Part 3

They were quite alone. Redfield was entirely unarmed, but his opponent wore a sword at his side, with pistol and knife hanging from his belt. Having made the assault, the only safety for Redfield lay in his gaining the ascendency over his opponent by sheer physical effort, to enable him to keep Brisbau from using the weapons at his side. He missed the hold around both arms which he had planned, but firmly secured Brisbau's right arm, while his own right hand grasped the other's wrist. These advantages he succeeded in holding, although he could do nothing towards disarming Brisbau or binding him more securely as a captive.

They struggled long and furiously. Redfield, whose position required his utmost exertion, gradually became exhausted; but he had a desperate determination to win the mastery over Brisbau, who was likewise weary from the struggle and doggedly angry. He feared a result disastrous to himself if he gave his opponent an opportunity to use his weapons.

Finally, just at a critical moment, Mrs. Redfield appeared. She started at the sight which met her eyes; but, seeing the situation at a glance, she ran back into the room out of which she had come, and quickly reappeared with a rope. With a woman's ready wit, she had found the means of bringing victory to her husband. She threw the rope around Brisbau's shoulders and wound it over his arms until he was powerless to resist further. He was then easily bound and tied, body and legs, to a chair, grumbling his angry displeasure at the turn of affairs.

Captain Redfield paused a little while to recover his balance, and sat down to cogitate the matter of the disposition of his prisoner; and, also, to watch for the return of his men from an excursion they had gone upon for the entertainment of their guests. They were slow in coming, and an annoying suspicion grew upon him. He could not tell what the attitude of Brisbau's men might be; or if a conflict between them and his own men were to occur, what consequences might ensue. At any rate, he wished to avoid such a conflict if it were by any means possible; but he feared it could not be done. His good wife was greatly concerned, and urged upon him some amicable settlement with Brisbau, even to the delivery of part of the treasure; for, after all, she thought, his claim might be just.

An hour later, one of Captain Redfield's men returned; and, to his great dismay, informed him that an agreement had been made with the visiting seamen which would affect their standing with him, but would work him no harm. He said that, upon the arrival of the other men, the matter would be discussed with the Captain, and meantime he would take no steps toward providing a defense for him in a conflict which was not likely to occur.

This disclosure was startling, and a shock to the spirit which had upheld Captain Redfield. His first impulse was to attack the man for what he considered the basest treachery, but he desisted. Parley with him he could not. He could only await the consequences of the compact which had been hinted at. But upon one thing he was determined--not to disclose any knowledge of the secreted treasure without first having in hand the credentials from Captain Kidd which he had demanded. His honor had been pledged to such a course, and he would not forsake his trust.

The men came. But they looked with indifference upon the bound prisoner. There was no display of the strong feelings which had been anticipated. The situation was obvious. So far as Captain Redfield was concerned, he felt that he had been forsaken, betrayed. There was no man who stood with him. In vain he pleaded with his men to stand by him in his defense against a most dastardly plan to wrong him. He then inquired their attitude towards Brisbau, and received an evasive answer.

At length he gave up the struggle, and sought to learn the purpose of the men who had all now gathered before him; those of his own company, and those who had come with Brisbau. One of them as spokesman, a new-comer, informed him that he and his friends had accompanied Captain Brisbau for the purpose of securing some of the buried treasure, which was known to be in that neighborhood; and they intended to find the booty before leaving. He also stated that Captain Redfield's men, upon learning about the hidden treasure, had agreed to become confederates; and that their master would be treated in every way as a friend, and be given a full share of the treasure, provided he would properly inform them and Captain Brisbau, whom they intended to release immediately, as to its location. If he for any reason should refuse so to favor them, he and his wife would be treated as prisoners, and dealt with as might seem best--until, of course, he would consent to aid them in their project.

The response that came was firm and unmistakable. The brave custodian averred that he would not betray his trust, even in the very face of death. Nor did days of urging and threatening turn him from his purpose.

Brisbau was released, and given to understand that the men were in control of affairs; and that his animosity towards Captain Redfield must cease.

The woods were scoured for the treasure. Days passed, and weeks, and the search was incessant; but there was no discovery made. Captain Redfield and his wife, now prisoners in chains, were urged and implored; but he could not be persuaded to give the information, although the mental tension he suffered was almost unbearable.

One day on a sudden determination, Brisbau set sail with his men and companions, together with the prisoners. His purpose was to take a short cruise and then return; meantime allowing Captain Redfield a further opportunity to disclose his secret; otherwise--and he repeated his threat made upon his first day at Rindout.

The ship stopped at Charleston, and, almost immediately upon its arrival, it was seized under a suspicion of piracy, and a search made for evidences of the unlawful traffic. The prisoners were released through some favor of the authorities, but Brisbau and his men were imprisoned. In the hands of the king's officers their lives were in great jeopardy, but they finally escaped the scaffold.

As to Captain Redfield and his wife, the unexpected release was a most welcome boon. For her he had felt the tenderest and most agonized solicitude. The temptation to acquiesce in the demand of his captors and thus free her from the trying situation came often to him with a weight under which he almost broke down. When it was over, the joy of freedom was as great as the suffering had been while they were prisoners. He lived thereafter at Charleston, and soon outgrew the suspicion with which he was at first regarded, of having being connected with the buccaneers. He determined to settle down to an honest, industrious life. My grandfather was born soon after.

Captain Redfield was never afterwards known to refer to anything connected with a pirate in conversation with any one; and I have never learned whether or not he ever afterwards visited Rindout. I know he was wealthy; but then he worked hard and saved his earnings, and I do not believe he increased his store from the hidden chests on Money Island. The story I have now written he told to my grandfather in his old age, and, upon relating it, he urged the greatest caution in his use of it.

Twice my grandfather made unsuccessful efforts to find the chests. He urged that I, his grandchild, should keep the knowledge of the treasure as a family heritage; but that I might do as I liked about it. After giving the subject very careful thought, I have now given up the secret of Money Island, and have not withheld a single detail which was told me. Of course, nearly a century and a half has elapsed since the precious booty was hidden. The story, therefore, is old, but I do not believe it has suffered from age. Captain Kidd was executed in London not long after the hiding of the treasure, and his associates gave up their old calling; and probably no one has since disturbed the precious chests.

* * * * *

Now, as to when I first heard Mr. Landstone's story. It was when I was a boy in the early forties, and the events connected with its telling have modified its conclusion, as will presently be seen. I have heretofore spoken very little of the subject to any one; and when I have done so at all, it has been to one or two intimate friends as a matter of particular confidence. In my old age, however, I am going to let my tale forsake its hiding-place and become public property.

My parents owned a summer home on Greenville Sound not far from Money Island. To us children it was the very heart of life. The best pleasure of the year was confined to the four months spent there from the first of June to the last day of September. We rowed, sailed, fished, swam, hunted, frolicked, and ran the whole gamut of youthful delights. Those good days are yet vivid in memory; and it is a matter of regret with me that my grandchildren--as fine boys and girls as ever lived--cannot have the same wild, wholesome fun at the Sound as fell to my lot when I was a boy.

The time that I now speak of, however, was about the middle of May, the balmy month of soft breezes and bright flowers. I had been particularly studious in school, and my father agreed to let me spend three days at the Sound in company with a young friend. We arranged our food supply, took the old family rockaway, and set out early in the morning, as happy a pair of boys as ever started on a project of pleasure.

After spending an hour or two at the Sound house, arranging our fishing tackle and looking after the boats, which had been hauled up for the winter, we started out on a sail towards the beach. It was a fine day for sailing, and the breeze bore us away as smoothly and quickly as if we had been in a balloon. As we passed Money Island, we observed a boat moored on the south side, and tried to locate the occupants; but we could see nobody, and concluded that it belonged to a fishing party who had, for some reason, left the boat tied there.

We sailed on; and when we had gone perhaps half a mile away. I happened to turn around, and was surprised to see two men stealthily embarking in the boat with what appeared to be shovels and rods of some kind. This sight was too much for our youthful imagination. So we decided at once to change our course, and essayed to follow at a distance the movements of the other boat. This we had no difficulty in doing; and we afterwards learned that we were successful in our efforts to avoid the suspicion of purposely following it.

The men sailed down the Sound a short distance to the south, and made for the shore in a little cove at a somewhat secluded place.

We were familiar with the locality, and decided to wait until later for a closer observation. Accordingly, we bore once again toward the beach, and enjoyed an hour watching the breakers roll upon the shore, and in picking up curios, such as are always to be found upon the sea beach.

Upon our return, we passed close to the little cove into which the boat had gone, and could readily discern through the trees a tent not far inland; in front of which were seated the two strangers, watching a pot hung over a fire made upon the ground. This excited an additional flutter of wonderment with us. Indeed, what we had seen, coupled with the current tradition regarding Money Island, soon wrought us up into a fever of excitement; for it was very suggestive of a search for the treasure on the island.

I had heard from my early childhood that Captain Kidd, the historic and lordly pirate, who reigned supreme upon the high seas during the seventeenth century, was supposed to have buried some of his booty on Money Island. Everybody was familiar with the tradition; and I doubt if there is, even now, a single person reared in the town of Wilmington, of in the vicinity of the Sound, who has not likewise been told the same indefinite story about the little island. But the presence of these two strangers, and their somewhat mysterious conduct, gave the tradition a touch of reality such as it could never have otherwise had.

We concluded that these men had evidently some positive information on the subject, and were showing their confidence in that information by prosecuting a search for the hidden treasure, at much trouble and expense. This was clear to us, and we talked the matter over that night with eager interest. We surmised every possible case that might have furnished the strange visitors with a working clue to the discovery of the treasure. Speculation ran high. But there was one thing that we became agreed upon, and that was, to become, if possible, parties to the secret enterprise. We pondered with boys' shrewdness how this should be done. This we could not decide upon; but we determined to play a venture toward the desired end. The attitude of innocent curiosity seemed best suited to our purpose. So we planned to draw up at Money Island in the morning if we observed that the men were there; and to approach them in an unsuspicious manner, as if we had just happened to stop at the Island without any definite motive. This should work as a capital ruse, and, we felt confident, it would initiate a connection on our part with the mysterious search.

That point settled, we concluded to investigate the tent and its occupants as well as we might under the cover of darkness, and we promptly set out upon that project. We approached within a hundred feet of the tent, and saw the men still sitting in the light of the fire at the tent door; but there was no discovery of importance. They were merely talking quietly and carelessly about some ship that one of them seemed to be interested in. We could hear their conversation distinctly, and we were also able to take a good observation of their appearance.