The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1922-05-25

fresh III every Heiu, ny every way Siuc'
at every doorway. And one day at
Kingston / met a man, one Cassandro
Biatt, who had an obsessiOn for adj
venture, and he came and spoke TO me
privately. He said he knew Inc from
peoples talk, and would | listen to
him? What was there to do? He was
a clean-cut rogue, if ever there was
one, but a rogue Of parts, as he
proved and l lent an ear.
"NOw, what think you was his
story? Well, but this-that off the
coast of Haiti, there was a ship which
had been sunk with every man on
board, and with the ship was treasure
without contingencies belonging to
a Spaniard Of high place, who was TAX
ing them to Paris. There had been
searching for the ship, but none had
found it; but he, CasSandro Biatt, had
sure knowledge, got from an obi-man,
of the place where ii lay. 1t would
not he an expensive business, but,
cheap as ii was, he had no means Of
raising cash for the purpose; while ]
could. no doubt, raise the needed
money if set about it. That was how
he put il to me. Would ! do it?
"Why should | tell Biatt the truth
about myself? He knew it. CaSSan-
dro was an accomplished liar. and a
man Of merit of his kind. This obi
mans story | have never believed yet
how came Biatt to know where that
treaSure-ship was | do not know now,
while | am very rich because Of it all.
Eyes, out we went through the har-
Dor of Kingston, beyond the splendid
defenses of Port Royal and the men
of-war there, past the Palisades and
Rock fort, and away to the place Of
treaSure-trOVe. We found it--that lost
galleon; and WE found the treasure
box Of the captains cabin. We found
gold, too; but the treasure-box was
the chief thing; and we made it ours
after many a hard day.
How ! induced one of the big men
Of jamaica to be banker and skipper
for us need not be told but he is n
Of whom men have dark sayings
chiefly, l take it, because he Ices bold,
incomprehensible things. That bust
ness paid him well, for when the rent
Of the ship was met, and the few men
on it paid-slaves they were chiefly
he poCketed ten thousand pounds,
while Biatt and | each pouched forty
thousand, and Michael two thousand.
a ya fp no S,lrn Nfi1haa1 u-oS in ~ IJn
is in all | do, and is as good as men Of
ten times his girth and history. Mi
chael will be a rich man one day. In
two years his two thousand have
grown to four, and he misses no
chance.
I'm bound to say this-one of the
s~traightest men l ever met, liar with
al, was Cassandro Biatt. He took his
jewels and vanished up the seas in a
flourish. He would not even have an
other try at the gold in the bowels Of
the ship.
"I've got plenty to fill my paunch,
and I'll go while I've enough. It's the
men that don't go in time that get left
In the end'-that's what he said.
"And he was right; for other mer
ven after the gold and got some OF
it, and were caught by French and
South American pirates and lost all
they had gained. Still another group
went and brought away ten thousand
pounds, and lost 1t in fighting with
Spanish buccaneers. SO Biatt was
right, and went away content, while l
stayed here-because husband
bought the land and house where /
have my great sugar plantation. 1t Is
an enterprise Of volume, but it Is not
beyond my capacity, and all would be
well II l We're normal In mind and
body; but l am not. l have a past
that stinks to heaven, as Shakespeare
says.
"Men do not treat me badly here,
for l have property and money, and
this is a land where these two things
mean more than anywhere else, even
more than in a republic like that where
you live. But what can you expect
of a chief justice who need not be
a lawyer, as this one Is not, and has
other mean of earning income which,
though not disloyal, are lowering to
the status of a chief justice? And
not the chief justice alone. l have
seer French officers entertained at Gov
eminent house who were guilty of
inhumanities and cruelties. The gov
ernor, Lord Mallow, Is much to blame.
On him lies the responsibility to him
must go the discredit. For myself,
feel his enmity on every hand. !
suffer from his suggestive opposition
/ am the victim of his dark moods.
IF l want q concession from a To-
cal council, his hand Is at work against
me; If I see him in the street. / get
a courtesy tossed, as you would toss
q bone to a dog. If I appear at the
kings ball, which Is open to all or
the island who are respectable, l an
treated with such disdain by the vice
roy Of the king that all the island 1:
agog.
"He does not spare me in his re
citals to his friends, who carry hi: