If you can, in any way, make it convenient, come over with Jupiter.
_Do_ come. I wish to see you _to-night_, upon business of importance. I
assure you that it is of the _highest_ importance.
Ever yours,
William Legrand.
There was something in the tone of this note which gave me great
uneasiness. Its whole style differed materially from that of Legrand.
What could he be dreaming of? What new crotchet possessed his excitable
brain? What "business of the highest importance" could _he_ possibly
have to transact? Jupiter's account of him boded no good. I dreaded
lest the continued pressure of misfortune had, at length, fairly
unsettled the reason of my friend. Without a moment's hesitation,
therefore, I prepared to accompany the negro.
Upon reaching the wharf, I noticed a scythe and three spades, all
apparently new, lying in the bottom of the boat in which we were to
embark.
"What is the meaning of all this, Jup?" I inquired.
"Him syfe, massa, and spade."
"Very true; but what are they doing here?"
"Him de syfe and de spade what Massa Will 'sis' 'pon my buying for him
in de town, and de debbil's own lot of money I had to gib for 'em."
"But what, in the name of all that is mysterious, is your 'Massa Will'
going to do with scythes and spades?"
"Dat's more dan _I_ know, and debbil take me if I don't b'lieve 'tis
more dan he know, too. But it's all come ob de bug."
Finding that no satisfaction was to be obtained of Jupiter, whose whole
intellect seemed to be absorbed by "de bug," I now stepped into the
boat and made sail. With a fair and strong breeze we soon ran into the
little cove to the northward of Fort Moultrie, and a walk of some two
miles brought us to the hut. It was about three in the afternoon when
we arrived. Legrand had been awaiting us in eager expectation. He
grasped my hand with a nervous _empressement_[12] which alarmed me and
strengthened the suspicions already entertained. His countenance was
pale even to ghastliness, and his deep-set eyes glared with unnatural
lustre. After some inquiries respecting his health, I asked him, not
knowing what better to say, if he had yet obtained the _scarabaeus_
from Lieutenant G——.
"Oh, yes," he replied, coloring violently, "I got it from him the next
morning. Nothing could tempt me to part with that _scarabaeus_. Do you
know that Jupiter is quite right about it!"
"In what way?" I asked, with a sad foreboding at heart.
"In supposing it to be a bug of _real gold_." He said this with an air
of profound seriousness, and I felt inexpressibly shocked.
"This bug is to make my fortune," he continued, with a triumphant
smile, and reinstate me in my family possessions. Is it any wonder,
then, that I prize it? Since Fortune has thought fit to bestow it upon
me, I have only to use it properly and I shall arrive at the gold of
which it is the index. Jupiter, bring me that _scarabaeus_!"
"What! de bug, massa? I'd rudder not go fer trubble dat bug—you mus'
git him for your own self." Hereupon Legrand arose, with a grave and
stately air, and brought me the beetle from a glass case in which it
was enclosed. It was a beautiful _scarabaeus_, and, at that time,
unknown to naturalists—of course a great prize in a scientific point of
view. There were two round black spots near one extremity of the back,
and a long one near the other. The scales were exceedingly hard and
glossy, with all the appearance of burnished gold. The weight of the
insect was very remarkable, and, taking all things into consideration,
I could hardly blame Jupiter for his opinion respecting it; but what to
make of Legrand's agreement with that opinion, I could not, for the
life of me, tell.
"I sent for you," said he, in a grandiloquent tone when I had completed
my examination of the beetle, "I sent for you, that I might have your
counsel and assistance in furthering the views of Fate and of the bug"—
"My dear Legrand," I cried, interrupting him, "you are certainly
unwell, and had better use some little precautions. You shall go to
bed, and I will remain with you a few days, until you get over this.
You are feverish and"—
"Feel my pulse," said he.
I felt it, and, to say the truth, found not the slightest indication of
fever.
"But you may be ill and yet have no fever. Allow me this once to
prescribe for you. In the first place, go to bed. In the next"—
"You are mistaken," he interposed; "I am as well as I can expect to be
under the excitement which I suffer. If you really wish me well, you
will relieve this excitement."
"And how is this to be done?"
"Very easily, Jupiter and myself are going upon an expedition into the
hills, upon the mainland, and, in this expedition, we shall need the
aid of some person in whom we can confide. You are the only one we can
trust. Whether we succeed or fail, the excitement which you now
perceive in me will be equally allayed."
"I am anxious to oblige you in any way," I replied; "but do you mean to
say that this infernal beetle has any connection with your expedition
into the hills?"
"It has."
"Then, Legrand, I can become a party to no such absurd proceeding."
"I am sorry—very sorry—for we shall have to try it by ourselves."
"Try it by yourselves! The man is surely mad!—but stay!—how long do you
propose to be absent?"
"Probably all night. We shall start immediately, and be back, at all
events, by sunrise."
"And will you promise me upon your honor, that when this freak of yours
is over, and the bug business (good God!) settled to your satisfaction,
you will then return home and follow my advice implicitly, as that of
your physician?"
"Yes; I promise; and now let us be off, for we have no time to lose."
With a heavy heart I accompanied my friend. We started about four
o'clock—Legrand, Jupiter, the dog, and myself. Jupiter had with him the
scythe and spades, the whole of which he insisted upon carrying, more
through fear, it seemed to me, of trusting either of the implements
within reach of his master, than from any excess of industry or
complaisance. His demeanor was dogged in the extreme, and "dat d——d
bug" were the sole words which escaped his lips during the journey. For
my own part, I had charge of a couple of dark lanterns, while Legrand
contented himself with the _scarabaeus_, which he carried attached to
the end of a bit of whipcord, twirling it to and fro, with the air of a
conjurer, as he went. When I observed this last plain evidence of my
friend's aberration of mind, I could scarcely refrain from tears. I
thought it best, however, to humor his fancy, at least for the present,
or until I could adopt some more energetic measures with a chance of
success. In the meantime I endeavored, but all in vain, to sound him in
regard to the object of the expedition. Having succeeded in inducing me
to accompany him, he seemed unwilling to hold conversation upon any
topic of minor importance, and to all my questions vouchsafed no other
reply than "We shall see!"
We crossed the creek at the head of the island by means of a skiff,
and, ascending the high grounds on the shore of the mainland, proceeded
in a northwesterly direction, through a tract of country excessively
wild and desolate, where no trace of a human footstep was to be seen.
Legrand led the way with decision, pausing only for an instant, here
and there, to consult what appeared is to be certain landmarks of his
own contrivance upon a former occasion.
In this manner we journeyed for about two hours, and the sun was just
setting when we entered a region infinitely more dreary than any yet
seen. It was a species of table-land, near the summit of an almost
inaccessible hill, densely wooded from base to pinnacle, and
interspersed with huge crags that appeared to lie loosely upon the
soil, and in many cases were prevented from precipitating themselves
into the valleys below, merely by the support of the trees against
which they reclined. Deep ravines, in various directions, gave an air
of still sterner solemnity to the scene.
The natural platform to which we had clambered was thickly overgrown
with brambles, through which we soon discovered that it would have been
impossible to force our way but for the scythe; and Jupiter, by
direction of his master, proceeded to clear for us a path to the foot
of an enormously tall tulip-tree, which stood, with some eight or ten
oaks, upon the level, and far surpassed them all, and all other trees
which I had ever seen, in the beauty of its foliage and form, in the
wide spread of its branches, and in the general majesty of its
appearance. When we reached this tree, Legrand turned to Jupiter, and
asked him if he thought he could climb it. The old man seemed a little
staggered by the question, and for some moments made no reply. At
length he approached the huge trunk, walked slowly around it, and
examined it with minute attention. When he had completed his scrutiny,
he merely said:
"Yes, massa, Jup climb any tree he ebber see in he life."
"Then up with you as soon as possible, for it will soon be too dark to
see what we are about."
"How far mus' go up, massa?" inquired Jupiter.
"Get up the main trunk first, and then I will tell you which way to
go—and here—stop! take this beetle with you."
"De bug, Massa Will! de goole-bug!" cried the negro, drawing back in
dismay, "what for mus' tote de bug way up de tree?—d——n if I do!"
"If you are afraid, Jup, a great big negro like you, to take hold of a
harmless little dead beetle, why, you can carry it up by this string;
but if you do not take it up with you in some way, I shall be under the
necessity of breaking your head with this shovel."
"'What de matter, now, massa?" said Jup, evidently shamed into
compliance; "always want fur to raise fuss wid old nigger. Was only
funnin' anyhow. _Me_ feered de bug! what I keer for de bug?" Here he
took cautiously hold of the extreme end of the string, and, maintaining
the insect as far from his person as circumstances would permit,
prepared to ascend the tree.
In youth the tulip-tree, or _Liriodendron tulipifera_, the most
magnificent of American foresters, has a trunk peculiarly smooth, and
often rises to a great height without lateral branches; but, in its
riper age, the bark becomes gnarled and uneven, while many short limbs
make their appearance on the stem. Thus the difficulty of ascension, in
the present case, lay more in semblance than in reality. Embracing the
huge cylinder as closely as possible with his arms and knees, seizing
with his hands some projections, and resting his naked toes upon
others, Jupiter, after one or two narrow escapes from falling, at
length wriggled himself into the first great fork, and seemed to
consider the whole business as virtually accomplished. The _risk_ of
the achievement was, in fact, now over, although the climber was some
sixty or seventy feet from the ground.
"Which way mus' go now, Massa Will?" he asked.
"Keep up the largest branch, the one on this side," said Legrand. The
negro obeyed him promptly, and apparently with but little trouble;
ascending higher and higher, until no glimpse of his squat figure could
be obtained through the dense foliage which enveloped it. Presently his
voice was heard in a sort of halloo.
"How much fudder I's got for go?"
"How high up are you?" asked Legrand.
"Ebber so fur," replied the negro; "can see de sky fru de top ob de
tree."
"Never mind the sky, but attend to what I say. Look down the trunk and
count the limbs below you on this side. How many limbs have you
passed?"
"One, two, three, four, fibe—I done pass fibe big limb, massa, 'pon dis
side."
"Then go one limb higher."
In a few minutes the voice was heard again, announcing that the seventh
limb was attained.
"Now, Jup," cried Legrand, evidently much excited, "I want you to work
your way out upon that limb as far as you can. If you see anything
strange, let me know."
By this time what little doubt I might have entertained of my poor
friend's insanity was put finally at rest. I had no alternative but to
conclude him stricken with lunacy, and I became seriously anxious about
getting him home. While I was pondering upon what was best to be done,
Jupiter's voice was again heard.
"Mos' feerd for to ventur' 'pon dis limb berry far—'tis dead limb putty
much all de way."
"Did you say it was a _dead_ limb, Jupiter?" cried Legrand, in a
quavering voice.
"Yes, massa, him dead as de door-nail—done up for sartain—done departed
dis here life."
"What in the name of heaven shall I do?" asked Legrand, seemingly in
the greatest distress.
"Do!" said I, glad of an opportunity to interpose a word, "why, come
home and go to bed. Come now!—that's a fine fellow. It's getting late,
and, besides, you remember your promise."
"Jupiter," cried he, without heeding me in the least, "do you hear me?"
"Yes, Massa Will, hear you ebber so plain,"
"Try the wood well, then, with your knife, and see if you think it
_very_ rotten."
"Him rotten, massa, sure nuff," replied the negro in a few moments,
"but not so berry rotten as mought be, Mought ventur' out leetle way
'pon de limb by myself, dat's true."
"By yourself! What do you mean?"
"Why, I mean de bug. 'Tis _berry_ hebby bug. S'pose I drop him down
fust, and den de limb won't break wid just de weight of one nigger."
"You infernal scoundrel!" cried Legrand, apparently much relieved,
"what do you mean by telling me such nonsense as that? As sure as you
drop that beetle, I'll break your neck. Look here, Jupiter, do you hear
me?"
"Yes, massa, needn' hollo at poor nigger dat style."
"Well!—now listen! if you will venture out on the limb as far as you
think safe, and not let go the beetle, I'll make you a present of a
silver dollar as soon as you get down."
"I'm gwine, Massa Will—deed I is," replied the negro very
promptly—"mos' out to de eend now."
"_Out to the end_!" here fairly screamed Legrand; "do you say you are
out to the end of that limb?"
"Soon be to de eend, massa—o-o-o-o-oh! Lor-gol-a-marcy! what _is_ dis
here 'pon de tree?"
"Well," cried Legrand, highly delighted, "what is it?"
"Why, 'taint noffin' but a skull—somebody bin lef' him head up de tree,
and de crows done gobble ebery bit ob de meat off."
"A skull, you say! Very well; how is it fastened to the limb? What
holds it on?"
"Shure 'nuff, massa; mus' look. Why, dis berry curous sarcumstance,
'pon my word—dare's a great big nail in do skull, what fastens ob it on
to de tree."
"Well now, Jupiter, do exactly as I tell you—do you hear?"
"Yes, massa."
"Pay attention, then!—find the left eye of the skull."
"Hum! hoo! dat's good! why, dare ain't no eye lef' at all."
"Curse your stupidity! do you know your right hand from your left?"
"Yes, I nose dat—nose all 'bout dat—'tis my lef' hand what I chops de
wood wid."
"To be sure! you are left-handed; and your left eye is on the same side
as your left hand. Now, I suppose you can find the left eye of the
skull, or the place where the left eye has been. Have you found it?"
Here was a long pause. At length the negro asked:
"Is de lef' eye ob de skull 'pon de same side as de lef' hand ob de
skull, too?—'cause the skull ain't got not a bit ob a hand at
all—nebber mind! I got de lef' eye now—here de lef' eye! what mus' do
wid it?"
"Let the beetle drop through it, as far as the string will reach, but
be careful and not let go your hold of the string."
"All dat done, Massa Will; mighty easy ting for to put de bug fru de
hole; look out for him dar below!"
During this colloquy no portion of Jupiter's person could be seen; but
the beetle, which he had suffered to descend, was now visible at the
end of the string, and glistened, like a globe of burnished gold, in
the last rays of the setting sun, some of which still faintly illumined
the eminence upon which we stood. The _scarabaeus_ hung quite clear of
any branches, and if allowed to fall, would have fallen at our feet.
Legrand immediately took the scythe, and cleared with it a circular
space, three or four yards in diameter, just beneath the insect, and,
having accomplished this, ordered Jupiter to let go the string and come
down from the tree.
Driving a peg, with great nicety, into the ground, at the precise spot
where the beetle fell, my friend now produced from his pocket a
tape-measure. Fastening one end of this at that point of the trunk of
the tree which was nearest the peg, he unrolled it till it reached the
peg, and thence farther unrolled it, in the direction already
established by the two points of the tree and the peg, for the distance
of fifty feet—Jupiter clearing away the brambles with the scythe. At
the spot thus attained a second peg was driven, and about this, as a
centre, a rude circle, about four feet in diameter, described. Taking
now a spade himself, and giving one to Jupiter and one to me, Legrand
begged us to set about digging as quickly as possible.
To speak the truth, I had no especial relish for such amusement at any
time, and, at that particular moment, would most willingly have
declined it; for the night was coming on, and I felt much fatigued with
the exercise already taken; but I saw no mode of escape, and was
fearful of disturbing my poor friend's equanimity by a refusal. Could I
have depended, indeed, upon Jupiter's aid, I would have had no
hesitation in attempting to get the lunatic home by force; but I was
too well assured of the old negro's disposition, to hope that he would
assist me, under any circumstances, in a personal contest with his
master. I made no doubt that the latter had been infected with some of
the innumerable Southern superstitions about money buried, and that his
fantasy had received confirmation by the finding of the _scarabaeus_,
or, perhaps, by Jupiter's obstinacy in maintaining it to be "a bug of
real gold." A mind disposed to lunacy would readily be led away by such
suggestions—especially if chiming in with favorite preconceived
ideas—and then I called to mind the poor fellow's speech about the
beetle's being "the index of his fortune." Upon the whole, I was sadly
vexed and puzzled, but, at length, I concluded to make a virtue of
necessity—to dig with a good will, and thus the sooner to convince the
visionary, by ocular demonstration, of the fallacy of the opinions he
entertained.
The lanterns having been lit, we all fell to work with a zeal worthy a
more rational cause; and, as the glare fell upon our persons and
implements, I could not help thinking how picturesque a group we
composed, and how strange and suspicious our labors must have appeared
to any interloper who, by chance, might have stumbled upon our
whereabouts.
We dug very steadily for two hours. Little was said; and our chief
embarrassment lay in the yelping of the dog, who took exceeding
interest in our proceedings. He at length became so obstreperous, that
we grew fearful of his giving the alarm to some stragglers in the
vicinity—-or, rather, this was the apprehension of Legrand; for myself,
I should have rejoiced at any interruption which might have enabled me
to get the wanderer home. The noise was, at length, very effectually
silenced by Jupiter, who, getting out of the hole with a dogged air of
deliberation, tied the brute's mouth up with one of his suspenders, and
then returned, with a grave chuckle, to his task.
When the time mentioned had expired, we had reached a depth of five
feet, and yet no signs of any treasure became manifest. A general pause
ensued, and I began to hope that the farce was at an end. Legrand,
however, although evidently much disconcerted, wiped his brow
thoughtfully and recommenced. We had excavated the entire circle of
four feet diameter, and now we slightly enlarged the limit, and went to
the farther depth of two feet. Still nothing appeared. The gold seeker,
whom I sincerely pitied, at length clambered from the pit, with the
bitterest disappointment imprinted upon every feature, and proceeded,
slowly and reluctantly, to put on his coat, which he had thrown off at
the beginning of his labor. In the meantime I made no remark. Jupiter,
at a signal from his master, began to gather up his tools. This done,
and the dog having been unmuzzled, we turned in profound silence
towards home.
We had taken, perhaps, a dozen steps in this direction, when, with a
loud oath, Legrand strode up to Jupiter and seized him by the collar.
The astonished negro opened his eyes and mouth to the fullest extent,
let fall the spades, and fell upon his knees.
"You scoundrel," said Legrand, hissing out the syllables from between
his clenched teeth, "you infernal black villain! speak, I tell you!
answer me this instant, without prevarication! which—which is your left
eye?"
"Oh, my golly, Massa Will! ain't dis here my lef' eye for sartain?"
roared the terrified Jupiter, placing his hand upon his _right_ organ
of vision, and holding it there with a desperate pertinacity, as if in
immediate dread of his master's attempt at a gouge.
"I thought so! I knew it! hurrah!" vociferated Legrand, letting the
negro go, and executing a series of curvets and caracoles[13], much to
the astonishment of his valet, who, arising from his knees, looked
mutely from his master to myself, and then from myself to his master.
"Come! we must go back," said the latter; "the game's not up yet;" and
he again led the way to the tulip-tree.
"Jupiter," said he, when he reached its foot, "come here! was the skull
nailed to the limb with the face outwards, or with the face to the
limb?"
"De face was out, massa, so dat de crows could get at de eyes good,
widout any trouble."
"Well, then, was it this eye or that through which you dropped the
beetle?"—here Legrand touched each of Jupiter's eyes.
"'Twas dis eye, massa—de lef' eye—jis as you tell me," and here it was
his right eye that the negro indicated.
"That will do—we must try it again."
Here my friend, about whose madness I now saw or fancied that I saw,
certain indications of method, removed the peg which marked the spot
where the beetle fell, to a spot about three inches to the westward of
its former position, Taking now the tape-measure from the nearest point
of the trunk to the peg, as before, and continuing the extension in a
straight line to the distance of fifty feet, a spot was indicated,
removed by several yards from the point at which we had been digging.
Around the new position a circle, somewhat larger than in the former
instance, was now described, and we again set to work with the spades,
I was dreadfully weary, but scarcely understanding what had occasioned
the change in my thoughts, I felt no longer any great aversion from the
labor imposed, I had become most unaccountably interested—nay, even
excited. Perhaps there was something, amid all the extravagant demeanor
of Legrand—some air of forethought, or of deliberation, which impressed
me. I dug eagerly, and now and then caught myself actually looking,
with something that very much resembled expectation, for the fancied
treasure, the vision of which had demented my unfortunate companion. At
a period when such vagaries of thought most fully possessed me, and
when we had been at work perhaps an hour and a half, we were again
interrupted by the violent howlings of the dog. His uneasiness in the
first instance had been, evidently, but the result of playfulness or
caprice, but he now assumed a bitter and serious tone. Upon Jupiter's
again attempting to muzzle him, he made furious resistance, and,
leaping into the hole, tore up the mould frantically with his claws. In
a few seconds he had uncovered a mass of human bones, forming two
complete skeletons, intermingled with several buttons of metal, and
what appeared to be the dust of decayed woolen. One or two strokes of a
spade upturned the blade of a large Spanish knife, and, as we dug
farther, three or four pieces of gold and silver coin came to light.
At sight of these the joy of Jupiter could scarcely be restrained, but
the countenance of his master wore an air of extreme disappointment. He
urged us, however, to continue our exertions, and the words were hardly
uttered when I stumbled and fell forward, having caught the toe of my
boot in a large ring of iron that lay half buried in the loose earth.
We now worked in earnest, and never did I pass ten minutes of more
intense excitement. During this interval we had fairly unearthed an
oblong chest of wood which, from its perfect preservation and wonderful
hardness, had plainly been subjected to some mineralizing
process—perhaps that of the bichloride of mercury. This box was three
feet and a half long, three feet broad, and two and a half feet deep.
It was firmly secured by bands of wrought iron, riveted, and forming a
kind of trellis-work over the whole. On each side of the chest, near
the top, were three rings of iron—six in all—by means of which a firm
hold could be obtained by six persons. Our utmost united endeavors
served only to disturb the coffer very slightly in its bed. We at once
saw the impossibility of removing so great a weight. Luckily, the sole
fastenings of the lid consisted of two sliding bolts. These we drew
back—trembling and panting with anxiety. In an instant, a treasure of
incalculable value lay gleaming before us. As the rays of the lanterns
fell within the pit, there flashed upwards a glow and a glare, from a
confused heap of gold and of jewels, that absolutely dazzled our eyes.
I shall not pretend to describe the feelings with which I gazed.
Amazement was, of course, predominant. Legrand appeared exhausted with
excitement, and spoke very few words. Jupiter's countenance wore, for
some minutes, as deadly a pallor as it is possible, in the nature of
things, for any negro's visage to assume. He seemed
stupefied—-thunder-stricken. Presently he fell upon his knees in the
pit, and, burying his naked arms up to the elbows in gold, let them
there remain, as if enjoying the luxury of a bath. At length, with a
deep sigh, he exclaimed, as if in a soliloquy:
"And dis all cum ob de goole-bug! de putty goole-bug! de poor little
goole-bug, what I 'boosed in dat sabage kind ob style! Ain't you
'shamed ofa yourself, nigger?—answer me dat!"
It became necessary, at last, that I should arouse both master and
valet to the expediency of removing the treasure. It was growing late,
and it behooved us to make exertion, that we might get everything
housed before daylight. It was difficult to say what should be done,
and much time was spent in deliberation—so confused were the ideas of
all. We, finally, lightened the box by removing two-thirds of its
contents, when we were enabled, with some trouble, to raise it from the
hole. The articles taken out were deposited among the brambles, and the
dog left to guard them, with strict orders from Jupiter neither, upon
any pretence, to stir from the spot, nor to open his mouth until our
return. We then hurriedly made for home with the chest, reaching the
hut in safety, but after excessive toil, at one o'clock in the morning.
Worn out as we were, it was not in human nature to do more just now. We
rested until two, and had supper, starting for the hills immediately
afterwards, armed with three stout sacks, which, by good luck, were
upon the premises. A little before four we arrived at the pit, divided
the remainder of the booty as equally as might be among us, and,
leaving the holes unfilled, again set out for the hut, at which, for
the second time, we deposited our golden burdens, just as the first
streaks of dawn gleamed from over the treetops in the east.
We were now thoroughly broken down; but the intense excitement of the
time denied us repose. After an unquiet slumber of some three or four
hours' duration, we arose, as if by preconcert, to make examination of
our treasure.
The chest had been full to the brim, and we spent the whole day, and
the greater part of the next night, in a scrutiny of its contents.
There had been nothing like order or arrangement. Everything had been
heaped in promiscuously.
Having assorted all with care, we found ourselves possessed of even
vaster wealth than we had at first supposed. In coin there was rather
more than four hundred and fifty thousand dollars—estimating the value
of the pieces, as accurately as we could, by the tables of the period.
There was not a particle of silver. All was gold of antique date and of
great variety—French, Spanish, and German money, with a few English
guineas, and some counters[14] of which we had never seen specimens
before. There were several very large and heavy coins, so worn that we
could make nothing of their inscriptions. There was no American money.
The value of the jewels we found more difficulty in estimating. There
were diamonds—some of them exceedingly large and fine—a hundred and ten
in all, and not one of them small; eighteen rubies of remarkable
brilliancy; three hundred and ten emeralds, all very beautiful; and
twenty-one sapphires, with an opal. These stones had all been broken
from their settings and thrown loose in the chest. The settings
themselves, which we picked out from among the other gold, appeared to
have been beaten up with hammers, as if to prevent indentification.
Besides all this, there was a vast quantity of solid gold
ornaments—nearly two hundred massive finger and ear rings; rich
chains—thirty of these, if I remember; eighty-three very large and
heavy crucifixes; five gold censers of great value; a prodigious golden
punch-bowl, ornamented with richly chased vine-leaves and
Bacchanalian[15] figures; with two sword handles exquisitely embossed,
and many other smaller articles which I cannot recollect. The weight of
these valuables exceeded three hundred and fifty pounds avoirdupois;
and in this estimate I have not included one hundred and ninety-seven
superb gold watches, three of the number being worth each five hundred
dollars, if one. Many of them were very old, and as time-keepers
valueless, the works having suffered, more or less, from corrosion; but
all were richly jewelled and in cases of great worth. We estimated the
entire contents of the chest, that night, at a million and a half of
dollars; and, upon the subsequent disposal of the trinkets and jewels
(a few being retained for our own use), it was found we had greatly
undervalued the treasure.
When, at length, we had concluded our examination, and the intense
excitement of the time had in some measure subsided, Legrand, who saw
that I was dying with impatience for a solution of this most
extraordinary riddle, entered into a full detail of all the
circumstances connected with it.
"You remember," said he, "the night when I handed you the rough sketch
I had made of the _scarabaeus_. You recollect, also, that I became
quite vexed at you for insisting that my drawing resembled a
death's-head. When you first made this assertion I thought you were
jesting; but afterwards I called to mind the peculiar spots on the back
of the insect, and admitted to myself that your remark had some, little
foundation in fact. Still, the sneer at my graphic powers irritated
me—for I am considered a good artist—and, therefore, when you handed me
the scrap of parchment, I was about to crumple it up and throw it
angrily into the fire."
"The scrap of paper, you mean," said I.
"No; it had much of the appearance of paper, and at first I supposed it
to be such, but when I came to draw upon it, I discovered it at once to
be a piece of very thin parchment. It was quite dirty, you remember.
Well, as I was in the very act of crumpling it up, my glance fell upon
the sketch at which you had been looking, and you may imagine my
astonishment when I perceived, in fact, the figure of a death's-head
just where, it seemed to me, I had made the drawing of the beetle. For
a moment I was too much amazed to think with accuracy. I knew that my
design was very different in detail from this, although there was a
certain similarity in general outline. Presently I took a candle, and
seating myself at the other end of the room, proceeded to scrutinize
the parchment more closely. Upon turning it over, I saw my own sketch
upon, the reverse, just as I had made it. My first idea, now, was mere
surprise at the really remarkable similarity of outline—at the singular
coincidence involved in the fact that, unknown to me, there should have
been a skull upon the other side of the parchment, immediately beneath
my figure of the _scarabaeus_, and that this skull, not only in
outline, but in size, should so closely resemble my drawing. I say the
singularity of this coincidence absolutely stupefied me for a time.
This is the usual effect of such coincidences. The mind struggles to
establish a connection—a sequence of cause and effect—and being unable
to do so, suffers a species of temporary paralysis. But when I
recovered from this stupor, there dawned upon me gradually a conviction
which startled me even far more than the coincidence. I began
distinctly, positively, to remember that there had been _no_ drawing
upon the parchment when I made my sketch of the _scarabaeus_. I became
perfectly certain of this; for I recollected turning up first one side
and then the other, in search of the cleanest spot. Had the skull been
then there, of course, I could not have failed to notice it. Here was
indeed a mystery which I felt it impossible to explain; but, even at
that early moment, there seemed to glimmer, faintly, within the most
remote and secret chambers of my intellect, a glowworm-like conception
of that truth which last night's adventure brought to so magnificent a
demonstration. I arose at once, and putting the parchment securely
away, dismissed all further reflection until I should be alone.
"When you had gone, and when Jupiter was fast asleep, I betook myself
to a more methodical investigation of the affair. In the first place I
considered the manner in which the parchment had come into my
possession. The spot where we discovered the _scarabaeus_ was on the
coast of the mainland, about a mile eastward of the island, and but a
short distance above high water mark. Upon my taking hold of it, it
gave me a sharp bite, which caused me to let it drop. Jupiter, with his
accustomed caution, before seizing the insect, which had flown towards
him, looked about him for a leaf, or something of that nature, by which
to take hold of it. It was at this moment that his eyes, and mine also,
fell upon the scrap of parchment, which I then supposed to be paper. It
was lying half buried in the sand, a corner sticking up. Near the spot
where we found it, I observed the remnants of the hull of what appeared
to have been a ship's long-boat. The wreck seemed to have been there
for a very great while; for the resemblance to boat timbers could
scarcely be traced.
"Well, Jupiter picked up the parchment, wrapped the beetle in it, and
gave it to me. Soon afterwards we turned to go home, and on the way met
Lieutenant G——. I showed him the insect, and he begged me to let him
take it to the fort. Upon my consenting, he thrust it forthwith into
his waistcoat pocket, without the parchment in which it had been
wrapped, and which I had continued to hold in my hand during his
inspection. Perhaps he dreaded my changing my mind, and thought it best
to make sure of the prize at once—you know how enthusiastic he is on
all subjects connected with Natural History. At the same time, without
being conscious of it, I must have deposited the parchment in my own
pocket.
"You remember that when I went to the table, for the purpose of making
a sketch of the beetle, I found no paper where it was usually kept, I
looked in the drawer, and found none there. I searched my pockets,
hoping to find an old letter, when my hand fell upon the parchment. I
thus detail the precise mode in which it came into my possession; for
the circumstances impressed me with peculiar force.
"No doubt you will think me fanciful, but I had already established a
kind of _connection_. I had put together two links of a great chain.
There was a boat lying upon a seacoast, and not far from the boat was a
parchment—_not a paper_—with a skull depicted upon it. You will, of
course, ask, 'Where is the connection?' I reply that the skull, or
death's-head, is the well-known emblem of the pirate. The flag of the
death's-head is hoisted in all engagements.
"I have said that the scrap was parchment, and not paper. Parchment is
durable—almost imperishable. Matters of little moment are rarely
consigned to parchment, since, for the mere ordinary purposes of
drawing or writing, it is not nearly so well adapted as paper. This
reflection suggested some meaning—some relevancy—in the death's-head. I
did not fail to observe, also, the _form_ of the parchment. Although
one of its corners had been, by some accident, destroyed, it could be
seen that the original form was oblong. It was just such a slip,
indeed, as might have been chosen for a memorandum—for a record of
something to be long remembered and carefully preserved."
"But," I interposed, "you say that the skull was _not_ upon the
parchment when you made the drawing of the beetle. How, then, do you
trace any connection between the boat and the skull—since this latter,
according to your own admission, must have been designed (God only
knows how or by whom) at some period subsequent to your sketching the
_scarabaeus_?"
"Ah, hereupon turns the whole mystery; although the secret, at this
point, I had comparatively little difficulty in solving. My steps were
sure, and could afford but a single result. I reasoned, for example,
thus: When I drew the _scarabaeus_, there was no skull apparent upon
the parchment. When I had completed the drawing I gave it to you, and
observed you narrowly until you returned it, _You_, therefore, did not
design the skull, and no one else was present to do it. Then it was not
done by human agency. And nevertheless it was done.
"At this stage of my reflections I endeavored to remember, and _did_
remember, with entire distinctness, every incident which occurred about
the period in question. The weather was chilly (oh, rare and happy
accident!), and a fire was blazing upon the hearth. I was heated with
exercise, and sat near the table. You, however, had drawn a chair close
to the chimney. Just as I placed the parchment in your hand, and as you
were in the act of inspecting it, Wolf, the Newfoundland, entered, and
leaped upon your shoulders. With, your left hand you caressed him and
kept him off, while your right, holding the parchment, was permitted to
fall listlessly between your knees, and in close proximity to the fire.
At one moment I thought the blaze had caught it, and was about to
caution you, but before I could speak you had withdrawn it, and were
engaged in its examination. When I considered all these particulars, I
doubted not for a moment that _heat_ had been the agent in bringing to
light, upon the parchment, the skull which I saw designed upon it. You
are well aware that chemical preparations exist, and have existed time
out of mind, by means of which it is possible to write upon either
paper or vellum, so that the characters shall become visible only when
subjected to the action of fire. Zaffre[16], digested in _aqua
regia_[17], and diluted with four times its weight of water, is
sometimes employed; a green tint results. The regulus[18] of cobalt,
dissolved in spirit of nitre, gives a red. These colors disappear at
longer or shorter intervals after the material written upon cools, but
again become apparent upon the re-application of heat.
"I now scrutinized the death's-head with care. Its outer edges—the
edges of the drawing nearest the edge of the vellum—were far more
_distinct_ than the others. It was clear that the action of the caloric
had been imperfect or unequal. I immediately kindled a fire, and
subjected every portion of the parchment to a glowing heat. At first,
the only effect was the strengthening of the faint lines in the skull;
but, upon persevering in the experiment, there became visible, at the
corner of the slip diagonally opposite to the spot in which the
death's-head was delineated, the figure of what I at first supposed to
be a goat. A closer scrutiny, however, satisfied me that it was
intended for a kid."
"Ha! ha!" said I; "to be sure I have no right to laugh at you—a million
and a half of money is too serious a matter for mirth—but you are not
about to establish a third link in your chain: you will not find any
especial connection between your pirates and a goat; pirates, you know,
have nothing to do with goats; they appertain to the farming
interests."
"But I have said that the figure was _not_ that of a goat."
"Well, a kid, then—pretty much the same thing."
"Pretty much, but not altogether," said Legrand.
"You may have heard of one _Captain_ Kidd[19]. I at once looked on the
figure of the animal as a kind of punning or hieroglyphical signature.
I say signature because its position upon the vellum suggested this
idea. The death's-head at the corner diagonally opposite had, in the
same manner, the air of a stamp, or seal. But I was sorely put out by
the absence of all else—of the body to my imagined instrument—of the
text for my context."
"I presume you expected to find a letter between the stamp and the
signature."
"Something of the kind. The fact is, I felt irresistibly impressed with
a presentiment of some vast good fortune impending. I can scarcely say
why. Perhaps, after all, it was rather a desire than an actual belief;
but do you know that Jupiter's silly words, about the bug being of
solid gold, had a remarkable effect upon my fancy? And then the series
of accidents and coincidences—these were so _very_ extraordinary. Do
you observe how mere an accident it was that these events should have
occurred upon the _sole_ day of all the year in which it has been, or
may be, sufficiently cool for fire, and that without the fire, or
without the intervention of the dog at the precise moment in which he
appeared, I should, never have become aware of the death's-head, and so
never the possessor of the treasure?"
"But proceed—I am all impatience."
"Well; you have heard, of course, the many stories current—the thousand
vague rumors afloat about money buried, somewhere, upon the Atlantic
coast, by Kidd and his associates. These rumors must have had some
foundation in fact. And that the rumors have existed so long and so
continuously could have resulted, it appeared to me, only from the
circumstance of the buried treasure still _remaining_ entombed. Had
Kidd concealed his plunder for a time, and afterwards reclaimed it, the
rumors would scarcely have reached us in their present unvarying form.
You will observe that the stories told are all about money-seekers, not
about money-finders. Had the pirate recovered his money, there the
affair would have dropped. It seemed to me that some accident—say the
loss of a memorandum indicating its locality—had deprived him of the
means of recovering it, and that this accident had become known to his
followers who otherwise might never have heard that treasure had been
concealed at all, and who, busying themselves in vain, because unguided
attempts to regain it had given first birth, and then universal
currency, to the reports which are now so common. Have you ever heard
of any important treasure being unearthed along the coast?"
"Never."
"But that Kidd's accumulations were immense is well known. I took it
for granted, therefore, that the earth still held them; and you will
scarcely be surprised when I tell you that I felt a hope, nearly
amounting to certainty, that the parchment so strangely found involved
a lost record of the place of deposit."
"But how did you proceed?"
"I held the vellum again to the fire, after increasing the heat; but
nothing appeared. I now thought it possible that the coating of dirt
might have something to do with the failure; so I carefully rinsed the
parchment by pouring warm water over it, and, having done this, I
placed it in a tin pan, with the skull downwards, and put the pan upon
a furnace of lighted charcoal. In a few minutes, the pan having become
thoroughly heated, I removed the slip, and to my inexpressible joy,
found it spotted, in several places, with what appeared to be figures
arranged in lines. Again I placed it in the pan, and suffered it to
remain another minute. Upon taking it off, the whole was just as you
see it now."
Here Legrand, having reheated the parchment, submitted it to my
inspection, The following characters were rudely traced, in a red tint
between the death's-head and the goat:
"53‡‡†305))6*;4826)4‡.);806*;48†8
¶60))85;1‡(;:‡*8†83(88)5*†;46(;88*96
?;8)*‡(;485);5*†2:*‡(;4956*2(5*—4)8
¶8*;4069285);)6†8)4‡‡;1(‡9;48081;8:8‡
1;48†85;4)485†528806*81(‡9;48;(88;4 (‡?34;48)4‡;161;:188;‡?;"
"But," said I, returning him the slip, "I am as much in the dark as
ever. Were all the jewels of Golconda[20] awaiting me on my solution of
this enigma, I am quite sure that I should be unable to earn them."
"And yet," said Legrand, "the solution is by no means so difficult as
you might be led to imagine from the first hasty inspection of the
characters. These characters, as any one might readily guess, form a
cipher, that is to say, they convey a meaning; but then, from what is
known of Kidd, I could not suppose him capable of constructing any of
the more abstruse cryptographs[21]. I made up my mind, at once, that
this was of a simple species—such, however, as would appear, to the
crude intellect of the sailor, absolutely insoluble without the key."
"And you really solved it?"
"Readily; I have solved others of an abstruseness ten thousand times
greater. Circumstances, and a certain bias of mind, have led me to take
interest in such riddles, and it may well be doubted whether human
ingenuity can construct an enigma of the kind which human ingenuity may
not, by proper application, resolve. In fact, having once established
connected and legible characters, I scarcely gave a thought to the mere
difficulty of developing their import.
"In the present case—indeed, in all cases of secret writing—the first
question regards the _language_ of the cipher; for the principles of
solution, so far especially as the more simple ciphers are concerned,
depend upon, and are varied by, the genius of the particular idiom. In
general, there is no alternative but experiment (directed by
probabilities) of every tongue known to him who attempts the solution,
until the true one be attained. But, with the cipher now before us, all
difficulty was removed by the signature. The pun upon the word 'Kidd'
is appreciable in no other language than the English. But for this
consideration I should have begun my attempts with the Spanish and
French, as the tongues in which a secret of this kind would most
naturally have been written by a pirate of the Spanish main[22]. As it
was, I assume the cryptograph to be English.
"You observe there are no divisions between the words. Had there been
divisions, the task would have been comparatively easy. In such case I
would have commenced with a collation and analysis of the shorter
words; and had a word of a single letter occurred, as is most likely
(_a_ or _I_, for example), I should have considered the solution as
assured. But there being no divisions, my first step was to ascertain
the predominant letters, as well as the least frequent,
"Counting all, I constructed a table thus;—
Of the character 8 there are 33.
; " 26.
4 " 19.
‡) " 16.
* " 13.
5 " 12.
6 " 11.
†1 " 8.
0 " 6.
92 " 5.
:3 " 4.
? " 3.
¶ " 2.
—. " 1.
"Now, in English, the letter which most frequently occurs is _e_.
Afterwards, the succession runs thus: _a o i d h n r s t u y c f g l m
w b k p q x z_. E predominates, however, so remarkably that an
individual sentence of any length is rarely seen in which it is not the
prevailing character.
"Here, then, we have, in the very beginning, the groundwork for
something more than a mere guess. The general use which may be made of
the table is obvious—but in this particular cipher we shall only very
partially require its aid. As our predominant character is 8, we will
commence by assuming it as the _e_ of the natural alphabet. To verify
the supposition, let us observe if the 8 be seen often in couples—for
_e_ is doubled with great frequency in English—in such words, for
example, as 'meet,' 'fleet,' 'speed,' 'seen,' 'been,' 'agree,' etc. In
the present instance we see it doubled no less than five times,
although the cryptograph is brief.
"Let us assume 8, then, as _e_. Now of all _words_ in the language,
'the' is most usual; let us see, therefore, whether there are not
repetitions of any three characters, in the same order of collocation,
the last of them being 8. If we discover repetitions of such letters,
so arranged, they will most probably represent the word 'the.' Upon
inspection, we find no less than seven such arrangements, the
characters being ;48. We may, therefore, assume that the semicolon
represents _t_, that 4 represents _h_, and that 8 represents _e_—the
last being now well confirmed. Thus a great step has been taken.
"But, having established a single word, we are enabled to establish a
vastly important point; that is to say, several commencements and
terminations of other words. Let us refer, for example, to the last
instance but one, in which the combination ;48 occurs—not far from the
end of the cipher. We know that the semicolon immediately ensuing is
the commencement of a word, and, of the six characters succeeding this
'the,' we are cognizant of no less than five. Let us set these
characters down, thus, by the letters we know them to represent,
leaving a space for the unknown—
t eeth.
"Here we are enabled, at once, to discard the '_th_,' as forming no
portion of the word commencing with the first _t_; since by experiment
of the entire alphabet for a letter adapted to the vacancy, we perceive
that no word can be formed of which this _th_ can be a part. We are
thus narrowed into
t ee,
and, going through the alphabet, if necessary, as before, we arrive at
the word 'tree,' as the sole possible reading. We thus gain another
letter, _r_, represented by (, with the words 'the tree" in
juxtaposition.
"Looking beyond these words, for a short distance, we again see the
combination ;48, and employ it by way of _termination_ to what
immediately precedes. We have thus this arrangement:
the tree ;4 (‡?34 the,
or, substituting the natural letters, whereknown, it reads thus:
the tree thr‡?3h the.
"Now, if, in place of the unknown characters, we leave blank spaces, or
substitute dots, we read thus:
the tree thr…h the,
when the word '_through_' makes itself evident at once. But the
discovery gives us three new letters, _o, u_, and _g_, represented by ‡
? and 3.
"Looking now, narrowly, through the cipher for combinations of known,
characters, we find, not very far from the beginning, this arrangement.
83(88, or, egree,
which, plainly, is the conclusion of the word 'degree' and gives us
another letter, _d_, represented by †.
"Four letters beyond the word 'degree,' we perceive the combination.
;46(;88*.
"Translating the known characters, and representing the unknown by
dots, as before, we read thus:
th.rtee,
an arrangement immediately suggestive of the word 'thirteen,' and again
furnishing us with two new characters, _i_, and _n_, represented by 6
and *.
"Referring, now, to the beginning of the cryptograph, we find the
combination,
53 ‡‡†.
"Translating, as before, we obtain
.good,
which assures us that the first letter is _A_, and that the first two
words are 'A good.'
"To avoid confusion, it is now time that we arrange our key, as far as
discovered, in a tabular form. It will stand thus:
5 represents a † " d 8 " e 3 " g 4
" h 6 " i * " n ‡ " o ( "
r ; " t
"We have, therefore, no less than ten of the most important letters
represented, and it will be unnecessary to proceed with the details of
the solution. I have said enough to convince you that ciphers of this
nature are readily soluble, and to give you some insight into the
rationale[23] of their development. But be assured that the specimen
before us appertains to the very simplest species of cryptograph. It
now only remains to give you the full translation of the characters
upon the parchment, as unriddled. Here it is:
"'_A good glass in the bishop's hostel in the devil's seat
twenty-one degrees and thirteen minutes northeast and by north
main branch seventh limb east side shoot from the left eye of the
death's-head a bee-line from the tree through the shot fifty feet
out_.'"
"But," said I, "the enigma seems still in as bad a condition as ever.
How is it possible to extort a meaning from all this jargon about
'devil's seats,' death's-heads,' and 'bishop's hotels'?"
"I confess," replied Legrand, "that the matter still wears a serious
aspect, when regarded with a casual glance. My first endeavor was to
divide the sentence into the natural divisions intended by the
cryptographist."
"You mean to punctuate it?"
"Something of that kind."
"But how was it possible to effect this?"
"I reflected that it had been a _point_ with the writer to run his
words together without divisions, so as to increase the difficulty of
solution. Now, a not over acute man, in pursuing such, an object, would
be nearly certain to overdo the matter. When, in the course of his
composition, he arrived at a break in his subject which would naturally
require a pause, or a point, he would be exceedingly apt to run his
characters, at this place, more than usually close together. If you
will observe the Ms. in the present instance, you will easily detect
five such cases of unusual crowding. Acting on this hint, I made the
division thus:
"'_A good glass in the bishop's hostel in the devil's
seat—twenty-one degrees and thirteen minutes—northeast and by
north—main branch seventh limb east side—shoot from the left eye
of the death's-head—a bee-line from the tree through the shot
fifty feet out_.'"
"Even this division," said I, "leaves me still in the dark."
"It left me also in the dark," replied Legrand, "for a few days, during
which I made diligent inquiry, in the neighborhood of Sullivan's
Island, for any building, which went by the name of the 'Bishop's
Hotel'—for of course I dropped the obsolete word 'hostel.' Gaining no
information on the subject, I was on the point of extending my sphere
of search, and proceeding in a more systematic manner, when, one
morning, it entered into my head, quite suddenly, that this 'Bishop's
Hostel' might have some reference to an old family, of the name of
Bessop, which, time out of mind, had held possession of an ancient
manor-house, about four miles to the northward of the island. I
accordingly went over to the plantation, and reinstituted my inquiries
among the older negroes of the place. At length one of the most aged of
the women said that she had heard of such a place as _Bessop's Castle_
and thought that she could guide me to it, but that it was not a
castle, nor tavern, but a high rock.
"I offered to pay her well for her trouble, and, after some demur, she
consented to accompany me to the spot. We found it without much
difficulty, when, dismissing her, I proceeded to examine the place. The
'castle' consisted of an irregular assemblage of cliffs and rocks—one
of the latter being quite remarkable for its height as well as for its
insulated and artificial appearance, I clambered to its apex, and then
felt much at a loss as to what should be next done.
"While I was buried in reflection, my eyes fell upon a narrow ledge in
the eastern face of the rock, perhaps a yard below the summit upon
which I stood. This ledge projected about eighteen inches, and was not
more than a foot wide, while a niche in the cliff just above it gave it
a rude resemblance to one of the hollow-backed chairs used by our
ancestors. I made no doubt that here was the 'devil's seat' alluded to
in the Ms., and now I seemed to grasp the full secret of the riddle.
"The 'good glass,' I knew, could have reference to nothing but a
telescope; for the word 'glass' is rarely employed in any other sense
by seamen. Now here, I at once saw, was a telescope to be used, and a
definite point of view, _admitting no variation_, from which to use it.
Nor did I hesitate to believe that the phrase 'twenty-one degrees and
thirteen minutes' and 'northeast and by north,' were intended as
directions for the levelling of the glass. Greatly excited by these
discoveries, I hurried home, procured a telescope, and returned to the
rock.
"I let myself down to the ledge, and found that it was impossible to
retain a seat upon it except in one particular position. This fact
confirmed my preconceived idea. I proceeded to use the glass. Of course
the 'twenty-one degrees and thirteen minutes' could allude to nothing
but elevation above the visible horizon, since the horizontal direction
was clearly indicated by the words 'northeast and by north.' This
latter direction I at once established by means of a pocket-compass;
then, pointing the glass as nearly at an angle of twenty-one degrees of
elevation as I could do it by guess, I moved it cautiously up or down,
until my attention was arrested by a circular rift or opening in the
foliage of a large tree that over-topped its fellows in the distance.
In the centre of this rift I perceived a white spot, but could not, at
first, distinguish what it was. Adjusting the focus of the telescope, I
again looked, and now made it out to be a human skull.
"On this discovery I was so sanguine as to consider the enigma solved;
for the phrase 'main branch, seventh limb, east side' could refer only
to the position of the skull on the tree, while 'shoot from the left
eye of the death's-head' admitted also of but one interpretation, in
regard to a search for buried treasure. I perceived that the design was
to drop a bullet from the left eye of the skull, and that a bee-line,
or in other words, a straight line, drawn from the nearest point of the
trunk through 'the shot' (or the spot where the bullet fell) and thence
extended to a distance of fifty feet, would indicate a definite
point—and beneath this point I thought it at least _possible_ that a
deposit of value lay concealed."
"All this." I said, "is exceedingly clear, and, although ingenious,
still simple and explicit. When you left the Bishop's Hotel, what
then?"
"Why, having carefully taken the bearings of the tree, I turned
homewards. The instant that I left the 'devil's seat,' however, the
circular rift vanished; nor could I get a glimpse of it afterwards,
turn, as I would. What seems to me the chief ingenuity in this whole
business is the fact (for repeated experiment has convinced me it _is_
a fact) that the circular opening in question is visible from no other
attainable point of view than that afforded by the narrow ledge on the
face of the rock.
"In this expedition to the 'Bishop's Hotel' I had been attended by
Jupiter, who had no doubt observed for some weeks past the abstraction
of my demeanor, and took especial care not to leave me alone. But, on
the next day, getting up very early, I contrived to give him the slip,
and went into the hills in search of the tree. After much toil I found
it. When I came home at night my valet proposed to give me a flogging.
With the rest of the adventure I believe you are as well acquainted as
myself."
"I suppose," said I, "you missed the spot, in the first attempt at
digging, through Jupiter's stupidity in letting the bug fall through
the right instead of through the left eye of the skull."
"Precisely. This mistake made a difference of about two inches and a
half in the 'shot'—that is to say, in the position of the peg nearest
the tree—and had the treasure been _beneath_ the 'shot,' the error
would have been of little moment; but the 'shot,' together with the
nearest point of the tree, were merely two points for the establishment
of a line of direction; of course the error, however trivial in the
beginning, increased as we proceeded with the line, and by the time we
had gone fifty feet, threw us quite off the scent. But for my
deep-seated convictions that treasure was here somewhere actually
buried, we might have had all our labor in vain."
"I presume the fancy of _the skull_—of letting fall a bullet through
the skull's eye—was suggested to Kidd by the piratical flag. No doubt
he felt a kind of poetical consistency in recovering his money through
this ominous insignium[24]."
"Perhaps so; still, I cannot help thinking that common-sense had quite
as much to do with the matter as poetical consistency. To be visible
from the Devil's seat, it was necessary that the object, if small,
should be _white_: and there is nothing like your human skull for
retaining and even increasing its whiteness under exposure to all
vicissitudes of weather."
"But your grandiloquence, and your conduct in swinging the beetle—how
excessively odd! I was sure you were mad. And why did you insist on
letting fall the bug, instead of a bullet, from the skull?"
"Why, to be frank, I felt somewhat annoyed by your evident suspicions
touching my sanity, and so resolved to punish you quietly, in my own
way, by a little bit of sober mystification. For this reason I swung
the beetle, and for this reason I let it fall from the tree. An
observation of yours about its great weight suggested the latter idea."
"Yes, I perceive; and now there is only one point which puzzles me.
What are we to make of the skeletons found in the hole?"
"That is a question I am no more able to answer than yourself. There
seems, however, only one plausible way of accounting for them—and yet
it is dreadful to believe in such atrocity as my suggestion would
imply. It is clear that Kidd—if Kidd indeed secreted this treasure,
which I doubt not—it is clear that he must have had assistance in the
labor. But this labor concluded, he may have thought it expedient to
remove all participants in his secret. Perhaps a couple of blows with a
mattock were sufficient, while his coadjutors were busy in the pit;
perhaps it required a dozen—who shall tell?"