The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1907-04-20
Captain Dreams.


| Copyright, 1907, by E. C. Parcelis]
While / was in hospital at Madras a
Hindoo sailor who had a cot next to
mine was visited by a sea captain witt
whom he had served. l oyerhear,
much of their conversation. The Hin
doc finally died.
! The name of the captain wa
Draines. 4 few weeks later people
were calling him Dreams. He was
good sailor. but poor in pocket. Th
native had told him a secret before b,
died.
i The father of the dying native had
been a sepoy in the great mutiny. and
when the rebellion had been stamped
out he had to go into hiding and live
his last days in the jungle. When it
became apparent that the English
would conquer. a move was made by
all the wealthy Hindoos TO save their
fortunes. The father was attached to
the force Of the nabob Of Mysore and
with certain others removed treasure
to the amount of million dollars from
that province to the coast and thence
by sailing craft TO one of the Lacca-
dives. There it was buried. The ia
Their could not tell the son what par :
ticular island it was. nor did he know
whether the treasure was recovered
after the war. He was wounded III
battle soon after his return to the
coast. and when peace came he became
fugitive to save himself. The treas
ure was taken ashore at night and de-
posted in a cave.
That was the story told to the son,
and that was the son who told it to the
captain. The story was over twenty
years old then. You will ask why the
son hadn't made a try for the treas
ure. In the first place. for twenty
years after the war the English were
very vigilant about such things, but
claimed a big share of whatever the
natives found. Again. the son was
poor in pocket and distrustful OF his
fellow men. If he had had the money
to fit out an expedition, he would nave
had to take five or six persons into his
confidence. and the chance OF his being
murdered and despoiled was good III
deed. Had he gone to the owner or
any craft and offered half he would
have been laughed at. He had simply
come to the conclusion that the island
was one of the Laccadive group, and
he could not say that the treasure had
not been removed years before. He
simply hung ON to his secret and
waited, and he was waiting yet when
he was stabbed i'll a street brawi.
Captain Draines at once determined
to try for the treasure. He had to
have money, aud he had to have men,
and in this way 1t came to be known
that he was off after million. No
one knew whittier he was bound, but
everywhere he showed up he was ridi-
culed and laughed at Before he left
port he was spoken of as Captain
Dreams. He resigned from his ship,
chartered a native craft and selected
crew to be depended on. He fitted the
craft to fight as well as to sail, and he
got away from Madras in the night
and was out Of sight of the coast next
morning. He had his all in the enter
prise. and it was case Of make or
break with him.
The run down to the group was
made, but that was only the beginning.
Some of the islands are only sand bars
or rocky islets, while others are four
or FIVE miles in circumference and
heavily wooded. They had to be
searched in rotation. The craft would
be anchored in the channel between
two islands while parties landed on
either to search for a cave. This
searching took up lots Of time. At the
end Of three months only eight of the
islands had been explored. and the
men were ready for mutiny. The pro-
visions were gone. and hundred diff
ferent disappointments had soured the
tempers of the men. They agreed to
search the ninth island, but would go
no farther If nothing was found
there. the captain must head for the
coast, even II he had to go in chains.
Fortune stands by some men in
strange ways. Half the island had
been explored when there came great
gale. and French ship that bad been
dismasted and abandoned at sea came
driving in. She furnished plenty of pro-
visions, and it was seen that the sal
wage of her cargo would give every
man a good thing, treasure or no treas
ure.
The next day after the wreck drove
ashore Captain Dreams set out to gath
err some wild fruit. In their search the
men had discovered no animals of any
sort. The captain had not gone forty
rods when goat sprang out of the
bushes and raced away. He turned at
a tangent to follow her and ten min
utes later found himself at the base of
a rocky cliff with a cave entrance five
feet above the ground. 1t was the na-
bob's treasure house. and the treasure
was there. He had a portion Of it with
him when he returned to the men. Just
what the treasure amounted to in dol
lars and cents no one outside of the
treasure party ever learned. but the
cargo taken from the wreck sold for
10000 at the Portuguese port of Goa.
Captain Dreams was ready to sail
away and only waiting for the tide
when a native craft with a crew OF
thirty fishermen and shell gatherers
appeared and undertook to despoil him. |
But for his muskets they would have
done So and his craft would never |
have been heard of more. In the fight |