The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1911-03-23

some new opera dances; the flight
OF his cowardly cousins to Austria:
Austerlitx and Jena; the mad dream
in Egypt: the very day when the
Great Man pulled a crown out of his
saddle-bag and made himself an en-
peror. Just little corporal from
Corsica; think Of it, And 80 on: all
am bled but keyed with tremendous
interest to the listeners and to Laura
ierself. II was the golden age OF
opportunity, OF reward, OF sudden
.eusrals and princes and dukes. All
one, nothing left but a few battle
iags: England no longer shaking in
,er boots, and the rest or them divid-
ing the spoils! No. There were
some left and In their hanus lay the
splendid enterprise.
Quietly they had pieced together
his sum and that, till there was now
storad away two-million francs, Two
n. three frigets and a corvette or
two. then the work would go for
ward. Only a little while to wait.
md then they would bring their be-
owed chief back to France and TO
lis own again. Had he not written;
Come for me, mon brave. They say
hey have orders to shoot me. Come;
better carry my corpse away than
hat l should rot here for years to
ONE" They would come. But this
lear went by and another; one by one
he Old Guard died off, smaller and
smaller had drawn the circle. The
vile rock called St Helena still re-
manned impregnable. Tn certain
.ay they came to tell him that the
emperor was no more. Soon he was
AL alone but one; these brave SOL
iiers who had planned with him were
40 more. An alien, an outcast, he too
longed for night. And what should
ne do with 1t. this vast treasure,
every franc of which meant sacrifice
and unselfishness. bravery and
.oyaltyf Let the gold rot. He would
bury all knowledge OF It In yonder
chimney. confident that no one would
ever find the treasure, since he alone
possessed the key to it. having buried
1t himself. So passed the greatest
Caesar OF them all, the most brilliant
empire. the bravest army. All! had
the king Of Rome lived Had there
been some direct Napoleonic blood
to take up the work! Vain dreamsi
The Great Mans brothers had been
knaves and fools.
And SO tonight" the narrator
ended. Il bury the casket in the CHM
ney; within it. my hopes and few
trfpkets of the past OF which am All
integral part Good-by. little glove;
Sood-by. brave OLD medal! / am send
.ng drawing OF the chimney to ire
good Able !e Fanu. He VIII out-
live me. He lives on forty-centjme
the day, treasures mean nothing to
him; his cry. his eternal cry, is always
OF the People. He will probably tear
it up. The brig will never come
h. O.
soon. And ] shall die unknown. I'M
loved. forgotten. Bonnie multi"
Mr.. Donovan alone remained in
normal state of mind. Twas all
this talk or finding treas
ures. The old Frenchman had been !
only half baked. He dumped his tools |
Into his bag, and, with the wisdom |
of his kind, departed. There would |
be another job tomorrow. putting the |
bricks back.
The others. however, were for the |
lime but children, and like children !
hey all talked at once: and there was !
and humping of fists and
,lapping OF hands. rhe admiral had /
/ new plan every five minutes. He
would do this. or he would do that, |
md Fitzgerald would shake his head.
pr Breitmann would point out the Il
OF the plan Above all, Il
he urged. there must be no publicity 4
with fash toward F'itzgerald); the
world must know nothing till the n
reasure was In their hands. Other
wise. there would surely be piracy n
IN tho high-seaS. Two million francs
vas "A prize, even In these days. There
we're plenty of men and plenty of
ramp ships. Even when they found
he gold. secrecy would be best There
night be some difficulty with France.
,lose lips. then. till they returned to
after that Mr.. Fitzgerald
would become famous AZ the teller
4 the exploit.
II confess that. for all my excite
nent." said Fitzgerald. II am some
What skeptical- StiIi. your sugges-
ion. Mr.. Breitmann. is good"
ITO b cont,nued.1 II