, 1897-11-19

before him was actually gold and ivory
Then he made Scott "a proposition The
sailor knew the worth of what he had
secured-knew that he was fixed for
lie. and having knocked about OIL the
raft for nine days before we sighted
him he was not at all anxious about
what he had left behind III the cave
Our captain however. and so y
every man of the crew The matter was
talked over. and It was finally agreed
that Scott should pilot US to the island
and take another jar of gold dust for his
share He would then be landed at Ba-
tavla to go where he pleased The rest
OF the treasure was to be recovered for
the owners Of the bark, but we were
told that they would be liberal with all
1t was u hard bargain the Scotchman
drove with the rescued sailor. but Scott
fell in with the idea and the course of
the ship was changed We were 200
miles to the south Of the Chagos. hav.
ing passed them 50 miles to the east,
and as the wind was from the north we
had to beat back This was slow work,
and we had not yet made half the dis
""SA wv 6oV SaAO hioAA tlO
west which sent US driving away to-
ward the .javanese coast until we were
almost i'll sight of it We had then to
recover our lost ground. but what with
h loss of two topmasts and several
sails in a squall and a continuation of
bad weather 1t was I6 days before a
man vas sent to the masthead to look
for land.
The Chagos archipelago consists of q
score of islands, banks and reefs Scott
believed that his island was the eastern.
most IL of all. but as he could not be
sure of it we had to examine all Run
ming between them and around them
was slow work. and we had to feel our
way. and 1t was six or sever days be-
fore we reached the last We had found
no such island as described by the sail.
or. and III u disappointment and
chagrin he came in for plenty of abuse
He retaiiatcd by pointing to his treas
ure If there were no island. no ave and
10 treasure. how did he come by the
ivory and gold dust? 1t was a convinc-
ing argument, and u captain decided
to bear away to the east and search at
haphaZard At the close of the fourth
day. sailing back and forth across q sea
supposed to contain no land for hun
dreds of miles in every direction bus
the west. we sighted Scott ) island Our
man identified it us soon as 1t could be
seen from the deck. and we ran III and
came to anchor for the night within q
mile from the beach Had the night not
been SO dark | believe the captain would
have had u boat down. but as it was he
dared not chance il Such was the ex.
cltement aboard that no man slept for
an hour, and as soon as daylight had
come and the men had a bite to eat we
set off to cur the treasure.
We o found the opening of the bay
and rOwed into 1t Scott had been OH
the island for over a year and the hut
he occupied and the flagstaff he erected
were Ill PLAIN sight At the end of the
bay we came to the rave. and. leaping
out of the boat. the captain was the first
to enter a later lie r%eappeared
and for the next quarter of an hour he
cursed as never heard Il seaman before
or since The cave had been pIundered
oIt ptphcu lush ushl bttil Itll Dcu lIlu,
and there was perhaps All ounce of gold
dust lying on the spot where Scott emp
tied the Jars That was proof enough
that he had tnld Il straight story When
we landed aud went up to the u we
soon solved the problem some whaler
had touched there tor wood and water
For wood they had used all the wreck
stuff Tying about and had also partially
pulled the hut to pieces They had filled
their casks Al the spring and we could
still see the marks WHERE they had been
rolled down NH to the boats
Then the ScotchIuau did IA mean thing
by the rescued sailor He made u great
ado OF how he had drvI;itrd from his
course and lost u fortnight 5 time and
insisted that Scott divide with him |
believe he threatened to leave him on
the island If he didn I There WAS trou
bic tor \ few hours. und then the sailor
came to terms. but not SO much as a
pennys worth was ever hauded over to
the owners OF distributed among the
crew Scott was trarisShiEped to Il craft
bound tor Java AMI that was the last |
ever saw or heard OF HIM A year later
however. l met an American runaway
sailor III Batavia and he told ne that
his craft. the BESSIE Htrrlck Of Marble
head. put IN AT the Island, remained toI
!wn days, and heI captain discovered
the cave ana the treasure while fishing
III the bay he gave every man aboard
siuU III cash rs ia present. hut KEPT the
lust aud the ivory and turned them into
ra-h at Singapore 1t was a rich Luu
II trru>ure and the captain must have
lrcn made independent for lite How
rid the island was 10Y the treasur,
rlme to he drlm>iteri there, vino were
ine rlphstni owncr> at II we'll thus,'
are uuestlun> cauum answer Ii wa-
Al least twU years uitri we visited III.
place UctnIe II WAS surveyed and ChaI
tered I Is tewls
tn t~bnisrihiA.
prpInrp all INV meals mvSttt oh