Shoshone journal. [volume] (Shoshone, Idaho) 1884-1931, 1922-02-17

Other sharp turn, rOunQ myself IN
cave, some thirty feet In depth
eighteen across, with an opening o
the narrow strip Of beach l had see
from the top Of the cliffs.
THE roof is high, with an effect o
Gothic 1rches Near the mouth is
Tiny spring of ice-cold water, whicl
has worn a clean rock channel fol
itself TO the sea- Otherwise the cave
is perfectly dry. There is no doubi
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
Bonny Lass may have known Of 1t be-
fore he brought the treasure to the
island. There were queer folk to be
met with In those days in the west
ern ocean. Yes, the cave has seen
many fierce, sea-tanned face and
tarry pigtail, and echoed to strange
oaths and WILD sea-songs. Men had
carved those steps In the passage
thirty-two Of them. In the sand Of
TIE floor, as / kicked it up with my
feet, hoping rather chlldIshly to strike
the corner of the chest, l found the
hllt and part Of the blade Of a rusty
cutlass, and chased silver shoe
buckle. l shall take the buckle home
to Helen-and yet how trivial It will
seem, with all else that 1 have to Of
fer her. Nevertheless she will prize
It as my gift, and because It comes
from the place to which some kind
angel led me for her sake.
Il left the cave and hurried back to
the cabin for q spade, walking on air,
breaking with snatches of song the
terrible stiffness of the woods, where
one hears only the high fitful signing
Of the wind, or the eternal mutter Of
the sea.
Back In the cave, l set to WORK
feverishly, making the light sand fly.
At the end Of half an hour, at point
close to the angle OF the wall my
spade struck hard surface 1t lay
l should judge, under about two feet
of sand. Soon l had laid bare patch
OF dark wood which rang under my
knuckles almost like Iron. A little
more, and l had cleared away thN
sand from the top of q large ches7
with convex lid. heavily bound in
brass.
"Furiously l flung the sand aside
until the chest stood free for half its
oh is roughly three feet. II
has handles at the ends, great hand
wrought loops of metal l tugged my
hardest, but the chest seemed fast In
Its place as the native rock. |
laughed exultantly. The weight meant
gold-goldl / had hammer and chlsel
with me, and with these / forced the
massive ancient locks. There were
three OF them, one for each strip of
brass which bound the chest. Then /
flung up the lid.
mo glitterlng treasure dazzled me.
| saw only surface of stained can
vas, tucked in carefully around the
edges. This I tore off and flung aside
-eclipsing poor Benny. who was
most interested spectator of my
strange proceedings. Still no CLEAN Of
gold. merely demure rows Of plump
brown bags. With both hands
reached for them. Oh, to grasp them
all l had TO be content with two, be-
cause they were so heavy. so blessedly
heavy
Il spread the square Of canvas on
the sand cut the strings from the bags
and poured out-gold. gold Ali fair
shining golden coins they were. not q
paltry silver piece among them And
they made soft golden music as
they fell In a glorious yellow heap.
Il don't know how long | sat there.
playing with my gold. running II
through my fingers, cllnklng the coins
together In my palm. Benny came and
shifted at them indifferently, unable 70
understand his masters preoccupation-
He thrust his nose into my face and
barked. and said as clearly as with
words, Come. hunt pigr
"'Ben1y,' | said, wen leave tho
pork alone Just now. We have work
enough TO count our money. We're
rich. old boy, rich. rich
"Of course, don't yet know exact
ly what the value Of the treasure Is. /
have counted the bags In the chest /
there are one hundred and forty-eight.
Each. SO far as | have determined, |
contains one thousand doubloOns,
which makes a total OF one hundred
and forty-eight thousand. Estimating
each coin. for the sake Of even figures,
al a value OF seven d0llars-a safe
mlnlInum-you get one million, thirty
SIX thousand dollars. And as many
u the es.ns are ancient ] ought 70
reap harvest from collectors
"Besides fhe coin, ] found, rather
laid between the upper
layers ~ bogs, silver eruclng nboW
n.ne Inches long "a Is N very qpnlp'
lld workmanship aud hndly iaruisnee
has money value must le fely WlH nf
.ompared f0 fhe Same bu's NJ golden
.oIns. fhnk % WuH tNW had s'lf
....l.I rInfHrfrr nf sHrniUarr nNIOt