The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1897-01-24

From the mental position Of cook
aboard a coasting lumber schooner 10 the
possessor Of s.. 0gJ. 90 is a long step toward
wealth and prosperity. IN a nutshell LAal
Is the story OF rather an intelligent fellow
named Caution, who Is now earning s4s
monfn aboard the schooner Challenger,
Capt Sonerund, which sailed the other
day from Whatcom FOR San Francisco with
a cargo Of lumber. The tale IS fun Of re-
nance. and dates back 20 the time When
Macmillan sought 10 become the emperor
Of Mexico.
Il was away out in Western Mexico.
thousand miles from the nearest railroad
and surrounded on all sides by blood
thirsty Indians VINO sought 70 plumber and
slay the inhabitants. where band OF
hardy pioneers OF Castilian extraction
planted the cross and sowed the first seeds
of Christianity. In the party was a priest
who won and ChristianiZed many OF the
Inhabitants. In q beautiful spot, surround
ed by the towering cliffs OF the coast range
OF mountains. they built mission, which
was about 100 miles east OF Ensenada.
The little colony lived and thriVed ana
accumulated much wealth and treasure.
When the Frenchman. styling himself en-
peror, invaded the land of the Mcntezu-
mas, renegade bands OF horse thieves and
plunderers fiocked 10 his aid They spared
neither property nor life, nor was thechureh
itself too sacred for their red hands 10
modest. Like the fieeting wind did the tale
of their deviltry preeede them, and the
whole country was soon aroused TO a
sense of danger.
one of the little colony. Pancheo Ranoz
a very wealthy Spaniard. who had amasSed
much additional wealth while visiting the
City of Mexico through some manner or
other, ged a half-Casiilian named
Palmerio TO accompany him TO the mis-
sion. Shortly afterward one of Maxi
milian's marauding expeditions started
west withrthe avowed intent of robbing the
mission. A trusty messenger apprised the
little band of Christian pioneers OF their
danger. Following a hurried consultation
Ii was decided 10 bury the treasure within
the stockade near the mission. Rich and
costly ornaments of god and silver, many
of which came from Spain, and vast
amount of coin and other valuabies were
buried, and RanoZ, with the assistance of
Palmerio, drew a rough map Of the in
closure.
Then toward the Pacific ocean the little
party hurried. few days later they were
ambushed. and but one survivor, Palmerio
lived to reach the coast. after untold hard
ships and endless sufferings. He retained
the map. For twenty years he drifted
about the world, during which he made
two unsuccessful attempts to get back 10
the site of the old mission. A few years
ago, as the touch of death was about TO
still his voice, he reached San Diego, and
by chance fell in with Caution. the culin-
airy artist aboard the schooner Challenger
Through A long siege of Illness Caution
nursed the old Spaniard, but it was all in
vain and as a token of his gratitude he
impaired TO Caution the story of the buried
treasure and gave him the map, but as ne
was imparting the most important of the
instructions the spirit crossed the divide
and appeared before the Great Admiral of
the universe.
Caution took the data, and through the
church ascertained that a mission had once