The Ordway new era., 1922-03-10
CAMILLA
SPANISH BY KENYON
DOUBLOONS 's''';a7 ':s'';;;
A - EBOSA

1 other sharp turn. L founu H!seu III
ave some thirty feet in depth by
eighteen across, with an opening on
tbe narrow strip of beach l had seen
from the top Of the cliffs.
THE roof is high. with an effect OF
| Gothic lrches. Near the mouth Is
rlny sprlng Of ice-cold water. which
t,s worn n clean rock channel for
/ ltse,f TO the sea. Otherwise the cave
ls perfectly dry. There Is no doubt
In my mind that in the great buc-
raneering days OF the Seventeenth
century, and probably much later, the
place was the haunt of pirates. One
| foncles that Captain Sampson Of the
/ Ponnv 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
arn ocean. Yes, the cave has seen
many fierce, sea-tanned face and
larry plgtai. md echoed to strange
oaths and wild sea songs. Men had
carved those steps in the passage-
rhlrty-tyvo OF them. In the sand of
the floor, as l kicked II up with my
feet. hoping rather childishly to strike
the corner OF the chest, / found the
h1t and part OF the blade Of rusty
cutlass, and a chased silver shoe
buckle. l shall take the buckle home
TO Helen-and yet how trivial II Will
seem. with all else that l 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.
u left the cave and hurried back to
the cabin for n 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, l set to work
feyerishly 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. 1t lay,
should judge, under about two feet
Of sand. Soon had laid bare patch
! Of dark wood which rang under my
| | knuckles almost like iron. A little
1 more, and l had cleared away the
| sand from the top of a large chest
4 with a convex lid, heavily bound in
4 brass.
h "Furiously l flung the sand aside
i until the chest stood free for half its
I depth-whlch is roughly three feet. II
7 has handles at the ends, great hand
/, wrought loops of metal. l tugged my
\ hardest, but the chest seemed fast in
. Its place as the native rock.
laughed exultantly. The weight meant
gold-gold l had hammer and chlsel
:. with me, and with these / forced the
i massive ancient locks. There were
Z three Of them, one for each strip of
/ brass which bound the chest Then ]
Z flung up the lid.
! NO glltterlng treasure dazzled me.
:, l saw only a surface of stained can.
s, vas, tucked In carefully around the
r edges. This l tore of and flung aside
} -eclipsing poor Benny, who was q
z most interested spectator of my
strange proceedings. Still no gleam OF
gold, merely demure rows OF plump
, brown bags With both hands
! reached for them. Oh, to grasp then
all, had to be content with two. be
II cause they were SO heavy, so blessedly
heavy
Il spread the square of canvas OF
It the sand. cut the strings from the bag.
.y and poured out-gold, gold! All fail
Il. shining golden coins they were, not .
d paltry silver piece among them! Ant
y they made a soft golden music a,
y they fell In a glorious yellow heap.
e. i don't know how long l sat there
le playing with my gold, running /
H. through my fingers, clinking the coin
lie together in my palms Benny came am
e. shifted at them indiferently, unable t,
at understand his masters preoccupation
Sc lie thrust his nose into my face ant
IN barked, and said as clearly as witt
p words, Come hunt pig"
III Benny l said, wen leave tn
pork alone just now We have worl
ne enough TO count our money. We'r
he rich, old boy. rich, richv
~ of course. l don't yet know exac,
ne ~ what the value of the treasure I.
nave counted the bags in the chest
there are one hundred and forty-eipht
Each, so far as l have determine,
contains one thousand doubloop.
al, "hich MAKES total OF one hundre
-. ana iorty-eight thousand. Estimatin
" each com for the sake of even figure,
at value of seven dollars-a sof
lniliinum-you get one million, thirt,
So SIX thousand dollars. And as man
ice Vi the coins are ancient l ourht I
got reap harvest from collectors.
'pe BESIDES the coin, l found ratbe
of surprisingly. laid between the nnns
layers of bags. silver crucifx ohn,
me nine inches long. 1t is OF vor,, -
i'd old workmanship. and hod,v ,.,e,