Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1898-09-07


shouting for him to stop, but the un-
known ran to the water, plunged in and
swan straight out to sea, looking back
now AND then and seeming to be in a
terrible fright. He held to his course
until he could no longer be seen, and
there was no doubt he went to his
death, as he did not return. In a dense
thicket the captain found II rude shelter
which the man had used, and among
the dried grass forming his bed We're u
few fragments of cloth which had once
been a pea jacket. There were also a sail
or's pipe and an empty tobacco box.
Living there alone for years and years,
with neither the note of Il bird II the
chirp of a cricket to cheer him, the
man had lost his mind and, looking
upon Captain Graham as an intruder,
had meant to take his life.
When the castaway had been il month
on the island without sighting a sail,
he made up his mind that the fate OF
the poor fellow who had dashed into the
sea would some day be his. He felt that
he would lose his mind unless he made
an effort to divert it from the gloomy
situation, and he began a closer survey
of the island. The center of it was con-
siderably higher than elsewhere, and
exactly in the middle was IA single tree,
surrounded by a thicket which he had
never yet penetrated. In carrying out
his explorations he entered this copse.
finding a hard beaten path, evidently
made by a crazy man. Piled up at the
roots of the tree the captain found a
great stock of small iron bound boxes,
and it needed but one glance to satisfy
him that they were treasure boxes.
There was the cavity where they had
once been buried, and the boxes were
weather beaten as if long exposed. Two
Or three large shells lay about, which
had doubtless been used to dig out the
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 it's con-
tents. 1t contained about SO, 600 i'll gold
coin of all nations, but principally Eng
lish, and not a 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 Is other boxes of the same size.
One was broken open, and it's 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
800, 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 a pirates cache and that the
gold had been there long years before
he was thrown Oh 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 a big fortune there,
and it belonged to the finder, but it
might have been so much sand for all
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 row along the
beach to mark the time and found that
he had been II months on the island.
On that day there came a furious gale
from the east, with a 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 a carpenters tool
chest, and as soon as the storm had
abated the castaway went to work to
build him a 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 a rude but stout
affair. Wild fruits were taken for pro-
visions, and fresh water was carried in
a Wine key which had come ashore with
the wreckage. From II 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 off 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 i'll
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 OH board the Speed
failed to show any such island. Captain
Graham at once set about finding a 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 a mass of trees
and bushes was found floating about.
Village Overrun With skunks.
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