though the men warned her
| that her hand might como into contact
with water-moccasin, she passed it
over the wood, following its end under
the murky tide, and thrilled as she felt
a chain tightly bound about it,
She tried then TO pull the chain up, but
it was weighted heavily at the other end
and it took the united strength OF all
four of her crew to raise it. The lit
was a stout chest of cedar bound about
with iron and clasped with a large pad
lock. Once in her room in the hotel oil
the little town which she made her head
quarters, she opened this box to gaze down
with amaZement at the handouts of golden
coins cleaning jewels and massive plate
in value amounting to nearly 81 900, 000
For much of the last she found claim
ants, as il was marked with names illus
tlious in the state and adioinug ones
but with the money and the jewels she
restored her family home, so that at last
heavens blessing rested on the Robbe1
Murrells ill-gotten gains.