A REAL TREASURE ISLAND

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1978, 24 October 1888, Page 2

A REAL TREASURE ISLAND

Me R. L. Stevenson may take a back ■eat. A "Real Treasure T a l*nd " baß oome on the tapis, It seems that m the year 1823, daring a revolution In Per a, a nnmbßr of wealthy oitz^na of Lima combined to charter a brig of 300 tons, on which they plaged their treaiqre to * X " amount of " iwo mllllooa ste^- „Jn '{? and mnoh pl.te'. .^ £$& ?? wlo/ lui). The Intention was to send mis enormous wealth to Spain for safety : bnt an Englishman — a lleatenant In the Peruvian Nayy — hearing of the matter, went on board with a ohoseu band and cot out the brig within hail of a man-of-war. Thla daring young man steered right aoroas the Peoifio and burled the tieasure on one of the Marianne Islands, and then made a course for Honolulu, but on the way quarrels broke oat, and the lieutenant, two of hia officers, and a oabln bny set fire to the ehfp and got ioto a small boat, leaving their mates to burn comfortably on the larger vessel One of the officers was then murdered and the oabln boy sent aa emissary to the lieutenant's lady-love, who, however, refused to have anything to say to him. The sole remaining offioei (then m England) now hired a ■mall schooner and prooeeded 1o the treasure Island, but on the way out the chief was tipped overboard by the captain of the vessel, who had been let into the seoret. The captain of the ship now dapped the sole remaining pirate, and only man who knew where the treasure was hid, m Irons, and hailed a passing brig, told the oaptain the story, and proposed they should hunt for and divide the treasure, giving the surviving pirate a share on the condition that he should point out the spot. They asked him If ho would point out the spot, and he nodded ; if this was the Inland Cpolnting to the nearest), and he again nodded. They invited him to step into a boat which had been lowered, and to guide them to the treasure. With a peculiar look he consented. He went below to fetch his batohet, he said, but while In his oabln filled his pockets with lead, and then oomlng on deck smiled at his eiptors, and before they oould prevent him jumped overboard and was drotrDed, This sulolde put- an end to the "Treasure Hunt," for all dues were apparently destroyed. Whatever may be thought of this extraordinary story, It Is beyond question that an English oaptain, who aweara he has the due, set out at the beginning of tha present year to hunt for the treasure hidden sixty years ago m the Coral Islands of the North Pacific Bla ship wns run away with while be was on land at some port, and has not been j heard of since. The oaptain is now m London trying to get up a venture to hunt , fo( tbli eporjuoncj wetHh, ,