ONE WAY TO DIE RICH.
A few years ago, a British ship having on board a large consignment of Spanish specie for a house in Rio Janeiro, was wrecked on the Brazilian coast. The captain ordered some of the casks containing the gold to be brought on deck, but it was soon found necessary to take to the boats without any of the treasure.
As the last boat was about to leave, one of the officers went back to make a last tour of the ship. Sitting beside one of the casks with a hatchet in his hand, he found one of the sailors.
"Hurry up!" cried the officer. "We came within an ace of going off without you."
"I’m not going," replied the sailor, giving the cask a hearty whack with the hatchet, bursting it open, and laughing with delight as the coin poured out around him; "I’ve always wanted to die rich. I’ve been poor all my life, and this is my first and last chance. Go ahead! I’ll stay here with my fortune."
Argue as he might, the officer could not persuade the fellow to leave the gold, with which he played as a child with marbles, and he finally had to leave him to his fate.[Pg 54]
THE NEWS OF ALL NATIONS.