The sea coast echo., 1902-11-29
LafittG'S Treasure

or nave gone IN search OF IL and thus
made a fool out of himself as he did.
The Sons OF Rest"-so named he,
cause none of them had ever been OBJ
served to do a useful days work--con.
stituted a club Of young men, the prin.
cipal members of which were Erskne
Gordon, yelling. Johngtona and an old
colored man, Massa Sam Washington,
who worked for the Erskines and was
a sort Of valet dc chambre 20 John, the
family priue. now, the latter and
Bruce Gordon were universally ad.
mltted to be tho cloverest of the whole
bunch, but both of the young men.
being ambitious. were not satisfied to
share the honor with another, and
each was desirous of becoming the
only rooster In the club coop.
Hence the rivalry between them was
keen. And II Is with this rivalry, into
which, by peculiar stroke of chance,
Jean Lafltte and his buried treasure
became involved and helped to solve
the question Of superiority between
the two, that this story concerns 1t.
self
Jean Laftte, the reader may be in
formed, was the famous filibustcr and
pirate who during the early part of
the last century made things hum IN
the Gulf, where he annexed every
Spanish merchantmen that came his
way. In this dangerous but lucrative
ynnati Inn ha n op,auund ., h,on Fn,t,,, !, H.,
the shape of jewelry and Hispano
doubloons. Alas, whenever he wanted
to rest on his laurels he retired to
Galveston Island, wnere he had fitteu
up snug little pirate principally,
over which he. Jean Lafltte, reigncd
as a sort Of king.
This pleasant existence lasted for
nearly six years. One day a number
OF Lafitte's men plundered an Ameri-
can vessel, and that was the finish. In
the spring Of 1921. Lieut.. Kearney. of
the United States Navy, appeared be-
fore the fort with man of war and
asked Lafltte II he didn't think his
health demanded change of atmos.
phere.
So solicitous an interest In himself
Lafltte could not bear, and he depart.
ed for parts unknown, In his haste to
get away he Is believed to have left hIg
treasure, securely buried In the
ground, behind him, the inference be.
ing that he would return later and
claim 1t. Instead Of that death claim.
ed him soon afterward In Yucatan;
hence the treasure, II the tradition
was true, should still remain untouch.
ed In the islands moist ground.
Erskine, who was pretty bright
fellow, and possessed of the peculiar
knack Of summing a persons ensem-
BILE in one word, had given each of the
members of the Sons of Rest a nick.
name appropriate to their respective
failings. Yelling, for instance, who
had learned the machinist trade, but
whose mind was bent on racing, war
the Sporting Blacksmith. Johnstore.
whose hair was strongly reminiscent
Of an impressIonist painters sunset,
was known as Red; Whine Sam Wash.
ington had been nicknamed Old Ken
lucky. The Sons of Rest thought this
a very witty name-all except Cor.
don, and Massa Washington himself.
who indeed was much panied at the
appellation.
IL STOOD to reason under these cir
cumstances that Gordon would not
long remain member OF the Sons of
Rest before the wit of Erskine 'ould
also find suitable nickname for him.
Gordon was one OF those fellows sent
to this planet to illumine the gloom
Of daily existence for the benefit of
the rest of us mortal c.nners. An ad.
venturous youth, who had been around
the world and fought for Cuba Libre,
he was full of new and novel pranks
He could also tell some stories the
artistic effects of which were height.
ened to no small extent by his vivid
Imagination.
But he differed from Erskine In that
whatever his sins against truth he
never hurt anyone's feelings II he
could help It, He never called Sam
Old Kentucky, for example, and Sam,
being grateful soul, remembered this
fact This was also one of the rea-
sons why, although the latest addi.
tion to the membership of the Sons,
he became SO popular as to seriously
endanger the supremacy of Erskine,
till then the undisputed leader. Frs
kline saw the danger, and believing
with Napoleon that 1t was best to as
sumo the offensive when waiting only
makes the enemy stronger, he decided
to pitch into Gordon. So one evening,
after winkIng at the rest of the fell
lows as much as to say, Watch me"
Erskine started in.
Say. Bruce" he began 'I'll bet you
cigar to each of the boys that you
cant prove you're alive.
ITS a CO." replied Gordon. without
hesitation. "All have to do is to say
that you're fool for making such a
bet"
The laughter Of the rest of the fel.
lows at this sally, and their murmur.
ing about solar plexus to some one
undid Erskine for a moment, but ne
speedily recovered, saying, addressing
Gordon:
you win, Baron Munchausen." And
after this Bruce Gordon was known
only as Munchausen, and Erskine
seemed to have retained his place.
1t was perhars a week later that
the LATTE subject happened to come
on the ts2iT. Frskine announced his
faith in the old tradition.
81 think there is something In IT,"
he began. why, Old Kentucky knew
Manuel Lopez, who was Lafitte's valet
He told Kentucky that ne believed IN
the story himself. If only had
clew to work on" he wound up, II
wouldn't mind looking for IT myself