Evening star., 1938-11-27
A. ABOUT four feet Car's spade struck
A solid wood
- - 1t might have been an ancient shin's

- - 1t might have been an ancient ship's
timber, washed ashore and buried in the sand
but Carl knew it was not The KNOWLEDGE of
what was below the point of his spade made
the sweat break out on his body The tool al
most slipped from his trembling hands. He
wet his lips and again looked up and down the
barren curve of the shore
There was no one in sight He had known
there would be no one, yet he searched the
earth and the sea and even the sky, and saw
only four white sea birds.
Yet he was not alone on the island Beyond
the low headland behind him, he knew, was
the camp they had made the night before - d
hastily erected tent with litter of supplies
and utensils before it, dinghy drawn high
on the shore, and on the sand near the tent
the sprawling, senseless figures of his COM
panions. One of them, at least. was now
marked for death, by the token of what was
beneath Carl Seifert's spade.
Carl stared at the intricate pattern of his
footprints in the soft yellow sand; the pock-
marked trails he had made while working out
the bearings which had brought him to this
any man had ever been here before Certainly
there was no sign that Brahm Fenning, the
pirate, had been here
San DomenlCO was mere speCk of land,
south and west of Cat Island in the Bahamas:
the winds and the sun and the ea-birds knew
it. and the photographers - for it was upon
their maps but it was an nhosptable spot,
glrt about with reefs. and no tradition had
attached to it tale of buried treasure.
History recorded briefly that Brahm
Fenning had been hung for the crime of
piracy, dying, as he had lived, dourly and with
bad grace This was all that had come down
concerning the buccaneer whose hidden loot
Seifert had come to steal from Byron Anderson,
the lad to whom. if anyone, it belonged
Anderson had the parchment from his
father a greengroCer with an unmaglnatve
mind. The old man had not even bothered to
have the writing translated. When he had
died Byron had found the time -yellowed
document among his fathers papers, and had
taken it to Carl Seifert. who had been his
fathers friend. The parchment had been
found, curled tightly like a spill, in the hollow
shaft OF an ancient iron CandlestlCk Bvrons
mother had picked up in some out of thew way
stall near the river. Translated from the
grabbed Portuguese, the sCreed read:
1T amuses me somewhat to set down
here an account OF vast treasure which
see clearly shall not now live to enjoy.
If by chance some curious person takes
this candlestiCk apart years hence, then
will curiosity for once be repaid indeed.
There are two chests buried where have
shown them to be The first contains
naught of value save to those who first
possessed what is therein; the second
holds more than the ransom of king.
Brahm Fenning.'
On the reverse side was detailed map of
the island of San Domenico, with points and
bearings clearly marked, and skull upon two
crossed bones to mark the spot where. note
explained, . lies that which cost the lives
of many men and some few women and which
perchance will yet cost lives. There is too
much gold for one man to bear let no one man
seek to take the treasure alone and thus cheat
the companions he must take with him to
reach so far spot. else may my curse be ever
lasting upon him. b. F.
The mark of truth was on the thing
Sefert had no doubt from the moment Len
Knowles had slowly translated the ancient
writing, that night in Seifert S shop. Then and
there the three of them had made the pact.