by captain howard patterson.
"ralph," said grandfather sterling, one hot august morning, looking over the veranda rail to where the boy was stretched full length upon the lawn, "did i ever tell you about the time that i went hunting for a treasure that had been buried by a pirate on one of the islands in the west indies?"
the lad came bounding up the steps in delight, for there was no greater treat to him than one of the old sea-captain's stories concerning the long and adventurous life that he had led from the time of his first voyage as cabin-boy until his retirement from the sea about two years before.
"no, indeed, grandpop, and it will be jolly, i'm sure. please fill up your pipe, so that you won't have to stop just when you get to the most exciting part. here's your box of matches; and now, as you often say, 'let the reel hum.'"
captain sterling smiled affectionately into the eager face upturned to his, and commenced his story:
"it was when i was second mate of a brig called the nellie, a good many years ago, that this yarn really begins. we were homeward bound from brazil, with a cargo of coffee, when the yellow fever broke out on board. first the captain sickened and died, then in order followed our first mate, leaving me in command. next the oldest member of our crew was struck down, and to give him a chance for his life, as well as to humor the wishes of the men, i had him taken out of the dark hot forecastle and brought aft into one of the spare state-rooms in the cabin. here i nursed him as well as i could; but although the fever broke after the third day, it left him so weak that he could not rally, and his end was hastened on account of his not being able to retain the slightest nourishment. he seemed to be very grateful for my care. on the afternoon of the fifth day of his sickness he said to me that he knew his end was near, and that he wished to show his gratitude while there was yet time. in his chest in the forecastle, he stated that there was a leather wallet, which i was to get and give to him. i did as he requested. he took from it a sheet of paper, on which was rudely sketched the outline of an island, with a compass showing the cardinal points. on the western side of this island there was an indentation resembling a bay having a very narrow entrance from the sea, and in about the middle of the sketch there was a small circle, about west of which a cross was marked.
"'take this,' he said to me, 'and listen to what i say. this is a chart of a little island known as san juan, in the windward west indies. you will see that i have given[pg 87] its latitude and longitude. twenty years ago i was one of the officers of the pirate schooner don pedro. we went on shore at san juan to divide the contents of the treasure-chest and to carouse. during the night, when all others were sleeping, i stole away to the spring, which is shown by the circle on the chart, and buried my share of the treasure—nearly ten thousand dollars in gold—three feet in the sand. i dug the hole right in the wake of the rising moon, with the spring between it and me. go to the island, count fifty paces west of the spring, and dig.'
"'but,' i said to him, 'how do you know but what the money was found years ago?'
"'the island is uninhabited, and no one but myself ever knew that i had hidden it there. two weeks after that the don pedro was captured. they hung the captain, and imprisoned the rest of us for life. one year ago i escaped. since that time i have been waiting for a chance to recover my treasure. i intended to use the wages made on this voyage to buy a passage to st. croix, which is the nearest inhabited island to san juan, and then by some means reach the place where my gold is safely hidden. the money is yours now, and i want you to take it as a gift from me for your kindness.'
"later on, when i visited his room, he was resting peacefully, with a little ivory crucifix pressed against his cold white lips. the spirit of the pirate had sailed on its last voyage across the sea of eternity.
"three weeks later i carried the nellie into the harbor of new york, and received a handsome present in money from the owners for my services, with which i bought a passage on a sailing-vessel, known as the dart, bound to st. croix, and reached that place after an uneventful voyage.
"during our trip i stated to the captain that my business was to look after some interests of an acquaintance, and that i hoped to have the same attended to in advance of the time that the vessel was to sail, so that i might return in her. i volunteered the same explanation at the house where i secured board, and then found myself at liberty to go and come without arousing interest in my movements. having an object to gain, i made it a point of keeping up very friendly relations with the captain of the dart, several times inviting him to dine with me, and showing him many other courtesies, which he responded to by having me as a guest at his table on board whenever i could make it convenient to visit his vessel. one evening, as we sat under the quarter-deck awning enjoying our havanas, i said, carelessly:
"'captain, i've been thinking that i would like to hire your long-boat for the time that we shall be here. being fitted with lug-sails, she can easily be handled by one man, and i would enjoy running about the harbor in her, and even making little trips along shore when i have nothing else to do.'
"'you can have her in welcome,' he said. 'don't say a word about pay. as long as you will return her all right you can use her to your heart's content. i will get her overboard in the morning, and have her put in shape for you.'
"the next day i made a trial spin in the boat, and found her all that a sailor could wish for in the way of speed and sea-going qualities. the pirate's island was something less than sixty miles away, and i knew that in the constant trade-winds that i had to count upon to give me a fair breeze there and back, i should be able to reach it in about ten hours.
"during the next two or three days i made several short excursions along the coast, gradually paving the way for the dash i had in view. at last the day arrived when i determined to stretch away for the little coral island below the horizon. in the early morning i left the house, carrying a valise, in which was food sufficient for my anticipated needs, a large garden trowel, and a boat compass that i had brought from the states. folded in the pocket of my coat i carried a chart of the windward islands, and with this equipment i stepped on board, hoisted the two jib-headed sails, and started on my voyage.
"hour after hour i was swept swiftly onward over the wind-whipped waves, holding the brave little vessel steadily to her course. it was about four o'clock in the afternoon that i lifted the island into sight, bearing directly ahead, and an hour later found me sailing through the narrow inlet that the pirate had laid down on his chart. i ran the boat head on to the sandy beach, securing her painter to one of several stunted palm-trees that grew in a bunch close to the water. the island was not much more than a mile in circumference, and was impoverished in the matter of vegetation, although the cactus-plant showed here and there, and a few cocoanut-trees with a fringe of sickly scrub underbrush occupied the centre of this otherwise barren island. i reasoned that the site of the spring must be found within the little grove; so, providing myself with the trowel and compass, i made my way toward it.
"from the time that i had first become familiar with the pirate's secret up to the hour when i landed on the island my head had been perfectly cool and my nerves tranquil; but now, as i approached the spot that i had travelled two thousand miles to find, i grew dizzy, and my limbs trembled, so that i was obliged to throw myself on the sand to rest for a few minutes and to force a return of my self-control. then i arose and stepped within the circle of the little oasis.
"if there had been a spring there twenty years before, it had dried up in the interval, although a bowl-shaped hollow in the soil possibly showed where the water had once oozed through the sand.
"i asked myself if i had not been too credulous in pinning my faith to a pirate's wild tale. had i been chasing a rainbow? had i spent hard-earned savings and wasted several months' time on a wild-goose errand? such thoughts made me sick at heart and half desperate. i placed my compass on the ground, carefully measured fifty paces due west of what i was forced to consider the site of the old spring, and fell to digging with my trowel.
"at the depth of about three feet i struck coral; then i commenced a trench running north and south, and dug away for an hour, meeting with nothing but fine white sand and the coral foundation. hope as good as deserted me. looking at the sun, i saw that it was almost touching the horizon-line, and knew that in a short time darkness would fall—for there is no twilight in the tropics. i dropped my trowel, and sat down on the edge of the hole that had promised so much in the beginning. as i gave loose rein to my bitter thoughts i savagely kicked the toe of my boot into the sandy wall of the opposite side of the pit.
"was i dreaming? had disappointment turned my brain, or had i really heard the clink of metal? i held my breath, and again drove my boot heavily against the wall.
"a piece of the soil fell into the pit, and out of the hole that it left a golden waterfall poured down with a merry, maddening clink, clink, clink; and there i sat, motionless, fascinated, while the treasure ran over my feet and literally hid them from sight. then my senses partly returned to me, and i dragged my boots out of the gold and jumped and shouted in a delirium of joy.
"it was no myth, after all, for the thousands so secretly hidden away by the pirate looked upon the light of day for the first time in twenty years, and as i gazed down at the golden heap i realized that it was mine—all mine!
"the sun went down and the deep shadows fell on sea and land as i sat gloating like a miser over my riches. i slept in the ditch that night, lest during absence my fortune should be spirited away, and when morning came i stowed the gold in the valise that i had brought from the boat, then dug into the pocket from which it had flowed, to discover that it yet contained a few scattered pieces, and the rotten remnants of the canvas bag in which it had been buried.
"i set sail with my precious freight, and late that afternoon i reached st. croix, where i pottered about the boat until nightfall; then, under cover of the darkness, i carried the valise to my room on shore and stowed it in my sea-chest.
"little remains to be told. i returned to new york in the dart, and used the little fortune that had come to me to purchase a captain's interest in a fine vessel."
