The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1911-11-30

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| 1uS cave, hGSal- IN WH GfHIf,
permit a man to 49, +
stand upright 1t - ~
was full of bars of ~ n
gold and sacks of "a
money Many of the ~ ID
/ sacks bore the stamp LSE
of the Bank OF ~Anls
Lima. There were W.T.
many golden cruel
fixes, chalices and
church ornaments.
A statue of the Ma
donna of solid gold lay upon the
floor. 1t was so heavy that Keat-
ing and Bogue together could not
lift it, but could only push it along.
The glitter of the piles of gold,
Heating said, fairly made him reel
and seemed to fill the cave with
ghostly radiance that at first
struck him with awe.
DOSuS anu meaning lieu a lew
coins in a handkerchief and rowed
back to their ship They told the
sailors they had found a spring Of
fresh water, but they were so excited
with what they had seen that they act.
ed unnaturally and the crew, may be,
had suspicious Of the truth, anyway
One word led to another, and Bogus
and Heating told as little as possible,
but 1t was enough for the crew, who
made them promise to go shares.
Right here Heating and Bogue be-
gan to play their game more shrewd-
ly. They served out unlimited grog,
as if to celebrate treasure trove. Long
before night the whole outfit was glori-
ously drunk except Heating and Bogue,
who took care to remain strictly sober
All hands turned in early to sleep off
their potations and be ready to bring
the treasure aboard next morning. AS
soon as they were asleep, Heating and
BOgue slipped off to shore in a whale
boat They beached their boat and
again made their way to the cave.
They filled their pockets with doub-
looms and pieces-of-eight and louis
d ors. Not satisfied with the money,
Bogue, stuffed bar gold into his sea
boots so that he could hardly walk
I for the weight. In launching the boat,
Heating said Bogue went under and
was drowned.
Heating" Captain Hackett went on,
escaped to sea with his plumber, leav-
ing the ship to its fate, and the men
never were seen or heard of afterward
Four days later he was picked up by
a Spanish coasting vessel which land
ed him safely near Punta Arenas He
slowly worked his way back to New
foundland and deposited much money
in the st. Johns bank
Heating made a second voyage to
Cocos island four years later He
told us of this adventure too. l wrote
the tale out afterwards in Keating's
own language as nearly as I could re-
member it"
The first treasure was buried on
Cocos island by Benito Bonito a few
months before his death in 1921. Be-
nito was born in 1888. He was a
Spaniard of supposed gentle blood. His
real identity is not known-Benito Bo-
nito was an assumed name He be
gan his career as a lieutenant of a
Spanish privateer. At the close of
the Napoleonic wars he became mate
of a Portuguese trading brig. In 1916
he quarreled with his captain, muir
dered him and seized the vessel From
that date he followed the life Of a pi-
rate. One of his first prizes taken in
| West Indian waters was an English
SLAYER named the Lightning Having
cut her out of Matanzas, where she
was lying at anchor one night, he
burned his own brig and, transferring
his flag to the British vessel, renamed
her the Relampago. which is Spanish
for chain-lightning. Most of the crew
OF the SLAYER were made to walk the
plank. Two pleaded for their lives and
offered to join BonitO. On this condi-
ton Bonito spared them. These two
men were Thompson. known in Cocos
island traditions as Bugs" and a
Frenchman named Chapelle. who also
figures later in, the story Of Cocos is
land
In the long, low. rakish Relampago,
which could show clean pair of heels
to anything sailing the Spanish main,
Bonito had busy and prosperous
career as a pirate. From Rio to the
Bahamas he became a scourge and col
lected an immense amount of booty
When the Spanish government sent
warships to hunt him, Bonito slipped
around Cape Horn to fresh pastures in
the Pacific
The wealth of the churches of
Spanish America is still considerable,
but in the early days of the last cen
fury the richness of the plate and or
| naments with which they were adorn-
ed was amazing. Bonito sacked cities