University of Virginia Library

7. CHAPTER VII.

We will now follow the eager-eyed
expectants of the glittering treasure to
the theatre of their secret operations in
the woods. A company of five individuals,
besides Martin and Gow, had already
been formed according to the plan
before mentioned, and many nights had
been spent by them in making excavations
on the spot indicated by their leader
who generally remained with them several
hours each night in directing their
movements, before he retired to his retreat
on the mountain, where he had
now for the most part taken up his quarters.
For the first few nights of their digging
he had directed their efforts to different
places within a circle of some ten
rods in diameter, designated by certain
marks on the trees, and constituting a

boundary within which, he told them, he
had rendered it certain, by views obtained
in his magic stone, and the working of the
divining rods, that the money lay buried.
But for several of the last nights he had
ordered them to proceed on in excavating
in the same vein, assuring them that
they might depend on having centered on
the right place, and to so great a certainty
was this now reduced, as his stone and
often tried rods informed him, that he
could safely promise them that a few more
nights' labor would bring them to the treasure.
And such being the case, he called
on each man to have the bonus to be
paid him on reaching the first dollar, in
readiness, at the same time declined assisting
them any further till they severally
complied with this indispensable requisition.
This, for several days, caused a
suspension of their labors; for it required
no small exertions on the part of the company
generally, and many sacrifices on
the part of some of them to raise, at that
day, the necessary sum. But their exertions
and sacrifices, great as they were in
some cases, were cheerfully, and even
anxiously made in the fancied certainty
of soon being a thousand fold repaid in
the glittering harvest which they were about
to reap. Farms were unhesitatingly
mortgaged to distant money-lenders, oxen
and horses, the only ones possessed by
their owners, were sold at reduced prices,
and all kinds of property were disposed
of, or pledged for a tithe of its value, to
meet the exigency. And so great was
their activity that before one week had
elapsed, every man of the company had
reported himself to his leader as prepared
with his hundred dollars in his pocket,
and eagerly demanded to be led again to
the work.

Hitherto the enterprise had been conducted
with so much caution and secrecy
that little was known in the neighborhood,
except by those immediately concerned,
of its existence, and much less of the object

for which the company was formed.
But either by reason of the stir created
by raising the money, or because the
growing certainty of success had rendered
the different members of the association
less guarded, vague rumors were beginning
to be afloat in the neighborhood
that some uncommon adventure was going
on in the mountains; and many were
the conjectures and dark surmises made
concerning its character and object—the
secrecy with which it had been conducted
sufficing to throw an air of mystery
and romance over the proceeding. And
this had been considerably increased by
the appearance, about this time, of a singularly
accoutred old man, who had been
known to enter the settlement from the
north, and was several times afterwards
seen hovering round the outskirts of the
woods, back of which was the supposed
scene of these mysterious operations—
some believing him the devil himself come
to superintend the ceremonies of the black
art which they suspected was in performance
in the woods, and others, more given
to matter of fact calculations, and disposed
to view secresy and mystery as generally
the cloak of iniquity, shrewdly suspecting
him to be an agent sent from
Stephen Burrough's Snag Factory in Canada,
to establish a branch in this unexposed
parts of the Green Mountains.[1] And
it was the impression of all indeed that
this strange personage had some connection
with the doings of the company;
those who were supposed to be its members
stoutly denied the truth of this supposition,
being probably, with the exception
of their leader, really as much in the
dark concerning the cause of the appearance
and the character of the old man as
their neighbors.

It was on a dark night in July, a few
days subsequent to the scene where we
left our heroine at Martin's that the money

diggers resumed their labors. Excited
by the late assurances of Gow they
came, one, by one, stealing to the spot at
an early hour, and as usual, having kindled
a small fire, and stuck a pine knot torch
in a stump on the bank of the excavation
to furnish light for their operations, they
waited with nervous impatience the arrival
of their leader to direct the spot on which
their efforts were now to be bestowed.
The latter soon made his appearance; and
after giving his directions with the mysterious
gravity with which he had sustained
his part through the whole enterprise, and
seeing them fairly at work, he soon informed
them that, from the experiments he had
been making thro' the day, he had strong
hopes of reaching the treasure in the course
of a few hours, and that he should remain
with them till the close of their labors for
the night. This thrilling announcement
added fresh ardor to their exertions, and
wrought up their minds to the highest pitch
of expectation and excitement. And, in
imagination, new farms were already purchased;
old ones richly stocked and improved;
new houses built and finished,
wives were rustling in their new silk
gowns; tables were groaning with dainties,
and hundreds were lavished with a
free hand in treats by embryo captains of
militia or justices of peace on the occasion
of their promotion, honors which their
great wealth would certainly bring to
them. Thus with lusty blows and many
a gleeful joke they delved on till about
midnight.

Gow now made another trial with his
rods; and after assaying them some time
from different points, with great seeming
carefulness and accuracy, he rose with a
satisfied air, and hastily throwing them
aside as things whose aid was now no
longer required, he joyfully announced to
his associates that the hour which was to
crown their labor with success was at last
arrived, but that it was the hour likewise
that would, very probably, put all their

prudence and fortitude to the severest
trial; for he must now apprise them that
in those cases where any murder or other
great wickedness had been committed in
connexion with secreting a treasure, there
was generally considerable difficulty in
securing it, even after it was fairly discovered,
owing to the strange sights and
noises which were seen and heard about
the time of reaching and attempting to
seize it. But these sounds or apparitions,
as startling and terrible as they might
seem, would hurt nobody, nor prevent securing
the money, if no attention was
paid to them; while if the attention at
that critical moment was suffered to be diverted,
and the eye withdrawn from the
spot, the money some how or other was
almost sure to get away, or be so lost sight
of, that it could not be found again without
a new course of digging and experiment.
This to be sure, might not be a
case where any such difficulty would occur,
but it is always best to be prepared
for the worst; and therefore, the instant
it was announced that the money was
reached every man must have all his senses
about him, and confine them to the
spot; and on no account look off or suffer
a glance, or thought, to stray to what
might be doing around him, but grapple
at the treasure as soon as it was laid open,
in whatever shape it be found, and hang
on for life, though the very devil might be
yelling about his ears. With this startling
caution he ordered the men to dig away
the inequalities of the bottom, and level
off a broad space where they had last been
digging. With nerves agitated by fear and
expectation they hurriedly went to work,
and soon smoothed down a space sufficiently
broad to meet the mind of their
leader. He then formed them in a circle
around him, and taking a heavy crow-bar,
and ordering every eye to be fixed intensely
on the spot where he should strike, and
if any signs of hitting the money followed,
to dig for their lives, he lifted high the
heavy weapon and thrust it deep into the
ground. A sharp, grating sound, as of
the deadened clinking of metals under
ground, followed the blow. And a low,
eager, suppressed shout of exultation simultaneously
escaped from the lips of all
the company; while almost at the same
instant a deep unearthly groan issued from
the nearest thicket, striking the ear with
horrible distinctness, and causing every
heart to quake with apprehension. Gow
quickly repeated his blow, and it was again
followed by the same cheering sound
from the earth, and the same, and still
more startling groan from the thicket.

`Now dig!—dig for your very lives!'
sternly exclaimed Gow. Rallying their
sinking courage at the command, they fell
furiously to work, throwing the earth in
every direction by their vague and random
blows, and seemingly trying to stifle their
fears by the desperate energy of their efforts,
as nearer and more terrific grew the
fearful sounds around them. Still managing,

however, to keep their eyes on the
work, though scarcely able to control the
movements of their shaking and quaking
limbs, they soon laid bare what they took
to be the iron chest containing their prize.

`The lid! the lid! seize and raise the
lid!' cried Gow, `and every eye upon the
spot!' So saying he seized a bar and
thrusting it under the supposed lid raised
one side of it several inches from its bed,
when the sight of rusty dollars beneath,
dimly glittering in the feeble light of their
torch, greeted their enraptured sight.—
`There! there it is!' shouted the men, `up
with the lid then, and seize it!' cried Gow.
One of them accordingly grappled with
the lid and had raised it nearly upright,
when in the act of stooping, involuntarily
casting a look through his arms back
on the bank behind them, he gave a shriek
of terror which turned all eyes to the spot
indicated by his wild gestures. On the
bank above them, at a few yards distant,
stood an apparition which made the blood

curdle in their veins. The figure of an
old man, his head and arms bare, and his
long hair of milky whiteness streaming
down over his shoulders, one of his skeleton
arms thrown aloft, and the other
pointing to his bloody throat which seemed
to be cut from ear to ear; while from
his sunken sockets his eyes shone like two
burning coals, and from his mouth a blue
flame appeared to issue, showing long rows
of spikefashioned teeth glowing like red
hot iron. `Seize the money!' vociferated
Gow, at the same time plunging his hands
under the lid. Partially roused by the
words of their leader the appalled and
horror-struck men were making a confused
motion to follow his example, when
the apparition seizing their torch and
whirling it wide into the bushes, leaped
with a hideous screech directly upon them.
Tumbling one over another, in the darkness
and confusion, all but Gow sprang
wildly up the bank and fled from the spot
like frighted sheep from beneath the crash
of a falling thunder bolt; some running
against trees which threw them back stunned
and nearly senseless on the ground by
the shock—some tumbling over logs and
there laying in breathless stilness, and
some fleeing and hiding themselves in distant
thickets till his infernal majesty, as
they verily believed him, should be pleased
to take his departure. All was now
dark and silent as the tomb. Gow however,
who had fearlessly remained on the
spot, either because he had more nerve
than his associates, or because he was better
acquainted with his majesty, soon found
his way to the decayed fire kept for lighting
their torches, and lighting up a fresh
knot proceeded to the spot from which
the company had been so strangely driven,
and put things in such a situation as
best comported with his purposes. After
which he began to call loudly to his men
to return, as the ghost or whatever it was
that had spoiled their game, was gone, and
there was no further danger he assured
them of his appearing that night. One
by one the men came creeping cautiously
and stealthily from their hiding places;
and all at length were again assembled on
the bank of the excavation. When, after
being a little reassured by the words of
their leader and the presence of one another,
they all proceeded to the spot where
they had last seen the supposed chest; but
no appearance of either chest or money
remained, and a little loose earth gave the
only indication of the spot where they had
discovered it. `The game is all up for
to-night, as I supposed,' observed Gow,
after thrusting down a stick a few times.
`The game is up for this time, and now
you see what you have lost by not attending
to my cautions, and keeping better
command of yourselves, when it was all
nothing but an empty apparition-the mere
shadow of some old codger that has been
dead and rotten these hundred years, and
that could have neither hurt or been felt
by any body.'

`Don't know zackly about that, Captain,'
interrupted one—`he grabbed my leg
as I was springing up the bank there, I'll
swear to ye, and if I had'nt kicked him
off he'd a carried me under where the
chist is, fur zino.'

`Yes, and he chased me like thunder
way out there in the woods,' said another,
his teeth still chattering from fright,
`and gave me a lick over the head that
knocked me down stiff as a tom cod, and
here's the marks on't now,' he continued,
rubbing and showing his forehead which
had been barked by running against a tree.

`He came from a brimstone country
anyhow; for I smelt it as plain as day—
and seems to me I can smell it now,'
observed a third, snuffing and turning his
nose round in different directions.

`How like a painter he bellowed and
screeched it, jest as he jumped!' exclaimed
a fourth; `I vow, it made my hair stand
up so stiff it shoved my hat off!'

`And what eyes!' added a fifth, `my

stars, how they glared! if that are thing
wasn't the devil, no matter!'

`Pshaw! pshaw!' said Gow, `all nonsense,
I assure you—this is all nothing
to what I have met with at such times;
and you yourselves will be convinced of
it by the time we have had another such
—but now let us see how much we did
get.'

They then, taking a smooth place
without the excavation, proceeded to
produce and count the few dollars they
had seized when driven from their hold
on the treasure.—Gow and Martin, it
appeared, were the only ones who were
successfull in fairly getting hold of any,
each of whom had grasped and retained
a single handful of bona fide dollars,
amounting to thirty in number; of this
there could be no mistake; for they
were spread before them, and, though a
little rusty, as might be expected, were
yet, to all appearance, genuine Spanish
coin; furnishing indubitable evidence to

those who might have hitherto entertained
doubts of the existence of the treasure,
that money was here, and with
proper management, might be secured.
—And this cheering thought with the assurances
of their leader, that there would
be no difficulty in again finding the chest
with one or two night's digging; and that
these disturbances to frighten them away
were comparatively light after the first
ordeal, raised their spirits almost to their
former level, and, as they sat in a ring
round the fire with an occasional glance
of wildness, and sometimes convulsive
start, the lingering effects of their recent
fright, eagerly handling and eyeing the
dollars like scared children who had been
appeased with toys, they began once
more to crack their jokes over their
strange adventure, and again grow rich in
the prospects of another trial for the
slippery treasure.

Taking advantage of this state of feling,
and the renewed expectations which he

had succeeded in raising in their minds,
Gow now told them, as the treasure had
been discovered and the first dollar found,
the contingency had therefore happened
which entitled him to a hundred dollars
from each; and gave them to understand
that he expected their immediate compliance
with their bargain. To this after
some demurring, and a few manifestations
of reluctance, they finally assented, and
producing their money, they, with the
exception of Martin, paid him on the
spot. And this business being adjusted
and an arrangement made to commence
operations again as soon as the situation
of the treasure could be ascertained by
experiments, the band separated for the
night—the men to dream of devils and
pots of money, and their artful leader to
hug the reality of five hundred dollars.