Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1899-03-25
held, and barely kept his head and

held, and barely kept his head and
neck above the cold well water. like a
bullfrog at the margin of tank.
Van Week then tied loop in the
end of the launch-line and lowered it.
"Now get your foot in that loop,
Mike, and then seize hold above, and
we will pull you out!' Harris called
down to him.
The combined strength of the three
barely sufficed to haul the Irishman
up. Foot by foot they hoisted him,
dripping and trying to aid them by
catching toe-hold and fnger-hold here
and there in chinks of the old ma
sonry. The we'll had been lined up
with stone blocks, in cement.
They had him within few feet of
the top whom his toe dislodged one of
the stone blocks and it fell down with
splash. But the next moment Mike
got his arms out and was dragged
forth, very wet and Shiny object.
bad cess to the haythen that
leaves their wells uncovered" were
his first words. But something about
the hole in the wall from which the
stone block had slipped appeared to
interest him, for all dripping as he
was, he got down on his knees and
looked at it.
"Im thinkin' that was very quare
hole" he said to Harris I'D We know,
1 fancied caught the CLINT of bottle
as passed that hole, sor"
Harris and Van Week laughed,
thinking this hint that Mike desired
something to warm him up. But he
was not joking.
"Sure, 1 can see the nose nv it
now!' he exclaimed. "Wait q bit,
while I put me fut in the moose av the
rope again, and thin hould on tight
while 1 take q peep down"
They lett him down few feet,
when he drew out from the hole in the
we'll wall large, square.sh ouldered
bottle of very clumay shape.
II have itv' cried Mike, and
they pulled him out again. "And
now did yez ever see the likes of that
for bottle!' he exclaimed. "Bedad,
but the Guild stopper is no better than
punk. What do ye make of it, sor?"
he asked, and handed it to Harris.
The bottle was lopsided affair of
impure green glass, and contained
what looked through the glass ike
small bullets. Harris picked out the
stopper, which was of wood, wrapped
L ;,,-mbl:ag leather. Some moments
! we. g required - extract il. To their
great surprise. tie round, bullet-like
co;ects proved :, lie large pearls,
some o. t..en very beautiful. There
wac Hundred and forty.nine of
then.
Vsa T-ieck, who had seen jewels and
pearls in Holland, was of the opinion
that they were of great value.
Their first thought, after looking
at the contents of the bottle, was to
search the hole in the wall for further
treasure. They found nothing except
small, moldering box with silver
crockets at the corners. This being
opened, was found to contain discol-
ored parchments, evidently of the ma
ture of royal letters, or deeds of gift
or conveyance, and also exactly
hundred Spanish gold coins of appar.
emily about the weight and value of
doubloon.
"Well, Mike, this is your fnd."
Harris sail to him. II congratulate
you.
"Faith, then, how wud have found
it if yez hadn't pulled me out of the
ould we'll? Tell me that, sor!" ex.
claimed Mike.
"Whut is your idea, tAen?" asked
Harris.
"Share and share alike, sor. There
wnd be no other fair way"
"Including Pablo?"
"Sure Didn't the haythen help
pull me out?"
They steamed back to the city and
showed the pearls to dealer there.
The man was astonished at the size
and beauty OF many of them, and
would not say what he thought they
were worth. An English dealer at
length rated the market value at
three thousand three hundred and ten
pounds, or not far from sixteen
thousand five hundred and fifty dol.
lars.
They had little doubt that this bot
tie of pearls and the box had been con.
cealed in the we'll at the time when
the city was taken by the pirates,
more than two centuries ago, and that
the person who had secreted them
had persisted in the sack of the town.
There could be no hope, therefore, of
finding the rightful possessors.
1t will not be thought strange that
the three canal guards went again
and again to the ruins of Panama
Viejo, searching for other old wells,
and sounding them with grapple-
hooks in the hope of finding other
similar caches of old-time wealth; but
they found nothing more.-Youth's
Companion.
The Tarantula and Scorpion.