Mountain Home Republican. [volume] (Mountain Home, Idaho) 1915-1946, 1921-11-05
(cHAPTER V--continued.)

On this first day we gathered In the
cool of the afternoon about our table
of packing-boxes for an event which
even |, whose role was that Of skep-
tic, found exciting. Miss Browne was
at last to produce her map and re-
veal the secret Of the island. So far,
except in general terms, she had i'm
parted it to no one. Everybody, In
coming along, had been buying a pig
In poke-though to be sure Aunt
Dane had paid for It, The Scotman,
Cuthbert vane had told me Incidental
". had insured himself against loss
by demanding retaining fee before
hand. Somehow my opinion, both OF
his honesty and of his intelligence,
had risen since I knew this. AS to
Cuthbert vane, he had come purely
In a spirit of adventure, and had paid
his own expenses from the start.
However, now the great moment
was at hand But before II comes,
l will here set down the treasure
story of Leeward island, as gathered
1t later, little here and there, and
pieced II together into a coherent
whole through many dreaming hours.
In 1920, the city Of Lima. In Peru,
being threatened by the revo'ut on
aries under Bolivar and San Martin,
cautious folk began to take thought
for their possessions. TO send them
out upon the high seas under for
eign flag seemed to offer the best hope
of safety, and soon there was more
gold afloat on the Pacific than at any
time since the sailing Of the great
-galleons of the Seventeenth CEN
fury. Captain Sampson, of the brig
Bonny Lass, found himself with a
passenger for nowhere in particular
in the shape of certain Spanish mer-
chant of great wealth, reputed Gus
todian Of the private funds Of the
bishop of Lima. This gentleman
brought with him, besides some scanty
personal baggage--for he took ship
In haste--a great iron-bound chest.
-Four stout sailors Of the Bonny Lass
staggered under the weight Of it.
The Benny Lass cruised north along
the coast, the passenger desiring to
put In at Panama In the hope that
word might reach him there OF quiet
er times at home. But somewhere off
Ecuador on a dark and starless night,
the merchant of Lima vanished over
,board-"and what could you expect "
asked Captain Sampson In effect,
i"when q lubber like him would stay
ON deck In a galef" Strange TO say,
the merchants body-servant met the
fate of the needless also.
Struggling his shoulders at the care
Ilessness Of passengers, Captain Samp-
son bore away to Leeward island, per
'haps from curiosity TO see this old
refuge Of the buccaneers, where the
spells Of the sacK Of Guayaqull were
said to have been buried Who knows
but that he, too, was benz Jn treasure
seeking? Be that as 1t may, The little
brig found her way into the bay Oh the
northeast side Of the island where
she anchored. Water was needed, and
there Is refreshment In tropic fruits
after a diet of salt horse and hard.
tack. SO all hands had holiday
ashore, where the captain did not dis
dain to join them. Only he went
apart, and had other occupation than
swarming up the palms for COCO
nuts.
one faDces, then, moonless night
crew sleeping off double grog, gen.
erously allowed them by the captain
a boat putting off from the Benny
Lass, in which were captain, mate
and one Bill Halliwell, able seaman, a
man of mighty muscle; and as freight
an object large, angular and ponder
Gus, so that the boat Jagged heavily
beneath the rowers' strokes.
Later, Bill, the able seaman, grows
presumptuous on the strength OF
this excursion with his betters. II
Is word and blow with the cap
tain OF the Benny Lass, and Bill is
conveniently disposed Of. Dead, as
well as living, he serves the purpose
of the captain. but of that later.