"No, no, let the lad remain, for 'tis also to his advantage to hear. That picture contains the true and only clue to the lost treasure ship Madre de Dios."
[1] This custom appears to be fairly common in south-coast ports. In September, 1628, the Mayor of Portsmouth reported to the Admiralty that "The The Gift of God", prize, was sold on the last day of August by the burning of a candle.
CHAPTER IV
The Madre de Dios
My father opened his eyes wide, and his mouth also, so that his pipe clattered on the oaken floor and was broken into a score of fragments.
"The Madre de Dios!" he exclaimed at length. "You speak truly--the same Madre de Dios concerning which Fergusson adventured himself in the last reign?"
"The same, Captain Hammond. I have the secret under my thumb."
"You know where the wreck lies hidden?"
"Aye, but that matters little. The treasure is not in her, but lies in a safe place."
Even I had heard the wonderful story of the Spanish treasure ship. 'Twas well known that in the last century Sir John Berkeley, during his attack upon Porto Rico, had captured a Spanish caravel, the Madre de Dios. On her he found pearls worth ten thousand ducats, gold dust, ingots, and other treasure to the value of 400,000 pounds. Of this vast spoil Sir John shipped about one-half aboard his own ship, sending the Madre under convoy for England. The caravel, overtaken by a furious north-easterly gale, was lost with all hands amongst the islands of the Lesser Antilles, and although expeditions innumerable had been sent out to discover the wreck, none had met with success. If Captain Jeremy Miles was not deceiving himself and us also, a king's ransom was almost within his grasp.