Belt Valley times. [volume] (Armington, Mont.) 1894-1977, 1922-06-01

ma, where certain INQUIRIES wsre "a
i~sfactorily answered There wer
those In that port who had made
: shrewd guess at the destination of n
party which had shipped on the Rufu
Smith. / then pursued my cour,e |
] Leeward. But admit, my friends. tbs
: | have not by my arrival, caused 70
any material loss. Except that | hay
unfortunately been compelled TO prt
sent you to yourselves In the charas
ter of-as says the young iady-pI
rates-madam. speak under corres
toni have done you no injury, EN-
And that for the simple REASON thu
you have not discovered what yo,
sought. hence cannot be required {,
surrender It,"
We looked at one another doubtful
ly. The ambiguous words Of the Span
lard. the something humorous ane
hooking which lay behind his courtly
manner put us quite In the dark.
"Senor Gonzales" replied the
S~cotchman, after a moments heslfs
ton, st is true that so far only 8
negligible amount OF what we came &C
find has rewarded us. But 1 cannoi
in honesty conceal from you that we
know where TO look for the rest of II,
and that we had certainly expected 10
leave the island with 1t In our posses.
sion"
The dark indolent eyes of our Wis.
itor grew suddenly keen. Half-velled
by the heavy lashes, they searched the
face of Dugald Shaw. 1t seemed that
what they found In that bold and open
countenance satisfied them. His own
face cleared again.
II think we speak at ross-purposes
Mr.. Shaw" he said c~ourteousIy. .and
that we may better understand each
other. | am going to tell you a little
story. At about this season. two a
ago. the navy of Santa Marina. the
same which now lies OF the island,
was making a voyage Of inspection
along the coast of the republic. II
was decided to include Leeward In
the cruise, as II had been unvisited for
n considerable Time. ] hold no naval
dAH thdttNf We dit nut u rtdldIfuk
people. and the captain of La Colon
drtna Is a person from Massachusetts,
Jeremiah Bowles by name. but as the
representative of his exceilency / ac-
c0mpanied La Golondrina. On our ar
rival at Leeward ] came ashore In the
boat, and found TO my surprise a small
st0op at anchor In the cove. About
the clearing were the signs OF recent
habitation. yet | knew that the old
German who had had the copra con-
cession here had been gone for some
time. No n responded TO our shouts
and calls.
Il turned my attention to the sloop,
In the cabin, besides a few clothes,
found something that interested me
very much-a large brass-bound chest,
of an antique type such as is common
enough I'm my own country.
'Of course l had heard of the many
legends of treasure buried on Leeward
island. Consequently | was somewhat
prepared to find In the chest, what In
fact | did find there. we a million
dollars in old Spanish coins.
"These coins. WHICH were packed In
canvas bags, were, as you may
fancy. very quickly transferred to the
We did not trouble ourselves
with the unwIeidy chest. and IL re-
mains, 1 suppose, iH the eHbiH-e The
sloOp, which | observed as we crossed
tire cove 10 have been washed up upon
the rocks
This is a very interesting story,
Senior Gonzales" said Dugald Shaw.
land as you say. your visit
here deprives us OF nothing, but mere
saves us further Improbable labor.
We are grateful to you"
The ~Spaniard bowed.
You do me too much honor. But,
AZ you remark. the story Is interesting.
IL has also the element of mystery.
For there remains the question OF
what became of the owner of the
sloop. His final preparations for leav-
.ng the island had evidently been
made, his possessions removed from
he hut, provisions for the voyage
brought on board the sloop-and then
ne had vanished. What had befallen
limf Did the gold carry with II some
deadly infiuencef One plays, as IL
with this Idea. imagining the SO
melancholy and bloody history, of these
I'D doubloons. How. In the first place.
lad he found them? Through chance
by following some authentic cluef
And then. In the moment Of success,
he disappears-pouf" And Senior
Gonzales disposed of the unknown by
him alrily from the tips OF his
However, We have the treasure
he main point, is 1t not? But have
,ften Wondered"
IF you would like to hear the rest
# the story" said Mr.. Shaw, are
n a position to e~nlighten you. That
ve are so. Is due entirely TO this young
ady. Miss Virginia Harding"
The Spaniard rose and made obeis-
profoundly. He esumed his
leat, prepared to lIsten-no longer the
government Official. but the cordial
md interested guest and friend.
rrha ufnrv of rourao waS a long