Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1903-01-29
Adventure with
a Fer=de=LanCe

Il Martiniqueand meet upwith that
there treasure was shorely unusual.
] had been kiootin' round in Texas
and New Mexico Twin extremely
reclIless-lille, and the chance come
along to see the outside world.
The chance was brought to me by
Frenchman. He was foragin' round
lookin' for some real wild western
cowboys TO take over to Paris for the
purpose Of shown the French people
what reckless characters the Ameri-
cans was. Leastways that's how he
announced ii when he got us over to
France. He took me an another
reckless individual named 'Arapahoe
All along with him, and what we did
when we landed in Havre was
plenty.
Y'see this Frenchy was purity gen
'rous an the first night we rived in
land he commenced buyin' us absince
Of course, that made me an AL just
like two buclSin' bronchos. We tore
round town rippin' up things and be-
in pursooed by these here gendarmes
till it seemed like all France was in
an uproar.
fn1ly loses Al an evades these
here pursooers by runnin' aboard a
ship. BY this time / was back in my
right faculties, an fit 10 converse.
The head of this hoatin' ranch he
comes an begins jabberin' French to
me a whole lot.
Then he confdes that he's the own
er of the ship, an is maxim ready to
sail. ! tells him of my stampede
with Al an he sympathizes and offers
to take me along with him
Natchruly I'm glad for an oppor-
tunity to shake the dust of Paris off
my feet for the time bein' an l tells
him III go.
Now this here owner is mighty
picturesque. He tells me that he's
a descendant of Capt. Kidd, an that
he knows a heap of things about his
ancestor that no one else ever
dreamed of. 1t took me several DAYS
TO learn all he had to tell. The thing
that weighed on his mind most wuz
that old Kidd had left in the family
a chart shown where he had put a
lot of gold he took from some Span
iards.
This here gold that the pirates de-
scendant was worryin' bout was sup
posed TO be in cave somewhere on
Mount Pelee. tn chart said it was
near a lake of hot water. Well, he
wants to sail to Martinique, find the
cave and get the gold. l let him
know right straight from the saddle
that was with him in findin' that
gold, and he got enthusiastic a heap.
But it seems that the elements
were On the trail Of this descendant
of tn mighty Kidd, for when we got
near Martinique, a storm come up
that wrecked tn ship. l fell into tn
seethin' waves helpless as a grain of
sand, an was preparin' to cash in my
stack an let tn sharks have tn pot
when . chest come fioatin' to'rd me.
1t didn't come gentle like, either. 1t
come a rushin' an l lassoed with my
hands all in a hurry.
Then me an that chest went ro-
mancin' round in tn storm for two
days, when i was washed up on a
shore. When daylight come / saw a
big mountain near me and l rightly
calculated it was old Pelee.
Some natives took me TO their
ranch, staked me to some grub an
pulled me through. After 1 got
strong enough ] opened the chest
just for fun, an found a lot of pa
pers, a six-shooter, an some French
coins I give tn coins TO tn greasers
an overlooked tn papers.
Then / commenced to think Of that
there cave Of gold, which was weigh
in on my mind a whole lot An I
knew was it was near a boilin' lake.
III natives told me where tn lake
was all right, but they didn't know
nothin' about a cave. They warned
me to mark that lake of my trail
because they said these here fer-de-
lance snakes hung round ii. / didn't
set much in what they said 'bout