The Mena star., 1899-03-16
CLARENCE HERsHRT rtEI.
[CopyrIKht. lsqz by J B LlppIncott Ce.l

cid times would occur to one or the other of us and I finally asked Hal stead if he were married.
 No" he said; "I'm not. I was just going to ask the same question. Ii seems rather odd that we two should have reached the age of-let's see; I'm 35, and you can't be, far from it- without settling down. Do you know. old chap, I'm beginning to think l haven't made much of a success in life"
 "Oh, I don't know. You're likely to have ship as long as you want to go 10 sea, aren't you? And the house would probably offer a fairly good berth ashore, if you felt like taking it."
 1T suppose so as long as the pres ent management remains unchanged But, even so, there's no chance of making a fortune at it. Here we are, you and I, two men in the prime of life, and able thoroughly to enjoy all the good things in it, yet suppose we are likely to keep on drudging for some ore else as long as we live. In the long run the fellow who persistently
 
 he's too old to enjoy his good fortune IL takes young man to appreciate the things that money will buy. Now why can't we strike bit of luck some where, find buried treasure or some thing of tEe sort, and then live like princes in London or New York, in- stead of frying our gizzards out in na ocf foi, godmother that we might propitiate?" ?"
 "M-m-m, l don't seem to remember any in my family. But, speaking of treasure, aren't we sailing over pretty much the same track as that followed hy the old galleons?"
 That's right; same track, to mile Tomorrow morning I'll show you Port San Jacinto, on the island of Ticao, where they used to wait for favorable wind in bea ting through the San Bernardino passage. Anson's ships watched for them just outside .he 'Embocadero,' as it is called in Spanish, and they all stopped at the Ladrones for pigs and water on the voyage across"
 Well, weren't they usually loaded with a pretty rich cargo?"
 "Richl Why, man, the Acapulco gal Icon brought between two and three miiiions-in silver dollars gold doub- looms, and indigo-to Manila. once or twice every year. You see. the iunks used to come down from Hong Kong Tn March or April, loaded with silk bro cades, fine linen, gold ornaments and jewels, which the Manila Spaniards bought and after keeping what they wanted for personal use, shipped to Acapulco on speculation. Mexico was viceregal province then, and the Philippines was subdependency. The return galleon brought the proceeds of these speculations; though, as the boletas, or shipping permits for trans portation space, were issued by the gobernadors for revenue, they prac- tically amounted to Philippine sub sdy"
 That's about as I remember it. There were a good many galleons wrecked on the coral islands, weren't there?"
 ing about west when she struck, with the intention of just clearing Cocos reef at the south end of Guajan, and if she lodged firmly in that position when she sank, her for'ard part would be pretty well sealed in with coral, but the high poop, where most of the specie was carried. might not have more than an inch or two of incrustaton. Theoretically, the possibilities of re- covering any of that money amount to this: If the Santa Rosa reef exists to- day as it did in 1760, if that galleon drove upon it as I have been figuring out, if man were provided with div ing apparatus which would enable him to make a careful and protracted ex- animation of the ledge under water, also pick and cartridges to work with and if it were possible 10 preserve ab- solute secrecy us to his operations, or to transport the stuff without exciting suspicion, there's just about one chance in thousand that he might get as far as civilized country with 1t. As for taking any of the natives into his con fidence-well, the old navgators named them Iadrones' when the islands were discovered. That means thieves in English, and from my ex- perience there last voyage should say the hereditary taint is not yet extinct. They're peaceable lot generally. but
 Ladies desiring a contented and hap