The Cape Girardeau Democrat. (Cape Girardeau, Mo.) 1876-1909, 1899-11-11
R l TREASURE
The Finder of a Pot of Money, But
Proated Little by His
Discovery.


Discovery.
81 never told you about the buried
treasure 1 found, did II" said an old
resident as he leaned back in his chair
refiectively. 1T was a long time ago,
but L remember it as If it were yester-
day. l was sitting in my office n aft
ernoon about half asleep when an old
Mexican interrupted my thoughts with
a servile 'Buenas tardes, senor.'
Il looked around half expecting to
see a seller of lottery tickets, but l was
mistaken. The man before me was very
ancient in appearance. Deep wrinkles
were in his face and his hair was snowy
white. His clothing was neat and
clean, and he seemed to nave the man
ner of an hasendado peon. And so it
proved.
Upon my invitation he came in, sat
down, not, however, without a number
of profuse apologies. Then he told his
story. He remembered me, he said, on
account of a visit l had made into the
interior of Oaxaca several years before.
1 had given him a peso for guiding me a
part of the way through the mountains.
He had never forgotten how kind l had
been to him. After singing my praises
for a time he got to the pith of his tale.
He knew where there was a buried
treasure. Yes, he remembered that
many, many years ago it had been
buried during the wars. He did not
dare touch it himself, as it was guarded
by spirits, but the senior could get it, he
thought. If so, the senior might be will
ing to give him a part of it for the in
formation.
At first / didn't take much stock in
the story, but gradually, under the in
f1uence of the old mans impressive and
apparently truthful statement, l began
to get interested. His story was long
and rambling, but the point insisted
upon was that the treasure was there
beyond the shadow of a doubt. AS 1 had
business that necessitated my visiting
that part of the country in which he
said the treasure was located, l agreed
finally to take the old man along. So,
a few days after, 1 found myself on
horseback at Oaxaca, with the Mexican
as my guide.
'When we started out to find the
treasure the old man suddenly got a
scared streak on him and refused to
give me full directions. He would not
lead me to the spot, but hung behind
and spoke seldom. Senior will have to
find it himself. l do not know where it
is, but and he would hesitate a mo-
ment, it might be in this direction
Then he would point in a certain direc-
ton. L kept going in this direction for
some time. Finally 1 got discouraged
and had a notion to turn back.
"'Perhaps the n might turn to
the right and go over hat HILL the
old man then said. l turned and kept
on until we came to a broad field. Here
1 stopped.
1.-The treasure might be in a field
he again. No more would he say. L
then rode around the field, looking for
a stone. l soon found one near a big
tree. The stone was too heavy to move,
so 1 called on the old man to help me.
Not a bit of it. The senior can do as
he pleases,' he said. l soon found, how
ever, that the stone, although very
large, was balanced on another, so that
l could move it. y little digging under
one side soon brought to light a box
which. when broken open, showed a
large amount of gold and silver coins.
Sure enough, the old man was right. 1
put them in 4 sack, hoisted them on my
horse and came back on foot to town.
Now, here is where l made my mis-
take. As the coins were ancient, l was
afraid to dispose of them, as one-half
of a buried treasure, you know, goes
to the owner of the land on which it is
found. / sounded an old Mexican who
was a g It of 4 banker, and he agreed to
dispose { the coins for a small percent
age. After he got the money, though,
he changed his mind and kept about
three-fourths. under the threat of eX-
posing ne. The result was / got about
81. 800 out of the deal, one-third of which
1 gave to the old man."-Mexican Two
Republics.