Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1920-02-10

tnose cleaning boards, and moralize
on tne irony Of my end condemned to
ue tnere Of starvation. with the treas
ure had so long sought on the other
sue OF those unyielding doors. Old
TOMS words suddenly flashed over
me- and l could feel my hair literally
beginning to rise. "There never was q
buried treasure yet that didn't claim
It's victim" Great God land was to
De the ghost. and keep guard in this
terrible tomb till the next dead man
came along to relieve me of my sentry
duty!
Frantically l turned up the wick Of
my lantern at the thought-but 1t was
no use; It was plainly going out. 1
examined my match box; had still a
dozen or SO matches left. And then
my eye fell on that shattered chest
Inere were those boards, too. At all
events / could build a fire and make
torches of slivers of wood, SO long as
the wood lasted.
And then I had an idea. Why not
make the fire against the door at the
emo OF the gallery, and so burn my way
| through. Bravo! My spirits rose at
the thought, and set to at once-split-
ing some small kindling with my
Knife. In few minutes had quite a
sprlgntly little fire going at the bot
tom Of the door; but / saw that 1
should have to be extravagant with
\ nv wood ~ tho Ar, WOE - = ec.-A.--.
However, 1t was neck or nothing; so
piled on beams and boards till my
ilre roared like furnace, and present.
~ had the joy Of seeing it begin TO
take hold Of the door-which, after
short time, began to crackle and splut-
ter In a very cheering fashion.
Whatever lay beyond, it was evt
dent that / should soon be able to
break my way through the obstacle,
and, indeed, so 1t proved; for, present
~. / used one of the boards as q bat
tering ram. and, to my inexpressible
JOY, 1t went crashing through, with
shower Of sparks, and it was but the
work OF few more minutes before the
whole door fell flaming down, and l
was able to leap through the doorway
into the darkness on the other side.
AS l stood there. peering ahead, and
holding aloft burning stick-which
proved, however. poor substitute for
my lantern-a wonderful sound smote
my ears. could not believe it, and
my knees shook beneath me. 1t was
the sound Of the sea.
Yes, it was no illusion. It was the
sound that the sea makes singing and
echoing through hollow caves-the
sound heard that night as stood at
the moonlit door Of Calypso's cavern,
and saw that vision which my heart
nearly broke to remember. Calypso
Oh Calypsol where was she at this
moment? Pray God that she was in
deed safe, as her father had said. But
l had to will her from my mind. to
keep from going mad.
And my poor torch had gone out,
having. however, given me light
enough to see that the door which /
had just burnt through let out onto
narrow platform on the side Of rock
that went slanting down into chasm
of blackness, through which, as in
great shell, doomed that murmuring of
the sea. 1t had a perilous ugly look.
and 1t was plain that 1t would be fool
hardy to attempt 1t at the moment
without a light; and my fire was
dying down. Besides, was beginning
to feel llght-headed and worn out, part
ly from lack of food, no doubt.
AS there was no food to be had, l
recalled the old French proverb, HE
eats who sleeps"-or something to
band my strength once more with
brief rest. However, as / turned to
throw some more wood on my fire
preparing to indulge myself with
little campfire cheerfulness as l dozed
off-my eyes fell once more on that
grim line Of locked doors; and my
curiosity, and an idea. made me wake
full again. / had burned down one
door-why not another? Why not, in
deed?
So 1 raked over my fire to the FAM
lily vault nearest to me, and presently
had 1t roaring and licking against the
stout door. 1t was, apparently. not so
solid as the gallery door had been. At
all events, 1t kindled more easily, and
1t was not long before had the salts
faction of battering that down too.
AS / did so, caught sight of some
thing In the interior that made me
laugh aloud and behave generally like
mailman. OF course, didn't believe
my eyes-but they persisted in de-
claring, nevertheless, that there in
front Of me was a great iron-bound
oaken chest, to begin with. 1t might
not, of course, contain anything but
bones-but it might! The thing was
too absurd. 1 must have fallen asleep
must be already dreaming But no.
1 was laboring with all my strength to
open it with one of those rusty cut
lasses. 1t was tough job, but my
strength was as the strength of ten,
for the old treasure-hunting lust was
upon me, and / had forgotten every
thing else in the world for the time.
At last, with a great wooden groan,
as though its heart were breaking at
having 20 give up its secret at last, it
crashed open. fell on my knees as
though / had been struck by lightning,
for 1t was literally brimming over with
silver and gold pieces-doubloons and
pieces of eight; English and French
coins, too-guineas and louis dor:
"alr'-as Tobias manuscript had said
-"all good money"
For while l knelt over it, dazed
and blinded. lost; then l slowly
plunged hands into 1t; and let the
pieces pour and pour through them.
literally bathing them in gold and sill
- &C r bad rood of rniSers dainy