Evening star., 1922-12-24

" " murdered for money. even
as they have a knack OF
doing to this day. they hid the io''
at their headquarters in the Ha'a
paros Islands-silver and gold: BOAT
loads Of it. Treasure. undoubtedly. Is
still lying hidden there. TWO caches
have been unearthed. silver ingots
and pieces Of eight. respectively
The finder of one built himsei'
handsome hotel in Ecuador. and the
other drank himself to death in snort
order But there is definite proof
that there is more.
Asa field for the treasure hunter II
"a doubtful il any place.in the ~oria
offers better chances OF success tooas
,hat these islands. but-and. thefe 10
,lways n "but"-the uncertainty OF
wind and current among them max es
:, imnossihle for a sailing ship to un-
dertake the search. n motor auAiiials
Is too unreliable. and small steamer
is too large for the creeks ana reei
channels it would he necessary L"
nerotiate. With a full-powereu
launch and diving apparatus and
narent ship in attendance. ana un-
limited time and patience and money
but these he dreams beyond the
roach Of the, pcnniless world wan
d,rer; dreams. nevertheless. that VIII
assuredlv one day he realized.
No one thinks Of the Galapagos
islands Situatetl-a a bare six hundred
-, -. 49, s,erican coast line
in ,f,e direct trade route between tho
South Pacific Islands and the unneo
States. this group is seldom Sls'teo
more than twice a year. and then Tor
the most part by Ecuadoriau schoon-
ers The veriest atoll in the south
Pacific receives more attention. and
with not tithe of the cause. The
cause" Well. come with US to the
hacienda. of the owner of Cristooai
and YOU shall see.
X
TRANSFERRING ones activities
L from the heaving deck of our
dream ship TO the equally heaving
back of a mountain pony, YOU iope
for an hour up Il winding, bowider-
.t-ewn track through Il wilderness of
low scrub aud volcanic rock. Sur
mounting 2 ridge. the last OF a halt
dozen, YOU rein in to breathe your
pony and incidentally to marvel. You
remind yourself that you are pre-
cisely on the equator: yet it is posi-
lively chilly up there Ana
from here you have a chance TO pause
with us for a bird's-eye perspective
over the long route we have come
hack over the watery trail from Eng
land. from which We three. Peter
my sister; steve and I had sailed
across the Atlantic in our tough lit
tie twenty-three ton cutter. and also
back more Immediately over our
devious wake to Balboa at the Pacific
end of the Panama canal. 1t was
there that this particular adventure
had started.
Balboa is in the Canal Zone. which
Is United States territory. though
cutting clean through the republic OF
Panama. and in this particular sam
pie of United States territory. though
founded upon a swamp. YOU will en-
counter-among other such amazing
things as an entire absence of mos
quitoes. charming residences set IN
park-like surroundings. and a well
conducted club, free to allan assort-
ment of ice cream creations war
Panted to hypnotize the uninitiated.
Ihave to mention this detail because
our lives at Balboa appeared to con-
sist in rowing ashore to transact i'm
portant business in Panama and be-
ing waylaid en- route and held captive
by insidious messes.
Resides 1t was over something
sundae that I met the man who came
very near to shaping our destiny.
True. there were pearling islands to
the eastward. he Informed me: he had
rshed there himself in the past win
varying success. and would like noth-
ing better than to try again ABOARD
the dream ship. He would make en-
quiries.
The fruits of these were impaired
The next day over peach something
else. The group had been done TO
death and was CLOSED" for a term
of three years. but-this over an
orange orang outang-if we careo 10
90 a little farther afield. and oiVert
our attention from pearl shell 10 soio'
he knew of a spot not far soutn "heFe
tho natives were in the haplt Oh
washing the stuff out of clods OF
earth from their backyards, heio
under the caves of the houses during
A rain storm. What about II: Inc
answer at the moment, and as far as
| can remember, was a strawberry
slush.
But we had decided to go. Prepa-
rations for making the where"uhal
We so sorely needed were already
afoot when a miracle intervened. On
succeeding one afternoon in getting
clean past temptation and into the
city of Panama. l found a letter
awaiting me from a certain magician
who dwells In a place called New
York. To hide the truth no longer,
he had sold 4 story OF mine TO the
movies" at a figure that to our
starved gaze looked like the war in
demnity. and inside of week the
amount, in beautiful. round, twenty
dollar gold pieces. Uttered the cabin
table of the dream ship.
am aware that in most accounts
uf travel such sordid details as the
financial difficulties encountered are
invariably omitted, either because
there were none. or because the
writer considers it in the light of bad
form to mention them. In our par
ticular case they certainly existed.