The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1913-10-09

: ~. 49,
Thousands Of Pounds Lay to Que
Hands.
| chievously. that you would give up
your portion Of the treasure-for meT
Great God!" cried, moved beyond
measure by her imprudent remark and
thrown off my balance by her-dare l
say-coquetry. II would give up the
world itself for you. Don't you know
itY'
And l made a step toward her. but
she put up her hand.
Flush, hush, Master Hampton" she
cried, affrighted at the consequences OF
her pleasantly. and l could swear she
turned crimson In the candlelight
'''Tis not time or place now. Remem-
| Der that | am alone and that ! am at
your mercy"
II shall never forget that again."
said grimly This treasure removes
you further away from me than ever"
"What mean your
when you get back to England and
take your place once more among your
friends In that society to which your
birth entities you and which this
wealth will enable you to sustain"-
And who is to take me back to Eng
iand?"
| 81"
| How"
IL know not. but ! shall 10 IT,"
"And with the treasurer
with the treasure. too: at least
efficiency Of it for all your needs"
"And when you have done this amaz-
ing thing for me you expect to disap-
pear from my life. Master Hampton"
AYE, If need be-"
She laughed and | did not Under
stand the meaning Of that laugh either.
LET US search and see If there be
anything else. Your ancestor spoke
Of Jewels" he said.
"Yes," she said, there should be a
smaller casket Let us look further"
There were perhaps dozen large
boxes. opened them all Some were
quite empty, with little pile OF dust
in them and few shreds Of color here
and there which indicated silk had
been packed in them. There were also
broken barrels around which still
chung a faint odor Of spices. There
we're piles OF rotted debris further on,
| and as stirred one Of them with my
sword l struck something more solid.
brushed aside what seemed to be the
decayed remains Of cordage and canvas
and finally came upon smaller casket
| bound, hinged, and cornered with some
kind of metal which afterward found
to be silver. for iron would have rust
ed away long since. The casket was
about foot long by six inches wide
| and six inches deep. The metal which
completely covered 1t was curiously
| chased. The casket was locked.
crumbled the wood in my hands. put
could not open the lock. The edge Of
my ak, however, proved potent key.
and at last forced it apart, and as |
did so out fell little heap of what l
Judged to be precious stones. There
were green, red. blue and white ones,
among them many pearls sadly discol-
| ored and valueless. The stones glls.
tened with an almost living energy.
My mistress was more familiar with
these things than I. and presented a
handful to her.
why, they are precious stones" she
cried In an awe struck whisper.
"Lookv' She held up a diamond as
big as her thumb nail. 1t sparkled like
sun in the candlelight. And there
is an emerald" she cried. picking up
one of the green stones. This blue
one Is a sapphire: this ruby. Why"
she exclaimed, there Is fortune alone.
These jewels must be of fabulous val
ne. The gold and silver we might
leave behind. but these we can carry
with u.s."
In my heart was sorry We had
found them, yet had the grace i'm
mediately to say:
II am glad for that We must
| gather them up. but where shall we
put them?" ~
I'm the pockets of your coat for the
present" she answered.
Now there were not SO many OF
them perhaps three or four handfuls-
not nearly enough to I'LL the casket |
figured that 1t had been q Jewel box
with little trays or drawers and that
| the stones bad been wrapped separate
but had all fallen together when.
! the partitions rotted away easily