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Show A HIDDEN TREASURE. One disiiud, rainy evening in the fail of Ku a a, rarer ii'erl a couutry inn ui Indiana In-diana and w:'.-nrt.J I'slu-;; tor the mht. 11 wu a nuilor, he niid. and was on his ay Ui u town twenty ini.en .LiUint, wnere huluul r-Uuv.-a, He was a otoU'. but, rued loo.-iii loo.-iii f'.-lio, but n;At n.oriiiu he wus found d.-ad ni hu b--d. inu aojve la'-ta were eL-ady est ihli -.ued, but U certain vlher fact cwuid only I Buruii.i v -jrd was eut to tbe d'-.ul fimii n relatives, tbe curum-r took charge .,r Lhe remain, ami all ti'y,nu.l elf. uts were turned over with tho remains. Tlie dc-c.:;u-d hud a few dolUrs in money and a few trinkets, but tiio n-lutives at unco claimed that lie ha.1 be.-u robl-d of valuatjle paix-rs. The proprietor of lh.j in 11 was a veritable Yuukeu, im-.uiliiiK a hawk bill n and the lec,eudury twang, and hu wife was his counterpart. coun-terpart. He wart known V) be sharper than oL.'l in a borne trade, and he never put out a dollar that he did u-.t get a big uitcrent; but no one belie vl he had rilii-d the dead man's Luggage. When the relatives were axked alfiiL the nature of the all'-yed valuable papers they rel iiw d to antwer, and this eva-1011 eva-1011 threw doubts on their allegation. Iu & few weeks the utruir blew over, and in alwut three montiui the landlord and wife began to feel lon.-wnnw for tho hills of old New Hampshire. Hamp-shire. This was an exeuae for olierin all their projujrty for sale, and nix months alter Lhe d.ath of the stranger in the hotel the ploj-e paxsed into other bands. The next scene opened in New Orleans. I wo then employed by Blank & lilank, wrecker, as gi-n rul manager of the business. busi-ness. We had three vew-ls, Hteam pmnps, divers, and all other m-i.-ej.sury apiratus. I was callwl into tho private oinVe one day, and there found Jonas Stebbuis, the h-tok nowd Yanki-e who hud sold out his hotel in Indiana. He hud something to suy, but he herniated to say it. H wiih half an hour bo-fore bo-fore wu could bring him to the point, and then only alter tbe throe of us hod placed our hands on a Mindl Bible, which Stebbins had thoiiglitlully provided for, und sworn never to reveal his secret. Then ho brought forth two letters and a map, and wo saw that another buried treasure crunk had struck tbe city. Hucb incidents were not uncommon. In the live yetira I had been manager we had unci muter ed a full down of these cranks, and on two occasions tbe linn hud lost heavily by entering into partnerships which failed to pun out. As soi 1. 1 as Mr. Stebbins unfolded himm-lf hu got Hie cold b boulder, but he would not tnkii it that wuy. "Look here," he situl, as he tilted hlB cbair back, "do you take me for a foolf" "Well, partly." "lto you think I want a partnership In itP "Don't you(" "Not by u jugful I I want tohire aschooner and crew and divers by the week fur so many weeks. All are to Ikj under my orders, and I urn to have all that's found. Partnership! No, mr-e-el What's your lowest iiguresl" lie had shown us a roughly drawn map of the liabamu Islands, one executed with Don and ink by some sailor. Ho wanted a schooner to proceed to one of the islands. All the apparatus ap-paratus hu wanted was grupnuls and divers, lie might want us three weeks, but probably not over two. It was finally agreed that he should hire hy the duy. Ho beat us down $,r on the tluro named, and an iron clad agreement was drawn up and signed, and be counted out $1,000 iu gold. A sum suflicient to pay us for three weeks was deposited with a banker, and wo at once began preparations for tho trip. It hail been stipulated that Mrs. HtebbniH was to go along, aud we had a Btatoroom titled up for her. This was the tlrst time any treasure hanker had put down his own money for on expedition, expedi-tion, and wo could not doubt that Mr. Stob-bins Stob-bins hud what seemed to him n straight clow. It was not our business to throw cold water on his plana, oven though we were firmly convinced that he would return empty handed. Tho Arm decided that I should go out in charge of operutious, and a couple of days after tho contract was signed we were off for the Gulf. I expected the Stobbinses to he nervous and llustrutcd, but there was not a sign of it. Thoy were as cool as if going on a visit to a relative. As we were going down the river, I said to him: "Now that tho contract is signed and we are under way, I suppose you had as soon tell me about your treasurer' "Wall, neo," ho drawled; "you might leave tho schooner somewhere and try to cut in ahead of me, or wc may bo wrecked before we get there. I think you are honest and straight, but I can't give you the exact location." loca-tion." "No, indeed, wo can't," added Mrs, Steb-bins. Steb-bins. "You see, it has taken every dollar we could rnko and scrape, and if we don't get that treasure we'll be busted." "Hut you seem to be certain of getting It. "Oh, yesl" thoy replied in chorus. "Is tho amount large f" They looked at each other a moment, and then Mrs. Stebbins replied: "Jonas, I think we can safely tell him some fow things, for he seems to wish us well." "Yes, I guess so." "Well, thou, wo expect to get about $150,-000, $150,-000, more or less, in gold aud silver." "Yes, that's about the flgger," added Steb-bins, Steb-bins, "and as we are both getting along in years it will come in handy. If you had that much money, Mr. Marvin, would you buy a farm or inovo into a city i" They seemed bo firmly convinced of the existence of tho treasure that I felt it my "Huahr ihe admoihod. "Of course f we've ot it. We hain't nobody! fools, Juna Stebbms. Do you uppose Id havw coxonfd i ' to out ail our money into this venturv if tuere j I wo a to looe Itf j -By gum! bat w0 1 be rich r ! , "Ut course w wlU." 1 'Reheat ioljti in the hull county f I ' "Yi, but don I yet excited." They oat on dc:k for an hour or two, Steb-bliia Steb-bliia iiuiAiii,' and his wife knitting, and as , they were about to retire for the niht I tail . bound to oterve: ! -Well, Mr. Stebbins, here we are la good 1 hujje, and now, aa 1 was aeut to manage your . business, yuu'd belter explain matters pretly ! i clearly. 1 may want to make wjluo prepaxa ' ! Lions fur to-inorrow." j j "How lung will it take you to got a diver 1 ready U go downf" he naked. ( I "Not over half an hour. "Well, that's all the preparations needed. " "What is the diver to go down afteri" ' "Hunthiii' that won't run away before i morning," answered Mrs. Stebbins, and with ; that both went below. i It was only natural that all of us should be j curious aliut the expedition, but every at- , tempt to find out anything had thus far been , cleverly frustrated. The capUiin and I talked I it over again fur the twentieth time, and we , , came U the same old conclusion that Steb- , ' bins had come on a wild goose chase after , some old wreck. In our pique at his refusal ; to furnish particulars we almost hoped hs t 1 wouldn't find it. Stebbins was on deck as daylight next morning, and his wife half an ' hour later, and after breakfast, when the captain utked for orders, tbe Yankee waited to till his pipe before replying: 1 "I guess we'll Jog westward about five ! miles," The schooner was got under way, ! j and when she had accomplished the distance I named she was about a mile off shore, in , fifty feet of water, and midway between her j and tho beach was a reef covered with not J i more than ten or twelve feet of water at low i i tide. As the anchor went down the schoon- er's head pointed directly toward the land, : and Stebbins and his wife appeared to make 1 1 out some landmarks, the Bight of which ! brought smiles to their faces. It was a beau-! beau-! tif ui morning, with only a slight breeze I blowing, and as the anchor went down Stebbins Steb-bins came to me und said: "Wo shall have to go into thereof In small bout, I suppose. Can a diver work from her I" I assured him that It could be done, and we got down the boat, put in the pump and dress, and were shortly ready to pull off. Stebbins and his wife were both to go, making mak-ing a party of six of us. We pulled almost straight for tbe reef, ported a little after crossing it, and then, as we anchored in throe fathoms of water I looked about and discovered discov-ered that we were In what might be called a basin, ulthough it was open to the east. "Yes, this is the spot," said Stebbins as he stood up and looked around. "I'd almost know it at midnight," added his wife, "What am I to look forf" asked the diver as he donned his dress. "Some boxes about the size of them that axes come in," replied the Yankee. "There orter be ten of 'em down there. They are iron bound and purty hefty, but you hook on und we'll do the hauling." Tbe diver winked at mo to express his incredulity, in-credulity, and then his helpers screwed on : his helmet and got him over the side on the rope ladder. The water was wonderfully j clear, and we could follow him to the very I bottom and see him movo about. He beaded north and crossed the basin; thence east to I its mouth; then around to the north, and after being down twenty-five minutes he came up with a shell, and said, as soon as clear of his headpiece: "Nothing but shellB down there, sir. The I bottom is hard sand, and I could have seen a dime down there." "Didn't see no boxes?" gasped Stebbins. "No, sir." "Now, Jonas, don't got excited," cautioned cau-tioned his wife. "Them boxes is lying along- i sido o' that wall (reef) to the west. The ! waves coming in from the east would shunt j 'em over there." "That's so," replied Stebbins, and when the ! diver had rested he was directed to search in that direction, and the anchor was lifted that we might hover over him as near as possible. He had not been down three minutes min-utes when he signaled us to haul away on tho line attached to the tongs, and up came one of the boxes the Yankee and his wife were searching after. In five minutes we had another, and inside of an hour we hud ten. Wo were an excited lot all but Stebbins and his better half. They seemed to take it as a matter of course, and after the diver had sent up the tenth box aud come up to rest the Yankee said: "There might have been an eleventh box. My bill calls for ten, but there may be an extra one. And say, wheu you are down there kinder look around for any loose coin or other stuff." Nothing further was found, however, and that afternoon we stood away for New Orleans. Or-leans. When aboard the schooner Stebbins informed us that there was $15,000 in Spanish Span-ish coin in each box, and that every box was in good order. I could not help but express my amazement over the find, aud he calmly replied : "Well, you see, mo'n the woman are great hands to dream, and we dreamed it all out. There wasn't much chance for a slip after we had both dreamed." But tho pen and Ink chart was no doubt taken from the wallet of the sailor who died in the country tavern. New York Sun. duty to warn them of possible disappointment. disappoint-ment. "Yes, wo might possibly fail, but 'tain't at all likely," ho replied. "Wo ain't the sort of people to put up our last dollar on an uncertainty." uncer-tainty." "No, Jonas, we ain't," added the wife. "Was this treasure deposited years ago!" I asked. "Yes, a good many years ago." "On land" They looked from me to each other, and smiled in a knowing way. "Because," I continued, con-tinued, "there can't be a rod of any of the Bahamas, nor a bay, nor cove on the shores, but what has been explored over and over." "Exactly," replied Stebbins, as he arose to spit over the rail. "If anybody has found tho treasure then wo shan't get it." "Of course wo shan't," replied the wife, and that closed the conversation. Neither ou of them had been to sea before, and -while we were running down the Florida coast both were terribly seasick. Thoy were around again as we came up with the capo, h-wever( and when the captain asked Stebbins Steb-bins which one of the Bahamas he should steer for the man consulted bis sketch afresh, compared it with tho captain's chart of those waters, and finally replied, as ho put his tinker down, "This is Turk's island." "Yes." "That's wore they got a heap of salt.'' "Yes." "Well, bore's an istnnd to tho northeast of it, fifteen or twenty miles away." "Yes; ihnt's called th Little Cavccs." "Well, neow, you might bring up there." During tbo remainder of the voyage, or until w sighted tho island, the coolness of Stebbins and his wife was remarkable. The only game thoy kuew how to play was fox and geese, aud they played from morning till night and far into the evening. We threaded our wuy among the various islands to get to the oust, and sails were in sight every hour in tho day, but this queer couple could hardly bo induced to raise their eyes from the game, Stebbins was always on hand when the captain pricked off the day's run on the chart, and it was evident that he was keeping a sharp lookout to see that we were beaded in the right direction. In due time we raised Turk's island, coming com-ing down from the north, and then we kept off a couple of points until Little Caycos was sight-d. It is an island lying much lower than Turk's, almost surrounded with dangerous danger-ous shoals aud roofs, and at tbe time of which 1 write the only settlers were traders, wreckers and fishermen. There are harbors on the east and west shores, but by order of Stebbins we ran around to the south side and dropped auchor about a mile from the beach. It was just at sundown when we came to anchor, and that eveuiug the captain gave them the use of the cabin for a couple of hours to look over their papers. The island, with all the indentations, as well as tbe shoals, reefs and depth of water, was pictured pict-ured ou our chart, and they compared tbeir pen and ink sketch with this, and consulted another paper which none of us had before eeen. until they came to a decision. I was looking down upon them through the open skylight from the corner of my eye, and I saw Stebbins strike the table with bis fist, and beard him whisper: "We've got it, sure as shooting |