Montour American. (Danville, Pa.) 1866-1920, 1903-09-17
A Sailors Find
LConyright. 1909 hr G b Lewis !

! raft He was not only n white man,
! but a sailor and his rudely construct.
| cd craft had cargo. Securely lashed
| to the planks and timbers were four
| large elephant tuskS and an earthen
| Jar, together with two other jars con
! tanning food and water.
| The name Of the rescued sailor was
! William Scott lie was second mate
Of Ceylon schooner called the Hap,
py Day. Three months before we
found him the schooner was wrecked
on an island
OF the crew of eight men Scott
alone escaped He believed this island
| 10 be one of the easternmost of the
! Chagos. 1t was, he said, about mile
in circumference, rocky and barren, but
! ha;.hG plenty of fresh water on il,
Scott lived on the barren rock for
| fourteen long weeks without once
sighting n sail and but for his own
strenuous efforts the time might have
been indefinitely prolonged. One day
lot Of wrcckaGe from some unfortu-
nate native craft drove ashore, and he
NtthIf'A llltNllhT anu NAlilbNAT bAAd DoA
about building a raft.
He had made up his mind to go 10
sea and take the chances of being
picked up. His raft had been com
pleted and he was collecting sheiltsh
for food when ne found the mouth Of
be wonderful discovery. In the cave,
which ran back for considerable dis
tance he found over 200 elephant
tusks and five Jars of gold dust On
leaving the island on his raft he
brought away four of the tusls and
one Of the jars and there they We're
for all Of US to see.
Had the raft been without cargo the
mar story would have been laughed
at and ridtculed. He said he had
found a great fortune in gold and
ivory He had proofs of ii with him
1t made no difference that he could not
exactly locate the island or that none
such as he described was on the chart.
He could only have come to us from an
island not so far away.
Our Scotch captain was incredulous,
and yet he had to believe. He thought
the matter over and then made the
castaway 4 proposition. The sailor
knew the value of what he had Sc
cured. knew that he was we'll fixed for
the rest Of his days, and, having
knocked about on the raft a week be
fore we rescued him, he was not at all
anxious about what he had left behind
in the cave The captain was, how
ever, and so was every man of the
crew.
The proposition was that Scott
should do his best to pilot us to the
island and take another jar of gold
dust for his full share. The rest of the
treasure would fall to the brig for de
waiting from her voyage and landing
him in some civilized country.
1t was a hard bargain our captain
wished to drive, and the castaway
would never have consented had he
not been told the crew would come In
for a fair share Of the loot
We were then POO miles to the south
Of the Chugos. and, as the wind was
from the north, we had to beat back.
This was slow work, and we had not
vet made half the distance when we
got n gnle from the west which sent
us driving away toward the Japanese
coast. and 1t was sixteen days before
we reached the islands.
The ChaCos archipelago consists of
a score Of islands, banks and reefs.
While Scott believed that his island
was the eastcrnmoFt Of all he could not
BE sure about It, and we had TO eX-
anime each and every one as we came
10 It, Running between them and
around them was slow work and we
had TO feel our way, and thus it was
six or seven days before we reached
the last
We found no such island as described
by the custuway, and in our disappOint-
ment and chagrin were inclined to be
lieye him liar who was working out
some scheme. He retaliated by point
Ing 10 his treasure.
At the close Of the fourth day of sail
ing back and forth across a sea Of
which the chart showed no land for
hundreds of miles in any direction but
the west. we sighted an island which
Scott identified as soon as ii could be
seen from the deck.
As we came up TO 1t we ran into
small but deep harbor and anchored
for the night within a cables length Of
the beach. Had the night not been so
dark the captain would have had Il
boat down, but as II was he did not
dare chance It. Such was the excite
ment aboard that no man slept for nm
hour, and as soon as daylight had come
and the men had q bite to eat we set
of TO secure the treasure.
We soon found the opening OF the
bay and rowcd toward it, Scott had
been on the island for over 4 year and
the hut he occupied and the flagstaff
he erected were in plain sight At the
end of the bay we came TO the cave,
and. leaping out of the boat, the cap
tain was the first to enter.
A moment later he reappcarcd, and
for the next quarter Of an hour he
cursed as | have never heard seaman
before or since. The cave had been
plundered
One broken tusk had been left behind
and there was perhaps an ounce OF
gold dust lying on the spot where Scott
had empticd the Jars That was proof
enough that he had told n straight
story