The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1905-05-03

hot, but beautiful. TO the north were
the lights Of the city. Above was the
spangled dome, while sonthward blaz
cd the constellation of the Southern |
Cross.
We were TO sail the next morning for |
New York, and it was known among |
US that we were to carry 100000 Of |
gold coin TO New York. No one should
have known Of this treasure except the |
officers The secret came out in this
way: The men wanted to go ashore for
a final spree. The captain, who was a
weak man, in order to excuse himself
for not permitting them to go told Of
the treasure. But the weakest thing
he did was to let them go after telling
them the reason why they should stay.
The captain, the first mate and (sec-
ond mate) Mmained aboard. The cap
tain was smoking on the poop deck; the
FIRST mate was pacing the forward
deck; l was leaning over the gunwale
amidships looking down into the wa
ter. Slipping off my clothes, descend
ed by the ladder hanging from the
| gangway and plunged In for a swim.
4 The water was refreshing and as the
4 moon was rising there was plenty Of
| light. The consequence was that
swan as far from the ship as liked.
was some 200 yards astern when
heard the sound of oars and, raising
my head, saw a dark object coming
from the city. did not doubt that It
was the boat containing the crew com
ing from their spree. was surprised,
however, that they were so quiet. Usu-
ally on such occasions they were very
noisy.
| l started to swim to the ship, but
they reached 1t before me- heard
the mate sing out Boat ahoyl' but
did not hear the answer The boats
crew climbed the ladder and went
aboard. / heard scuffie, and mo-
ment later heavy object dropped in
the water. The tide was going out
but kept ahead of 1t In the direction
of the ship Presently something
foated by me. BY the light of the
moon. which by this time was well up
above the horizon, saw the upturned
/ ashen face Of the first mate. | soon
} heard a second splash and knew that
. the captain had met similar fate.
It was now all perfectly plain to me.
The men who had gone ashore had
been babbling in their cups and had
been overheard by some person or per
sons who had taken advantage Of their
Z absence to capture the treasure they
had talked about / knew the robbers
had possession Of the ship, and what
1 to do myself could not determine.
Possibly / might swim the distance to
the shore, but / didn't like the idea
of leaving these men to make away
with the treasure, there being no evil
dence Of their identity. While / was
: celebrating / heard the anchor chain
rafting through the hawse pipe and
e knew the captors were intending K
n make sail, or, rather, drift out OF ths
t harbor, for there was no wind. lis
q tened, hoping to hear the sound o.
: oars indicating the return of the crew
but heard no such sound The shil
i drifted toward me stern on, and, no
+ knowing what else to do, chung to thu
rudder. But, realizing that there wal
nothing there to support me for an,
length Of time, / let go my hold and
keeping close under the side of til,
ship, waited till the bow drifted to me
then grasped a chain under the bow
spirit. There / was better protected
o from being seen and might cling To-
e long while
81 When day dawned a breeze sprans
up, and the ship hove away westward
keeping close to the coast. Abou
sixty miles from Rio they ran he
ashore, bow on. Knowing that
should be discovered where was,
. swan back to the rudder, keeping un
der water all except my eyes, will
which / saw the robbers carry TIL
treasure ashore There were five D
n them. one with red hair and beard di
q recting their movements. l noted hi
q face and that of every one of them
II so that should know them again. A
n cO0i dS tbNy EOt uShViN SoNit AAtHi
ar started off, staggering under a bag 0
"a gold | gave them time to get start
then swan to the ladder, climbet
aboard and after getting provision
followed them. They were talkin
ii most Of the time, which enabled m
\. to keep at safe distance The
y moved eastward and after going abou
70 ten miles stopped at deserted hui
went inside and when they came ou
had left the treasure. knew the
had hidden or buried 1t inside.
After a hurried lunch from baske
they had brought with them the
started on to the eastward, walkin
rapidly. / felt sure they were goin
to Rio and wished to get there as 500
as possible in order that they shout
not be missed. Striking road, the
hired a countryman to drive them an
were thus lost to me.
However, made my way to the cit
and hunted up the crew who had see
the ship sailing away. Soon after the
had left the dock to return to her
took them to where the treasure ha
been placed: then after securing it "
went on to the ship, which at high tio