The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1901-08-06

passed without my sighting anything.
Meanwhile l had erected my house back
about 40 feet from the shore, got all the
goods under cover and was more satisfied
with my lot than some men would have
been. had no way Of knowing whether
fathers brig went down in the collision or
not, but was satisfied that if he escaped
with his life he would make search for
me.
had been on the island for three
months when l one day made wonder
full discovery. / was on the south shore,
where the forest was more open and the
soil composed of sand and shell, and
stopped for a moment under the shade Of
a tree. As / did so small animal, only
about half as large as hare, ran past
my feet and into its burrow, only yard
away. As l followed it with my eye
saw something glitter in the fresh dirt
thrown out, and l picked it up to find
that it was an English sovereign. Rak-
ing over the dirt with my fingers soon
found four others, together with some
small pieces of moldy canvas. at once
jumped to the conclusion that there must
be store of treasure below, and / ran
for a shovel. 1t was easy digging there,
and / had not gone down over two feet
before l was throwing out more money
than dirt.
The treasure had been contained entire
ly in canvas bags These had been stout
enough at the outset, but the dampness
of the earth had finally rotted them.
could not lift single one Of the bags out
by itself on this account, but brought
down a piece of sailcloth and spread it
H. LII Aho
on it as I freed it from the dirt. There
had been II bags of money, every piece
of gold. I knew the value only in Eng
fish currency. There were pieces | knew
to have been coined in India, Spain
France, Holland and the United States,
and l gave a guess at the value by the
weight alone. found the treasure about
8 O'Clock in the morning, and it was after
noon before I had all the money on the
sailcIoth. l was stout, healthy boy,
but could not have lifted a tenth part of
the total weight. doubt if stout man
could have dragged it foot.
The first thought was to get the money
to my house-a mile away. l got a stout
sack and planned to carry the pile away
In such loads as | could lift but then |
began to argue that as | was the only
person on the island the money was as
safe where it was as it would be in my
house. therefore filed my pockets with
the larger pieces as specimens and con-
tented myself with spreading piece of
canvas over the heap and throwing on
some branches.
/ was not greatly ratified over the big
find, although knew there must be tens
of thousands of dollars there. was sim
ply little more anxious to sight a sail,
and for the next week | did nothing but
patrol up and down the shores and look
seward. l visited the money every
morning and evening and now and then
paved the heap over and carried away
such coins as desired to more closely in
spect.
1t was. believe, on the morning Of the
thirteenth day after finding the money
that / walked down to the water for my
morning dip to see a whaling bark hove
to about a mile away and one of her
boats pulling in. 1t was the English
whaling craft Grampus, and father had
met her captain in New Zealand port
and asked him to call at the islands as he
bore away and look for traces of me.
When it was found that was alive and
well, the captain came ashore. He would
not promise to carry me to New Zealand
under six months. as he was bound to the
banks of Brazil, but he listed all my prop
erty off at a fair value and put it to my
credit. When everything had been taken
aboard, showed him my pocket pieces
and told him of my find What | had
brought up to the house counted up near
~ f300 English money.
/ started with him for the spot where
the treasure was lying. accompanied by
three of his men, and we reached it to
find that everything had disappeared
There was the hole had dug, there were
the withered branches which had covered
the heap, there the tracks of men leading
down to the waters edge. had been
there at shutdown the night before. Dur
ing the night party had landed and re-
moved the last silver of money. From
whence they came. in what craft. how
they knew the treasure was there, which
way they sailed, all these were queries
which all could put. but no one answer,
A day after leaving the island the bark
a British gunboat, and we
told her captain the story. He cruised in
search of the mysterious craft for several
days, but did not sight her. and all official
inquiry made by the New Zealand gov
eminent failed to trace anything further.