'
And it tells how he gained the devil's good graces by burying the
Bible:
'I had the Bible in my hand,
As I sailed, as I sailed,
And I buried it in the sand,
As I sailed.'
Egad, if this pistol had belonged to him I should set some store by it
out of sheer curiosity. Ah, well, there's an odd story I have heard
about one Tom Walker, who, they say, dug up some of Kidd's buried
money; and as the fish don't seem to bite at present, I'll tell it to
you to pass away time."
THE DEVIL AND TOM WALKER.
A few miles from Boston, in Massachusetts, there is a deep inlet
winding several miles into the interior of the country from Charles
Bay, and terminating in a thickly-wooded swamp, or morass. On one side
of this inlet is a beautiful dark grove; on the opposite side the land
rises abruptly from the water's edge, into a high ridge on which grow a
few scattered oaks of great age and immense size. It was under one of
these gigantic trees, according to old stories, that Kidd the pirate
buried his treasure. The inlet allowed a facility to bring the money in
a boat secretly and at night to the very foot of the hill. The
elevation of the place permitted a good look-out to be kept that no one
was at hand, while the remarkable trees formed good landmarks by which
the place might easily be found again. The old stories add, moreover,
that the devil presided at the hiding of the money, and took it under
his guardianship; but this, it is well-known, he always does with
buried treasure, particularly when it has been ill gotten.
Pages:
318
319
320
321
322
323
324
325
326
327
328
329
330
331
332
333
334
335
336
337
338
339
340
341
342