Belt Valley times. [volume] (Armington, Mont.) 1894-1977, 1922-03-30
CHAPTER ix-continued.)

out 4 leuf tldt a search dfier Bill
tombstone would be hopeless. Und,
circumstances surh ms those Of Il
mates story, II seems to me that n
The probabilities point to their COZ
ceaiing the chest In the cave wit
a. opening The bay. To=ge-tI
boat. laden with the heavy ches.
through the surf to any OF the othe
eaves-if the various cracks and ii.
sures have seen are Indeed properl
to be called caves-would be stiff
work for three men. Yes, everythin,
pdicates the cavern under the point
AJhe only question is. isn't II indicated
k-oo clearly? Would a smooth oil,
: scoundrel such as this Captain samp
son must have been have hidden his
treasure in the very place certain Ia
be ransacked If the secret ever got
out2 Unless 1t was deeply buried.
which 1t could have been only at cer-
tain stages Of the tide. even old Heintz
would have been apt to run across II
In the course of his desultnrx-re.
searches for the riches Of the buc-
cancers. And | am certain placid old
Heintz did not mislead me. Besides.
at Panama, he was making arrange
sments to 20 with some other Germans
on a small business venture 10 Samoa.
which he would not have been likely
to do If he had just unearthed Il vast
fortune In buried treasure. Still. |
shall explore the cave t~hor0ughly.
though with little hope.
"Oh, Helen. If | could watch these
trople stars with you tonight!
January 6. | think / am through
with the cave under the p0Int-tbe
Cavern of the Two Arches. have
named II. l peered into every crevlce
In the walls, and sounded the sands
with a drill. / suppose l would have
made a more thorough Job of Ii If IL
had not been convinced from the first
that the chest was not there. Shall
ever forget the feeling that stirred
when first | turned the pages IF
grandfather's diary and saw there.
IN his faded writing, the story of the
mate Of the Bonny Lass, who died In
Havana In my grandfather's arms?
My grandfather had gone as supercar-
60 In his wiAsidp3aHd-Mhile he did,
a good stroke of business TN Havana
his shrewd Yankee Instincts Tor I
managed to combine the
service of God with that of Mammon. !
Many a poor drunken sailor, taking !
MS fling ashore In the bright. treach- I
piague-ridden city. found IN a
llm a friend, as did the mate Of the y
sonny Lass in his dying hour. Oh /
{ my good grandfather had but made
ure from the mans own lips exact {
y where the treasure lay IL is e
nough TO make one fancy that the g
Unknown Bill, who paid for too much Is
nowledge With his life. has his own
of guarding the hoard. Bur h
rambIe. ] was going to say, that l.
'om the moment when / learned from q
" grandfather's &lary Of the exist. 4
ice of the treasure. | have been driv-
l by an impulse more overmastrr- h'
e than anything have ever expert =
iced In my life. IL was. l believe, ~
hat old-fashioned pious folk would
a lending. All my life / had been 70
resoIute, the sport Of circumstances.
fling with this and that. unable TO hi
I my fuCe steHdfHstiy toward any tn
Yet never, since l have trodden
is path. haye-- looked 10 right or sa
/. | have deied both human opin- az
4 and the obstacles which an an
endly fate has fhrown-lF my way. ed
l alone. a2sailor hitherto of pleas. no
among The bays and islands Ia
the New England coast, put forth OIL
my little sloop for Il voyage oI TO
zee hundred miles on the loneliest an
Of the Pacific. All alone. dld hr'
ay? No, there was Benny the faith Ia.
His head is at my knee as / hin
lite. He knows. | think. that his ?
mood Is sad tonight. oh. lhe
len,rifynn ever see these lines viii we
realize how / have longed for you SAT-
low 1t sometimes seems that my soul hes
st tear itself loose from my body his
4 speed TO YOU across half a worldg the
February 1. Since my last record ar
time has been well filed. In the alto
and Queen / have beer surveying mir
coasts of my domain, sailing us OF
In as ! dared. and taking note on
every creyice that might be the sho
nth of a V Then. either in the dis,
Tboat or by scrambllng down the NOT
Is, visit the indicated pointEIt Is scr
'erly hard .abor. but II has It's com. dex
I~safions am growing hale and A
ing. brown and muscular. the
Ia have discovered halEa Hesi
caves snosd Of them quite small. yer
: one Of them seemed such a likely But
flaf at first | was quite hopeful. min
I have found nothing Usaafs1 tnr
floor Of the cave beneath a few Jan
aes Of sand Is rock. Only Ia the lar
" ave under the point have srnl
saHn 70 any aFpflt ] 80 always olet