Belt Valley times. [volume] (Armington, Mont.) 1894-1977, 1922-04-06

eighteen across, WIN an opening Oh
the narrow strip Of beach l had seel
from the top Of the cliffs.
The roof IS high. with an effect o
Gothic riches. Near the mouth is 1
tiny spring OF ice-cold water. which
has worn a clean rock channel fol
itself to the sea. Otherwise the cave
j. perfectly dry There Is no doubt
IN my mind that in the great buc.
caneering days OF the Seventeenth
century. and probably much later, the
place was the haunt Of pirates. One
fancies that Captain Sampson Of the
-Rnnps Lass may have known OF IL be-
fore he brought The reasure TO the
island. There were queer folk e Re
met with In those days IN the west
ern ocean. Yes. the cave has seen
many II fierce. sea-tnnned face and
tarry pigtail. and echoed To strange
oaths and Wild sea-songs. Men had
carved those steps IN the passage
I mirfy-two Of them, In the sand OF
/ tie -haor. -as-I kicked It up with my
feet, hoping rather childishly to strike
The corner Of the ehestTE found the
hilt and part OF the blade OF a rusty
e%utlass.- and "A chased silver shoe
buckle. | shall take the buckle home
10 lfeien-and YET how trivial II Will
seem. with all else that | have to Of
fer her, Nevertheless She WIFI prize
IL a. my gift. and because il comes
from the place 10 which some kind
angel led me for her sake.
II left tire CHve and hurried back TO
the cabin for "a spade. walking on air.
breaking with snatches OF song The
terrible stiffness OF the woods, where
one hears only the high ftfuI signing
Of the wind. or the eternal mutter of
the sea.
"Baek-i IN the cave, / set TO work
feverishly. making the light sand ny.
Al the end Of half AN hour. at II point
close 10 the angle Of the wall my
spade struck n hard surface. II lay.
| should judge, under about two feet
Of sand. Soon | had laid bare a patch
Of dark wood which rang under my
knuckles almost Ike iron. A little
more, and / had cleared away the
Send from the top OF a large chest
with n convex lid. heavily bound In
brass.
~Furiously flung the sand aside
iJntib The chest stood free fer half Its
depth-which IS roughly three feet. II
has handles nj the ends. great hand
wrought loops OF metal. / tugged my
hardest hut tie=ehest seemed fast in
lis place as the native rock. II
exultantly. The weight meant
gold-gold. ! had hammer and chisel
With me. and with these / forced the
massive ancient locks. There were
Three of them. one for each strip ~
hrnss which bound the chest TheT=Ef
hung up the I'D.
No %glittering treasure dazzled me.
| saw only a surface OF stained can
vas. tucked In carefully around The
This / tore on and flung aside
-eclipsing poor Benny. who was a
most Interested spectator OF my
proceedings. still no CLEAN ~
gold, merely demure rows OF plump
brown bags. With both hands
for them. Oh. 10 grasp them
alt. | had to be content with two. be-
they were so heavy. so blessedly
Il spread the square OF canvas on
the sand. cut the strings from the bags
and poured out-gold. gold All fair
golden coins they were. nor a
silver piece among them And
they made a soft golden music as
they fell In a glorious yellow heap.
Il don't know how long l sat there,
with my gold, running it
through my fingers, clinking the coins
together In my palm. Benny came aud
M them indifferently, unable %
understand his masters preoccupaflon
lie thrust his nose into my face and
and said as clearly as with
Come, hunt pig
Benny l said, wen leave the
pork alone just now. We have work
to count our money. We're
-ich, old boy, rich, rich"
"Of course. l don't yet know exact.
y what the value of the treasur il.
have counted the bags In the chest;
here are n hundred and ~forty-eight.
Each. so far as | have determined,
one thousand doubloons,
which makes a total OF one hundred
lnd ~f0rty-eight thousand. Estimating
bach coin. for the sake of even figures,
1t a value Of seven dollars safe
ninintufn-you get one million. thirty.
xix thousand dollars And as many
II the coins are ancient | ought 10
a harvest from collectors.
Besides the coin. / found, rather
surprisingly, laid between the upper
ayers of bags. a silver crucihx about
nine Inches long IL is-of very quaint
Did workmanship, and badly furnished.
It's money value must be very trining.
compared to the same bulk or golden
i think II must have had some
character OF ~sacredness which
ed TO Its preservation here. II ia
TO lind such a relic among .
SO attained by blnnd and