Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1910-10-11
1t least possible that a deposit of val

at least possible that a deposit of val
ue lay concealed"
"All this" said. 'is exceedingly
clear, and, although ingenious. still
simple and explicit. When you left
the Bishops Hotel what then.
why, having carefully taken the
bearings of the tree, l turned home
wards. The instant that l left the
DEVILS seat however, the circular rift
vanished, nor could I get a glimpse of
it afterwards, turn as l would. What
seems to me the chief ingenuity in this
whole business Is the fact (for repeat
ed experiment has convinced me it is
facD that the circular opening in
question Is visible from no other at"
tainable point of view than that af-
forded by the narrow ledge upon the
face of the rock.
"In this expedition to the bishops
Hotel had been attended by Jupiter,
who had, no doubt, observed. for some
weeks past, the abstraction of my de-
meanor, and took especial care not to
leave me alone. But, on the next day,
getting up very early, I contrived to
give him the slip. and went into the
hills in search of the tree. After much
toll l found it. When l came home
at night my valet proposed to give me
a fogging. With the rest of the ad-
venture I believe you are as well ac-
quainted as myself"
Il suppose" said |, you missed the
spot, in the first attempt at digging,
through Jupiter's stupidity in letting
the bug fall through the right instead
of through the left eye of the skull"
"Precisely. This mistake made a
difference of about two inches and a
half in the shot'-that is to say, in
the position of the peg nearest the
tree: and had the treasure been be-
meath the shot the error would have
been of little moment; but the shot.
together with the nearest point of the
tree, were merely two points for the
establishment of a line of direction;
of course the error, however trivial in
the beginning, increased as we pro-
ceeded with the line, and by the time
we had gone fifty feet threw us quite
off the scent. But for M deepseated
impressions that treasure was here
somewhere actually buried, we might
have had all our labor in vain."
But your grandiloquence, and you!
conduct in swinging the beetle,-how
excessively odd! l was sure you were
mad. And why did you insist upon
letting fall the bug, instead of bullet
from the skull?"
why, to be frank, felt somewhat
annoyed by your evident suspicious
touching my sanity, and so resolved to
punish you quietly, in my own way, by
little bit of sober mystification. Fol
this reason l swung the beetle, and fol
this reason l let it fall from the tree
An observation of yours about its great
weight suggested the latter idea"
Yes, l perceived; and now there is
only one point which puzzles me.
What are we to make of the skeletons
found in the hole?"
That is a question I am no more
able to answer than yourself. There
seems, however, only one plausible way
of accounting for them,-and yet it Is
dreadful to believe in such atrOcity as
my suggestion would imply. 1t is clear
that Kidd,-if Kidd indeed secreted
this treasure, which l doubt nOt,-it is
clear that he must have had assistance
in the labor. But. this labor conclud-
ed he may have thought it eXpedient
to remove all participants in his Sc
cret. Perhaps a couple of blows with
mattock were sufficient, while his
coadjutors were busy in the pit; per-
haps it required a doZen,-who shall
tell?"
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