Show ECE if ta BEING ING THE AUTHENTIC IC NARRATIVE OF L TREASURE discovered IN THE BAHAM LAND S ln FHE yr n GIVEN YEN TO 10 THE PUBLIC HM richard le ae CHAPTER ill III continued 11 by the way dear king I 1 said assuming a casual manner do you happen to have a son I 1 nol he answered calypso Is my only child very strange I 1 said eald we met a whimsical lad ad in our travels whom I 1 would have sworn was her brother odd I 1 said the king imperturbably tur bably but nol I 1 have no son and he seemed to say it with a certain sadness then calypso came in to join my audience having meanwhile taken the opportunity of twining a scarlet hibiscus among her luxuriant dark curls I 1 should certainly have hake told the story better without her yet I 1 was glad how glad to have her seated there an attentive presence in a simple gown white as the sea foam from which there was no further doubt in my mind she had magically sprung I 1 gave them the whole story much as I 1 hid had told it in john sounders saunders snuggery john P tobias jr dear oid tom and his sucking fish his ghosts sharks skeletons and all and nhen I 1 had finished I 1 found that the interest of ray my story was once more chiefly centered in my pock marked friend of the wonderful worlds works ot of god 1 11 I should like to meet your pock in marked friend said king albl alcinous and I 1 have a notion that with you as a bait I 1 shall not long be denied the pleasure 1 I am inclined to think that I 1 have seen him already said calypso using her honey golden voice tor for the base purpose of mentioning him impossible I 1 cried he Is long since safe in nassau jail oh not lately she answered to our interrogative surprise and giving a embarrassed look at her father which I 1 at once connected with the secret of the doubloons doub loons seriously calypso asked her father with a certain stern stem affection as thinking of her safety on one of your errands to town and then turning to me he said sir ulysses you have spoken well and your speech has been that free openhearted open hearted speech that wins its way alike among the that dwell la in frozen twilight near the northern star and those dwarfed and swarthy that blacken in the fierce sunlight of that fearful axle arde we call the equator therefore I 1 will make return to you of speech no less frank and true lie he tools took a puff at his bis cigar and then continued 1 I should not risk this confession but that it Is easy to see that you be long to the race of eternal children to which you may have realized my daughter and I 1 also belong this adventure of yours after burled buried treasure has not seriously been for the dou bloods and pieces of eight the million dollars and the million and a half bal dollars themselves but for the fun of going after them salling sailing the unknown seas coral islands and all that sort of blessed moon moonshine shin e well calypso and I 1 are just like that and I 1 am going to tell you something exciting we too have our buried treasure it Is nothing like so Boag nt in amount as yours or your henry P tobias and where it Is at this particular moment I 1 know as little as yourself in fact it Is calypsos secret I 1 looked across at calypso but her eyes were tar far beyond capture in un nn plummeted seas 1 I will show you presently where I 1 found lt it among the rocks near by now a haunt of wild bees can you ever forget that passage in the georgics it makes the honey taste sweeter to me every time I 1 taste it we must have some of it lor for dinner by the way calypso I 1 could not help laughing and so tor for a moment breaking up the story the dear fellow I 1 was there any business of human Import importance illace from abl which ch he could not be diverted by a quotation from romer homer or virgil virga or shakespeare but he was soon in the saddle again well ho be resumed one day some seven years ago in a little cave below the orange trees grubbing about as I 1 am fond of doing I 1 came upon a beautiful old box bos ot of beaten copper sunk deep among the roots of a fig tree it was strong but it seemed too dainty for a pirate some great ladys jewel box more likely calypso shall show it to us presently on opening it what do you think it spilled over with golden doubloons doub loons aifong which were submerged some fine jewels such as aa this tle tie ring you see me wearing actually it was no great treasure at a monetary calculation certainly no fortune but from our romantic point of view as belonging to the race of eternal children it was el dorado alad dins lamp the mines of peru the whole sunken spanish main glimmering fifty fathoms deep la in mother of pearl and the moon it was the very secret rose of romance and a also ago go mark you it was some money oh perhaps all told it might be some live five thousand guineas or what would you say twenty five odd thousand dollars calypso knows better than 1 I and she as I 1 said alone knows where it is now hid and how much of it now remains he paused to relight his cigar while calypso and I 1 well he began again now isow my daughter and I 1 and he paused to look at her fondly though of the race of eternal children are not without some of the innocent wi wisdom s dom which noly writ countenances as the self protection of the innocent calypso I 1 may say Is particularly endowed with anis quality needing it as she does especially for the guardianship for her foolish talkative old father who by the way is almost at the end of his tale so when hen this old chest flashed its bewildering dazzle upon us we being poor folk were not more dazzled than afraid for like the poor roan man in the fable such good fortune was all too likely to td be our undoing should it come to the ears of the great or the indigent criminal the groat great in our thought was I 1 am ashamed to say the sacred british treasury by an ancient law of which forty per cent of all treasure trove belongs top to his majesty the 1 king ing the indigent criminal was represented by well our colored and not so very much colored neighbors of course we ought to have sent the whole treasure to your friend john saunders of his big britannic maje government at Nas nassau sall but well de some day perhaps you will put in a word for us with him as you drink his old port in the snuggery meanwhile we had an idea calypso and I 1 he paused tor for calypso had involuntarily unta rily made a gesture as though pleading to be spar spared edthe i the whole revelation and then thea with a smile continued we determined to hide away our little hoard where it would be safe from our neighbors and dispose of it according to our needs with a certain tradesman in the town whom we thought we could trust a tradesman who by the way quite naturally levies a little tax upon us for his security no blame to him 1 I 1 have lived far too long to be hard on human nature john sweeney Swee neyl I 1 asked looking over at calypso with eyes that dared at last to smile the very same my lord ulysses answered my friend and so I 1 came te tc understand that mr sweeneys reluctance in selling me that doubloon was not so sinister as it 19 ry f A 40 E PI 1 1 1 W le I 1 came upon a beautiful old box of beaten copper had at the moment appeared that it had in fact come of 0 a loyalty which was already for me the most precious of loyalties then said 1 I as a fitting conclusion to the confidence you have reposed in me my lord alcinous it miss calypso would have the kindness to let us ua have a sight ot of that chest of beaten copper of which you spoke I 1 would like to re restore storre this that was i once a part of 0 its contents wherever the rest of them and I 1 confess that I 1 paused a moment 4 may be in hiding and I 1 took from my pocket the sacred doubloon that I 1 had bought from john sweeney may heaven have mercy upon his bis soul I 1 tor for sixteen dol lars im seventy live five cents on mat immortal evening CHAPTER IV in which the KI king n g dreams a dream and tells Us about it the afternoon under the spell ol of its various magic had been passing all too swiftly and tit at length I 1 grow grew reluctantly aware that it wits was time for me to goking K ing alcinous raised his hand with a gesture that could not well be denied that led me his invitation being accepted without further parley to mention the idea I 1 had conceived as I 1 came along of exploring those curious old ruined buildings tomorrow he announced tomorrow wo we shall begin there Is not a moment to lose wo we will send samson with a message to your captain there ts Is no need for you to go yourself time Is too precious and in a week who knows but that monte cristo shall seem like a pauper and a penny gaff in comparison with the fantasies of our tearful fearful wealth so f for ot that evening till all was wag laughingly decided in a weeks time it was agreed we should have difficulty in recognizing each other we should be so disguised in cloth of gold and so blinding to look upon with rings and ropes of pearls when we met at breakfast next morning glad to see one another again as few people are at breakfast it was evident that as tar far as the king was concerned our dream had lost nothing in n tho the night watches on the contrary its wings kad gad grown to an amazing span and iridescence calypso it transpired had certain household matters of which the king of course was ever divinely oblivious that would take her on an errand into the town those III disposed pose of we two eternal children were at liberty to be as foolish as we pleased the king bowed his uncrowned head as kings from time immemorial have bowed their diadems diadema before the quiet command of the domesticities domestici ties and rid it was arranged that I 1 should be calypsos escort on an her errand so we set forth in the freshness of the morning and the woods that had been so black and bewildering at my coming opened before us in easy paths and all that tropical squalor that had been foul vath v alth sweat and insects seemed strangely vernal to me so that I 1 could hardly believe that I 1 had trodden that way before and fot for our companion all the way along or at least tor for my other companion was the wonder of the world the beautiful strangeness of living and that marvel of a mans days upon the earth which lies in not knowing what a day shall bring forth if only we have a little patience with time time with those gold keys at his girdle ready at any turn of the ways to unlock the hid hidden d e a treasure that Is to be the meaning of our lives how should I 1 try to express what it was to walk by her side knowing all that we both knew knowing or giddily believing that I 1 knew how her heart with mth every breath she tool took vibrated like a living flower with waves of color changing from moment to moment like a happy trembling dawn tornow to know yet not to say yes I 1 we were both at that divine moment which hangs like a dewdrop in themora the morning lag sun ahl ah all too ready to fall ohl oh I 1 keep it poised in that miraculous balance twixt twist time and eternity for this crystal made of sight light and dew is the meaning of the life of man and woman upon the earth As aa we came cam to the borders of the wood near the edge of the little town we called a counsel of two As cheout the out come of it we lif in mind the kings ambitious plans for our cloth ot of gold god future and tor for other obvious reasons it was better that she went ent into the town alone I 1 to awalt await her in the shadow of the mahogany tree As she turned to leave me she drew up from her bosom a little bag that hung by a silver chain and opening it drew out with a laugh a golden doubloon I 1 I 1 sprang toward her but she was too quick for me and laughingly vanished through an opening in the trees treed I 1 was not to kiss her that day calypso was so long coming back that I 1 began to grow anxious was indeed on the point of going down into the town la in search of her when she suddenly appeared rather out of breath and evidently a little excited as though in fact she had been running away from something she caught me by the arm with a laugh do you want to see your friend To blasl she said tobias impossible 1 come here and she led me a yard or two back the way she had come and then looked through the trees gonel she said but he was there a minute or two agoo ago 0 i at one that is hla his photograph and of course hes there yet jet hidden in the brush and probably got his eyes on us all the time did you see that seven year apple tree move ills favorite tree I 1 laughed hardly strong enough to hang him on though and I 1 realized that she was king alcinous daughter we crouched lower for a moment or two but the seven year apple tree move again and we agreed that there was no uso use in waiting tor for tobias to show his hand but what made you yoli think it was tobias 1 I 1 asked aaa azal how did it all happen 1 I could hardly fall to rb recognize cognize him from your flattering description io n she answered and indeed it all happened rather like a ai other experience of mine I 1 had bad gone into sweeneys store you remember and was just I 1 paying my bill in me ine usual coinage I 1 ven vered gaie gae me a long whimsical ehe smile mile ir once more her fathers daugh that im afraid was the trouble ains answered vered tor for as I 1 laid my money lown down on the counter I 1 suddenly no iced that there was a person at the ack of the store A person I 1 interrupted yes 1 suppose we say a pock marked person was it you what a memory you have for I 1 parried and then well 1 1 I took ray my change chang and to whisper a word to sweeney i good friend remember and came out nit I 1 tooka took a short cut back buethe person that had stood in the back of he store seemed to know the way better than I 1 so well that he ot ahead of me ile he was walking this way and so slowly that flint I 1 had bad it at last to overtake him me ile said noth ng just watched me as it if interested n the way I 1 was going but rr ill ashamed cosay to say he rather frightened me I 1 and here I 1 am well then I 1 said lets hurry lome and talk it over with the king the king as I 1 had realized was a practical romantic and at once took the matter seriously leavan leaving I 1 Z she drew up from her bosom a little bag that hung by a silver chain and opening it drew out with a laugh a golden doubloon as might have surprised some of those who had only heard him talk his ca conversational n al fantasies on the theme to come later calypso however had the first word 1 I abw always ays told you dad she said find and the word dad on the lips of that statuesque girl who always seemed ready to take that inspired framework rame of rags and bones and talking music into her protecting arms seemed quite the quaintest quain test of paradoxes li 1 I always told you da dad a what would heppen with your fairy tales of the doubloons doub loons quite true my dear he answered but a fairy tale worth paying for for worth a little trouble and remember it if you yon will allow me two things about fairy tales there must always be some evil fairy in them some dragon or such like and there Is always a happy ending now the dragon enters caters at last la a the form of tobias and we should be happy on that vey very ve y account it shows that the race of dragons Is not as I 1 feared extinct and as for the happy ending we will arrange it after lunch for villi villice cb by the way you are somewhat late after lunch the king resumed but in a brief and entirely practical vein we are about to be besieged he be said the woods probably are already thick with spies for the moment ment we must suspend operations on our golconda his name for the ruins that we were to excavate and band as or oar present purpose yours no less than ours friend ulysses ls is to contuse confuse tobias my suggestion Is this that you walk with me a mile or t two wo to the norard there Is an entertaining |