Sioux County pioneer. (Fort Yates, Sioux County, N.D.) 1914-1929, 1921-10-27
SPANISH ?, S f4N555A
! IOUJBIOONS :;; ;:;:;=
coYyRloHr
THE B0BBS.MERRlLl
rs COMPANY

other sharp turn, I found myself In q
cave, some thirty feet In depth by
eighteen across, with an opening on
the narrow strip Of beach I had seen
from the top Of the cliffs.
The roof is high, with an effect Of
Gothic arches. Near the mouth is u
tiny spring Of ice-cold water, which
has worn 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 1t 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 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 1t up with my
feet. hoping. rather childishly to strike
the corner Of the chest, found tho
hilt and part Of the blade Of rusty
cutlass, and chased silver shoe
buckle. I shall take the buckle home
to Helen-and yet how trivial 1t will.
seem, with all else that I have to Of.
fer her! Nevertheless she will prize
1t as my gift, and because 1t 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 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 a point
close to the angle Of the wall my
spade struck a hard surface, It lay,
I should Judge, under about two feet
of sand. Soon I had laid bare patch
Of dark wood which rang under my.
knuckles almost like iron. A little
more. and had cleared away the
sand from the top Of large chest
with convex lid, heavily bound In,
brass. Is s. K.
"Furiously I flung the sand aside
until the chest stood free for. half It's
depth which is roughly three feet. IT
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. l
laughed exultantly. The weight meant
gold gold! I had hammer and chisel
with me, and with these I forced the
massive ancient locks. There were
three Of them. one for each strip Of
brass which bound the chest. Then I
flung up the lid. H l.5 tss8 s.
No glittering treasure dazzled me.
! saw only a surface Of stained can.
vas, tucked In carefully around the
edges. This I tore of and flung aside
eclipsing poor Benjy, who was a
most interested spectator Of my
strange proceedings. Still no CLEAN Of
gold. merely demure rows Of plump
brown bags. With both hands I
reached for them. oh, to grasp them
all I had to be content with two, be.
cause they were 80 heavy, 90 blessedly
heavy "a III n S. i.i !.
Il 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
paltry silver piece among them! And
they made q soft golden music az
they fell In q glorious yellow heap
y don't know how long. sat there.
playing with my gold, running il
through my fingers, blinking the coins
together In my palm. Benny came and
shifted at them Inherently, unable to
understand his masters pfeoccupat1on,
He thrust his nose into my face and
barked, and said as clearly as with
words, Come, hunt pigl'
Benny i said, wen leave the
pork alone just now. We have work
enough to count our money. We're
rich. old boy, rich. rich,!.
.Of course. 4 don't vet know exacb.
~ what the value Of the treasure ia.
4 have counted the bags In the; chest
there are one hundred and forty.eieht.
Each lsaa SO far az I have determined.
Contains one thousand doubloona
whieh makes q total Of one hundred
and forty-etght thousand. Estimating