Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1912-12-11

| ing the burylng 81 the treasure s.: TIE
oiliest old pirate that ever sailed the
seas In the days before Captain Kidd.
can't tell you, either, OF all the differ.
ent expeditions that combed that is.
land from end to end without success,
and at last we folks aboard the Indus
resolved to have a try at 1t one voy.
age when we was sailing light from
San Francisco to Valparaiso, where
we were going to pick up cargo Of
| nitrate. a. :s.-..-
"Four Of us went ashore In the din.
ghy, and the minute we stepped on that
shell strewn beach and heard the rus
thing of the palms and smelled the
ripe fruit we knew right away that
we were going to find that treasure.
There was something in the very at
mosphere of the place that limited at
adventure, and we had plenty Of It be-
fore we left. Thank you, ma'am.
will take another piece Of ginger
bread I don't reckon you made it?'
he inquired. ~ 49, =
I assured him that Miss Maria Weeks
had concocted the spicy loaf, and l
thought he looked tenderly reminiscent
at the frost1ng before he removed a
semicircle from his slice. l had a sus-
picion that in the distant past there
might have lurked a tender romance
between my companionable old salt
and the rather grim spinster who
Accommodated me with room and
board. I had my own plans for fur
thering this romance, and the delicious
lunch I had brought was only one of
little traps had prepared for the gen
tie, unsuspecting captain. -
| "You went ashore prompted him
Eyes, ma'am. we went ashore and
made little camp among the palms,
and after we had had some supper we
started of at Il run for the place where
we had calculated the treasure was
buried. OF course every man who ever
went to that island had a different
| theory as to where it was hid, but we
thought ours was a sure guess, for
Louis Franck, a Finn who was one of
our crew, had an ancestor who had &C.
tually sailed with this bloody old pi-
rate away back before the Revolution
airy war days. Franck could recite the
legend that had been handed down by
his ancestor so glibly that he could
tell it the same every time, and so aft
er awhile we got to believe it was real.
~ so, and that was how it happened
we decided to stop there.
"Of course Franck was the leader and
guide, for he said his ancestor had said
that the chest was buried ten feet deep
under rock ten feet square.
1--WE found the largest rock on the
island, and it was only three feet six
by six feet two. and it looked thin, and
Franck said he thought it had been
worn Off by the wind and weather dur
| ing all that time. 1t was snow white
coral rock too.
''The rock was set in little grove
Of palm trees. and suppose once it
had rested on the sandy shore, but as
the island grew larger and sand was
washed up to form a new beach trees
grew up around the stone until it real.
~ was about in the middle Of the is.
land when we found it. :: ;,
I'VE worked away picking and pry'
ing at the loose sand around the rock
and trying to get crowbars under it SO
as to lift it up when we smelled wood
smoke"
"'What's that?' asked Franck.
"'The remains Of our campfire
told him, but afterward found out
was wrong.
ut soon grew dark, for we had been
late in landing and we had not in.
tended beginning operations until morn.
ing, but the thirst for adventure was
strong within us and even while the
shadows heightened full moon arose
from the sea and we decided to con
tinue the work by its light.
I'VE had just pried off the stone and
sent it crashing into the underground
when there arose from our midst, ap
parently from the disturbed soil under
the stone, gigantic figure that gave
vent to snarling yell as he leaped
into the moonlit space and faced US.
Miss Telham," said the captain i'm
pressively, emphasizing his words with
successive taps Of horny forefngel
against his other palm, Miss Telham
believe me, ma'am, when l tell you
that that there figure was nothing more
or less than the ghost of the bloody
pirate who had buried the treasurer
captain Barnabasv protested.
He nodded. '"That's what Louis
Franck, the Finn, said. He said the
critter looked just like the description
his ancestor had handed down Of the
pirate who had buried the treasure
He whispered it to US, for I'll confess
ma'am, we huddled together all al
once under the shock of seeing hin
and hearing his YELL l don't know
which was the worst He was crazy
looking thing, sure enough, as; he
nrqnood around thoro WA vino a ron