“No,” said Captain Bulldog, “I never did. Has any one here ever heard this tale?” And every one answered, “No!”
“I thought not,” said Aunt Clare.
“Very good,” said the captain; “go on with the story.”
And this is the story which Aunt Clare told.
CHAPTER VII
THE PIRATE HOARD
THIS is a story of Captain Kidd, who was, you know, the greatest pirate of them all in old times.
One day this terrible fellow was cruising about in these very waters, with a ship full of gold and jewels and precious things which he had stolen. You see, he wanted to find a new place in which to bury this particular treasure. He was always hiding things. He buried his different hoards all along the coast from Maine to Mexico, just as squirrels hide their nuts wherever it is convenient. You can scarcely find any place, however tiny, which has not a story that Captain Kidd’s treasure is buried somewhere near. Like the squirrels, Captain Kidd often went away and forgot about his treasure, and never returned to dig it up.
Well, Captain Kidd was cruising along this coast, with his ship full of treasure. He had been enjoying great luck on his last voyage. That means, of course, that a great many other people had been most unlucky. In those days about the unluckiest thing that could happen to anybody was to meet Captain Kidd on the high seas. Pirates were such greedy, cruel fellows,—I beg your pardon! I forgot that nearly every one here is a pirate. How careless of me!
Captain Kidd was a long way from shore when he ran into a fog,—a thick Maine fog; the kind that Islanders know so well. It was so thick that one could scarcely see a ship’s length ahead. All of a sudden the pirate lookout called to the captain:—
“Sail ahead!” and sure enough! out of the fog loomed a sailing vessel, so near that the two bowsprits were almost touching.