Belt Valley times. [volume] (Armington, Mont.) 1894-1977, 1922-06-08

tore on the Shrunken, sun-drfed board
from the cabin roof. and fell to work
1t was not, after all. a labor of Her
cules. The cabin was small and tn,
chest large. / watched with the prid,
Of proprietorshlp the swift ease witt
which the steel-sinewed arms of tn,
Scot made the caked sand dy. TheI
the spade struck something which sen
back a dull metallic sound through tn,
muffiIng sand.
/ gave a little shrek of excitement
Hardly could / have been more thrilled
II | had believed the chest still to con
tain the treasure of which Ii had beer
rayished. II was filed TO It's brass
bound lid with romance, II not Will
gold.
At length. kneellng before 1t,
raised with an effort the heavy lid.
Empty, of course-no more brown
bags. But oh. Dugald, had ever a cir.
such a wonderful brides chest as this
Ooh I"
whats wrong7"
Nothing, only there Is a crack In
the bottom, running all the way along
where II Joins the side"
warped a bit, / suppose. No mat
ter, 1t can be easily repaired-crack
| say, lassle, look here I"
Under the pressure OF Dugald's fin
gers the floor Of the chest was swing.
ing upward on an invisible hinge. Be-
tween II and the true bottom was a
space of about three inches IN depth.
II seemed TO be filled with a layer OF
yellowed cottonwood.
For a long IN we held our
breath, gazing ut each other with eyes
which asked the same question. Then
Dugald lifted n corner of the sheet OF
cotton and plucked 1t away.
At once all the hues Of the rainbow
seemed to be flashing and sparkling
before us. Rubies were there like
great drops of the blood hat the chest
and its treasure had wrung from the
hearts- e2meR IsaPPAiEes, mirroring
the blue of the troplc sky emeralds.
green MS the island verdure = pearls,
white rs the milk of the coconuts and
softly luminous as the phosphorescent
foam which broke on the beach In the
darkness. And there were diamonds
that caught CLEANS of all the others
beauty, and then Knocked them with a
matchless splendor.
There were nine heavy bracelets. all
jewel-set; twenty-three rings, eight OF
them for the hand Of a man. Some of
these rings contained the finest of the
diamonds. except for three splendid
unset stones. There were numbers Of
elaborate old-fashioned earrings, two
rope-llke chains Of gold adorned with
Jewels NJ Intervals. ana several Jew
eled lockets. There was a solid gold
Snuff=bOx, engraved with a COTt of
arms and ornamented with seventeen
fine emeralds. There were. besides
the three diamonds, elghty-twO unset
stones, among them. wrapped by itself
In cotton. a ruby OF extraordinary size
and luster. And there was a sort of
coronet or tiara. sown all over with
clear white brillIants.
Ours7 Yes. for whether or not there
were an Infection of piracy in the
very air OF the island. so that to seize
with the high hand, to hold with the
iron grasp. seemed the law of life. we
decided without a qualm against the
surrender Of our reasure-trove to Its
technical owners Technical only for
one felt that, In essence, all talk OF
ownership by this man or that had
long ago become Idle. Fate had held
the treasure In fee to give or TO with
hold. Senior Gonzales had had his
chance at the chest. and he had missed
the secret Of the hidden hoarf, had
left II to lie forgotten under the sand
until In some troplc storm II should
be engulfed by the waters Of the cove.
More than this. had he not most spe-
officially made over to me the Island
Queen and all that II contained? This
was a title clear enough to satisfy the
most exacting Journalist. And we were
not Journalists, nor inclined In any
quibbling spirit TO question the de-
crees Of Fortune. AS treasure-hunt-
ers. we had been her divorces too
long.
So after all 1t was not my scornful
skeptIclsm but the high faith of Miss
Higglesby- Browne which was Justified
by the event. and the Harding-Browne
expedition left the island well repaid
for It's tolls and perils.- Plus the tive
bags of doubloons, which were added
to the spells. the treasure brought us
a sum SO goodiy that dare not name
IL. for fear OF the apparitlon Of Senior
Gonzales and the Santa MarInan navy
looming up to demand restitution.
Like true comredes, We divided share
and share alike. and be sure that no
one grudged Cookie the percentage
which each was taxed for his benefit.
And now ] come to the purpose OF
this story-for though well concealed
has tmd n from the beginning. 1t
is to let Helen. whoever and wherever
she may be. IL still OF this world. know
of the fate Of Peter. and 10 tell her
that when she asks for them she IL 70
have my most cherished relics OF the
Island. Peters journal and the silver