The Worthington advance., 1900-01-05
k-EEsskE k 49, *

across an ole jack-knife, a terbacker-
box and four silver buttons. He sus-
Pected them relics belonged to Capt.
Kidd, and arter takin' rest he went
down five feet more an found clam
shell on which was engraved the in
ltlals &c. X" Then he was sure of his,
case, and he dug that cellar 35 feet deep
In s'arch Of chists of gold. He was at
1t all one summer, and though he didn't
lind any money he died a-believin' it
was thar, and on his dyin' bed he
charged his son Bill to keep on diggin'.
Bill promised to do it, but arter
workin' one day he throwed up the job
and used the cellar fur fish pond.
lie died arter awhile, but the story
that Capt. Kidd's gold was buried
thar sumwhar' lived on. Lots of folks
dug and dug, and though every body got
discouraged, the story kept bobbn' up
every few months. The fust lie ever
told in Squan Creek was about that
treasure. 1t was the maxim of a town
full O. liars. When nobody could think
of anything else to lie about he lied
about the chists of gold. If anybody
started to dig a cellar or we'll. all the
town turned out and hung around fur
fear he'd strike the treasure. Things
was goin' on this way when a feller
who was all skin and bones and had a
lonesome, rackin' cough, arrived in
town one day, and inquired fur Truth
1ul Iompkins. He took Truthful out
on the marsh two miles from anywhar',
and says:
Its kinder agin my standin' in soci-
ETY. to say so, but I've got to admit that
my grandfather was a blamed old pi-
rate. He was Capt. Kidd's right-hand
man, and he was a hustler to kill and
rob. He didn't think nuthin' of mur-
derln' 40 people day, and he was
so honest that the Captain trusted him
with the keys CT all the iron-bound
chists. I'm dyin' man-dyin' of con-
sumpshun-but I don't want you to
say anything about this. don't want
society down on me doorin' my last
few days"
Truthful Tompkins promised he
wouldn't say word to any livin' soul
not even his Wife-and arter faint
in spell the stranger pulled faded
ole paper from his pocket and went
on:
Zone time, when Capt. Kidd had
his ship so full of gold that the water
was nigh washin' her decks. he cum
home to America to bury it, My grand
father told him about Souan Creek,
and what a safe place it was, and he
headed right fur this spot and buried
81 chists Of gold on this risin' ground
lie trusted it all to my grandfather,
and my grandfather was q man of hon
or. He buried them chists, made map
of the spot, and here it is. lie sent it
home to Baltimore by mail, and it's
bin lynn in an ole trunk ever since [
kin walk right to the spot whar' that
gold is buried, and thar's about So, ,OOO,-
900 of it,
Truthful Tompkins turned as pale
as death, and choked up so that he
couldn't speak. He was gaspin' away
and pinchin' of hisself, when the
stranger unfolded the paper and pint
ed to a blue mark and says:
'That's the spot. I could dig it up
and claim every dollar Of it, but I'm
about through with this vain world
and money would do me no good. All
Iwant is about five dollars to buy med
icine and pay my board fur a week. I
like yer nalne-Truthful Tompkins-
and like yer looks, and if yer want ter
gimme five dollars fur this paper III
take it,
''Hut it may be on sumbody else's
land,' says Truthful as he trembled all
over.
"Wall, T amt tellin'," replies the
stranger. even if it is you kin buy the
land. I an't wantin' to rush bizness,
but I'D like to close the deal to-day and
git ready to die decently."
Truthful couldn't skassly wait to git
q five dollar bill outer his pocket and
grab the paper. When he looked at the
blue mark he found that it covered the
land in his own door-yard, and he was
so weak he had to sit down in water
two inches deep. AS soon as he got the
numbness outer his knees he started
fur home on the run, and when he
rushed into the house his wife thought
he'd gone crazy.
'Truthful Tompkins, hev We found
an oyster-bed floatin' around on top
the water?" she asks.
mo, but I've found $3,OOOOOO in
gold!" he says, as he falls into a
chair. "Betsey Tompkns, the day is
right here when we kin buy plug
hats and silk dresses by the cart
load and we won't think no more of
champagne than we do of water.'
While that treasure was all on his
own land, Truthful didn't want every
body to see him diggin' it up. lie
tharfore went and bought lumber and
built fence ten feet high all around
his land He was asked lots of ques-
tions, of course, and he told lots of
lies about it, Before he had got his
fence done Ephraim Skidder begun
=, buildn' one, too, and next day arter
Ephraim started work Henry SaIn-
oers bought a lot of lumber and said
+. to the postmaster:
IS II think I'll go to raisin' chickens
this var, and if I don't hev high
fence they'll be flynn out and botherin'
my naburs.'
BY the time that Truthful Tompkins
was ready to dig thar wus 'leven high
fences bein' built around 'leven differ
ent houses, and every mornin' as many
as q dozen men was out on the
marshes probin' the sile with iron
rods. All the men with the high
+ fences said they was goin' into the
II chicken bizness, and all the men out
on the marsh said they was lookin'
fur bar'l o. whisky buried durin' the
4 revolutionary war; The stranger