Free trader-journal. (Ottawa, Ill.) 1916-1920, 1919-08-12
Book III
CHAPTER I.
In Which We Gather ShelIs--and
Other Matters.


Other Matters.
with Charlie gone and duck shoot
Ing not being one Of my passions
there was nothing to detan me in An
droS. so we were soon under way, gu
or the river and heading north llp tn,
western shore of the big monotonou
island. We had some fifty miles (,
make before we reached It's northern
cXtremity-and, al the way, we sci
dom had more than two fathons OF
water, and the coast was the same in
terminable line of manarovps nm,
thnt'il palms, with occasional cIump>
OF pine trees, and here and there the
mouth of creek, leading into duck
haunted swalnps.
AT last we came to q little foam.
lflhged cay. whore II was conceivable
that the shyest and rnrcst shell
would choose to make its hOlnc--a tiny
arlstocrat. driven out Of the broad
tldeWays by the cOarser ambitions and
the ruder strength of great molhlscs
mat feed and grow fat ana house
themselves In crude convolutions of
| thcouthly striving horn.
! 1t was impossible to imagine Il cay
better answering to my conchologist's
description of Short Shrift island. Its
situation and general character, too,
bore out the surniSe. On landing, also.
we found that II answered in two i'm
portant particulars to Tobias nara
1--WE. We found, as he had declared,
mat there was good water there for
passing ships. Also, we found. in ad-
dliion to the usual scrub, that cab
bagc-woOd trees grew there very plen-
thuliy, particularly, as he said, on the
highest part Of The island. SO, having
talked u all over with Tom, | decided
that here we would stay for n time
and try our luck.
But, first, having heard from the
Spon"ing captain that he was Ell route
for Nassau, | gave him letter to
Charlie Webster. telling him of our
whereabouts, in case he should have
sudden need of me with regard to To-
bias.
The reader may recall that Tobias
narrative in reference to his second
pod Of one million dollars had run
ION the highest point of this Short
Shrift island IS II large cabbasr-Wood
stump, and twenty feet south OF that
stump Is the treasure buried five feet
dcep and can be found without diff |
Guilty. But which was the highest
point? There We're several hllocks |
mat might claim to be that-all about |
equal in height
However, as the high points of the
sland were only seven in ALL it was
no dlf'lcult matter to try them all out,
me hN one. rs We had plenty Of time
ma plenty of hands for the work. For,
IT course. it would have been idle to
'ftempt any conccalmcnt of my object
rom the crew. Therefore, took them
rom their Shell-ga ihering and, having
July measured out twenty feet south
rom each promising cahbagc-wood
lump, set them to work. They worked
WITH Will, for l promised them q
share of whatever we found.
Alas 1t was an inexpensive prom
Sc, for, when we had duly turned up
ne ground, not only twenty feet, but
hirty, forty and fifty feet, not only
outh but north, east and west of the
arious cabbagc.wood stumps on the
even various cminenceS, we were
one of Us the richer by single piece |
eight. Then we tried the other cab
age-wood stumps on lower ground, {
nd any other likcly-lookng spots. till.
Fter working for nearly II fortnight, ,
q must have dug up most of the
land.
And then Tom came to me with the
avs that cur provisions were begin j,
ng to give out. AS it was, he said, ~
fore we returned to Nassau. we
lould have to put in at Flying Fish n
lVc--a small settlement on the lar.
n island some five miles to the nor
rd--for the purchase of various nc. C
ssitics
"All right, Tom" l said, 81 guess the
me is up! Let's start out tomorrow G
)rnlng. You may as well have your 7,
rking fish back, Tom" said
lghing in sclf.disgust 81 shall have
more need of it. am through
IN treasure hunting"
I'D keep it little longer, sar," an. ~
cred Tom; you never know"
had made up my mind to start on p,
2 homewnrd trip early the following =,
'rnng, but something happoned
1t very evening to change my plans. n
had dropped into the little settle
'nts one store, to buy some t0bac.
the only kind that Charlie Webster -,
rared fit to smoke. W