The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1898-12-13
The moment had come at last.

scautiously descended. AT the bottom
I found myself in a lower hold which
had been used as second and larger
Eaa3reasure chamber. The forward end
was piled solid with bars, three inches
fsquare by fourteen inches.long, which
Eproved to be ingots of pure silver; and
In boxes, all around, were globe dollars
7 of Charles ILLS time Clearing date of
/ 1853 and fresh from the Seville mint
! when the galleon was lost), eight-real
/ pieces Of Philip ", dollars from the
Mexican mint, bearing simply the
Spanish arms, and even four-real
pieces. remember wishing that all
the treasure had been gold, on account
of its bulk; but, after ascending to the
upper chamber, I knew pretty well
how Edmund Dantes must have felt.
I had provided myself with a stout
I bag of cocoa mating, and was raking
handfuls of the doubloons into it, when
there came sharp tug at the line fas-
tened around my waist. This was the
danger signal agreed upon with Doro-
tea; so, dragging the heavy sack, I
Il scrambled out through the hulk and
pulled myself up to the proa. 1t took
our united efforts to get my burden
over the gunwale; then Dorotea point
ed of to the west-ard, where gigantic
sail was moving swiftly along.
To unscrew the helmet clamps and
take it off was but the work of a few
seconds; then grabbed the glass and
focused it upon the other craft. 1t
was the PADRES big proa, as had sus-
pected-his corpulent figure near the
helmsman was unmistakable-but so
far away as to be all but hull down;
and, making to the s'uth'ard as she
was, it was highly improbable that he
had seen our mast. For good half
hour watched the proa, not daring to
raise our own sail lest it should be
seen; then Sebastiano put about to
the west'ar and almost disappeared.
This was our opportunity, SO we were
quickly off in the opposite direction
calculated that by making 40 miles
due east we should have the wind
4 about right for straight reach into
Tarofofo, and could probably get there
( by six o'clock. 1t was actually little
before that when concealed the gole
and other articles in the fssure, sc
that, catching enough sea bass on the
way to account for our long sail, We
arrived at Agana by eight. In all my
experience with sailing craft, extend
ing over many years and gathered up
on every sea of the globe, never fount
s anything to equal the island proas @
In Doo fSa hav ~,
safety. On account of their strength
and ightness they are practically in
destructible, and their enormous sal
area makes them the fastest things
upon salt water. That my Statement
of having made 26 statute miles al
hour with one, before. the wind, is NJ
exaggeration, anyone who has eve.
sailed in one will admit.
Sebastiano returned about nin'
o'clock, having left the big proa a
Apra, and, while satisfying his vora
cious appetite, told US quite frank.
that he had spent the day looking TO
the Santa Rosa shoal. Recalling, TO
Col. de Garma's benefit, the converse
tions which had induced Capt. Hal
stead to sound for the shoal, the padr
asked if l could remember the posi-
tion given upon the lmray chart
When I repeated it he said that al
older Spanish chart which he had see
in Manila located the reef at least 2
miles farther west; that he had SUP
posed at the time, and, in fact, unit
Halstead explained it's nature. it wa
really a small islet which Shove
above water, and the most southern
one of the archipelago. This state
ment didn't exactly tally with tn
questions he had asked on the steame
when looking at Ealstead's chart, br
could hardly repress grin of sati!
faction, nevertheless. If my fat fricn
pinned his faith upon this last theor
4 it would keep him at least 80 mile
away from me whenever he pursue
his Investigations.
The fact. how yer. ihc Re r. ere
making a systematic search for IN