The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1898-01-11
dirt, and one Of the boxes had been

dirt, and one Of the boxes had been
opened.
The captain shouldered this box and
carried it down to the spot he called
''home," and there inspected its con-
tents. 1t contained about Sc, 900 in gold
coin of all nations, but principally Eng
lish, and not coin among them was of
recent date. In fact, there were some
which no longer circulated in England
or India From the material and con-
struction the captain judged that the
boxes had been made by ships carpen-
ter. In the pile at the foot of the tree
were 10 other boxes of the same size.
One was broken open, and its contents
found to be the same as the first and
the amount very nearly the same. There
was a total, as the captain figured, of
500, 900 more or less. This was based
ON the supposition that all the boxes
contained gold, but as he looked into
only two he could not be sure of the
contents of the others. How came the
treasure there? Captain Graham believ-
ed it to be pirates cache and that the
gold had been there long years before
he was thrown on the beach. Perhaps
the mad sailor had been one of the pi-
rate crew. 1t was certain that he had
unearthed the treasure at any rate, and
it was hardly probable that he Stun
bled upon it by accident.
Well, there was big fortune there,
and it belonged to the finder, but it
might have been SO much sand for ali
the good it could do him. Days and
weeks and months passed away, and
one day the castaway counted up the
pebbles he had laid in rows along the
beach to mark the time and found that
he had been l / months on the island
On that day there came furious gale
from the east, with very high tide,
and from some wreck at sea the waves
brought in a vast quantity of stuff.
There was nothing to eat or to wear
among the wreckage, but there were
planks and spars and carpenters tool
chest, and as soon as the storm had
abated the castaway went to work to
build him raft. He had determined
to leave the island at any hazard, and
after four or five days work he had his
raft completed 1t was rude but stout
affair. Wild fruits were taken for pro-
visions, and fresh water was carried in
wine key which had come ashore with
the wreckage. From one of the boxes
the captain took $500 in goldpieces, and
one morning when the wind was from
the west he launched his raft and drift
ed of before it. By his reckoning, which
was probably correct, it was seven days
before he was picked up by the John J.
Speed, an American merchant vessel,
homeward bound.
The raft had made good weather of
it, drifting most Of the time to the east,
and the captain judged her total drift
to have been 100 miles. His loss had
been alluded to in the newspapers and
talked Of among sailors, and he was
given a hearty welcome aboard the
American. He related his adventures in
full, except as to the treasure, and in
due time was landed at Cape Town. He
had figured out the latitude and longi-
tude of his island to his own satisfac-
ton, but the chart on board the Speed
failed to show any such island. Captain
Graham at once set about finding ship
to bring the treasure off. A brig was
finally chartered and sailed with him
aboard, but after a cruise of months she
failed to find the island. Where Captain
Graham said the island ought to be lead
found bottom at 40 feet, and in the i'm
mediate neighborhood mass of trees
and bushes was found floating about.