Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1921-12-30

4
eighteen across, with an opening on
the narrow strip Of beach had seen
from the top of the cliffs.
''The roof is high, with an effect OF
| Gothic arches Near the mouth is
tiny spring of ice-cold water, which
/ has worn a. clean rock channel for
itself to the sea. Otherwise the cave
is perfectly dry. There Is no doubt
in my mind that in the great buc-
caneering days Of the Seventeenth
| century, and probably much later, the
place was the haunt Of pirates. One
| fancies that Captain Sampson of the
| Bonny Lass may have known of it be-
fore he brought the treasure to the
| island. There were queer folk to be
met with in those days in the west
ern ocean. Yes, the cave has seen
many a fierce, sea-tanned face and
tarry pigtail, and echoed to strange
oaths and wild sea-songs. Men had
carved those steps in the passage
| thirty-twO Of them. In the sand of
the floor, as I kicked it up with my
feet, hoping rather childishly to strike
the corner Of the chest, / found the
/ hilt and part of the blade of a rusty
| cutlass, and a chased silver shoe
| buckle. I shall take the buckle home
to Helen-and yet how trivial it will
fer her! Nevertheless she will prize
it as my gift, and because it comes
| from the place to which some kind
| angel led me for her sake.
II left the cave and hurried back to
the cabin for a spade, walking on air,
breaking with snatches of song the
terrible stiffness Of the woods, where
one hears only the high fitful signing
of the wind, or the eternal mutter Of
| the sea.
Back in the cave, set to work
feverishly, making the light sand fly.
At the end Of half an hour, at point
close to the angle of the wall my
spade struck a hard surface. 1t lay,
l should judge, under about two feet
of sand. Soon / had laid bare a patch
of dark wood which rang under my
knuckles almost like iron. A little
more, and l had cleared away the
sand from the top of a large chest
with convex lid, heavily bound in
brass.
'Furiously I flung the sand aside
until the chest stood free for half it's
depth-which is roughly three feet. 1t
has handles at the ends, great hand
wrought loops of metal. / tugged my
hardest, but the chest seemed fast in
its place as the native rock. ]
| laughed exultantly. The weight meant
| gold-gold! / had hammer and chisel
with me, and with these forced the
massive ancient locks. There were
three Of them, one for each strip Of
brass which bound the chest. Then !
flung up the lid.
mo glittering treasure dazzled me.
] saw only surface Of stained cam
vas, tucked in carefully around the
edges. This I tore off and flung aside
-eclipsing poor Benny, who was
most interested spectator Of my
strange proceedings. Still no CLEAN Of
gold, merely demure rows of plump
| brown bags. With both hands !
reached for them. Oh, to grasp them
ALI had to be content with two, be-
cause they were so heavy, so blessedly
| heavyl
81 spread the square Of canvas on
the sand, cut the strings from the bags
and poured out-gold, gold! All fair
shining golden coins they were, not a
paltry silver piece among them! And
| they made soft golden music as
they fell in glorious yellow heap.
II don't know how long sat there,
playing with my gold, running it
through my fingers, clinking the coins
together In my palm. Benny came and
shifted at them indifferently, unable to
understand his masters preoccupation.
He thrust his nose into my face and
| barked, and said as clearly as with
words, Come, hunt pigl'
| "Benjy,' I said. well leave the
pork alone just now. We have work
enough to count our money. We're
rich, old boy, rich, richI'
| "Of course, don't yet know exact
| ly what the value of the treasure Is.
l have counted the bags In the chest;
there are one hundred and forty-eight.
| Each, so far as I have determined,
contains one thousand doubloons,
which makes total of one hundred
and forty-eight thousand. Estimating
each coin, for the sake of even figures,
at value Of seven dollars-a safe
minimum-you get one million, thirty
| six thousand dollars. And as many
| of the coins are ancient / ought to
reap a harvest from collectors.
Besides the coin, / found, rather
surprisingly, laid between the upper
| layers of bags, a silver crucifx about
nine inches long. 1t is Of very quaint
old workmanship. and badly furnished.
| It's money value must be very trifling,
compared to the same bulk Of golden
coins. / think 1t must have had some
special character of sacredness which
| led to its preservation here. 1t Is
strange to find such relic among
treasure so stained by blood and
crime.