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Gold Bug is a (sometimes pejorative) term used to describe
people who are very bullish on Gold. It can an also be used to refer to a
person who opposes or criticizes the use of fiat currency and supports a
return to the use of the Gold Standard or some other currency system based on
the value of gold and other hard assets.
The term was popularized in the 1896
US Presidential Election, when William McKinley supporters took to wearing
gold lapel pins, gold neckties, and gold headbands in a demonstration of
support for gold against the “silver menace”. The term's original use come from Edgar
Allan Poe’s 1843 story "The Gold Bug”, a tale of a golden beetle whose
bite sends the hero to a chest of gold and jewels.
Poe submitted
"The Gold-Bug" as an entry to a writing contest sponsored by the Philadelphia Dollar Newspaper. His
story won the grand prize and was published in three installments, beginning
in June 1843. The prize also included $100, likely the largest single sum Poe
received for any of his works. "The Gold-Bug" was an instant
success and was the most popular and most widely-read of Poe's works during
his lifetime. It also helped popularize cryptograms and secret writing.
What ho! what ho! this fellow is dancing
mad!
He hath
been bitten by the Tarantula.
All in the Wrong.
M any years ago, I contracted an intimacy with a Mr. William Legrand. He was of an ancient Huguenot family, and had
once been wealthy; but a series of misfortunes had reduced him to want. To
avoid the mortification consequent upon his disasters, he left New Orleans,
the city of his forefathers, and took up his residence at Sullivan's Island,
near Charleston, South Carolina.
This Island is a very singular one. It
consists of little else than the sea sand, and is about three miles long. Its
breadth at no point exceeds a quarter of a mile. It is separated from the
main land by a scarcely perceptible creek, oozing its way through a
wilderness of reeds and slime, a favorite resort of the marshhen.
The vegetation, as might be supposed, is scant, or at least dwarfish. No
trees of any magnitude are to be seen. Near the western extremity, where Fort
Moultrie stands, and where are some miserable frame buildings, tenanted,
during summer, by the fugitives from Charleston dust and fever, may be found,
indeed, the bristly palmetto; but the whole island, with the exception of
this western point, and a line of hard, white beach on the seacoast, is
covered with a dense undergrowth of the sweet myrtle, so much prized by the
horticulturists of England. The shrub here often attains the height of
fifteen or twenty feet, and forms an almost impenetrable coppice, burthening
the air with its fragrance.
In the inmost recesses of this coppice, not
far from the eastern or more remote end of the island, Legrand
had built himself a small hut, which he occupied when I first, by mere
accident, made his acquaintance. This soon ripened into friendship - for
there was much in the recluse to excite interest and esteem. I found him well
educated, with unusual powers of mind, but infected with misanthropy, and
subject to perverse moods of alternate enthusiasm and melancholy. He had with
him many books, but rarely employed them. His chief amusements were gunning
and fishing, or sauntering along the beach and through the myrtles, in quest
of shells or entomological specimens;his
collection of the latter might have been envied by a Swammerdamm.
In these excursions he was usually accompanied by an old negro, called
Jupiter, who had been manumitted before the reverses of the family, but who
could be induced, neither by threats nor by promises, to abandon what he
considered his right of attendance upon the footsteps of his young
"Massa Will." It is not improbable that the relatives of Legrand, conceiving him to be somewhat unsettled in
intellect, had contrived to instil this obstinacy
into Jupiter, with a view to the supervision and guardianship of the
wanderer.
The winters in the latitude of Sullivan's
Island are seldom very severe, and in the fall of the year it is a rare event
indeed when a fire is considered necessary. About the middle of October, 18-
, there occurred, however, a day of remarkable chilliness. Just before sunset
I scrambled my way through the evergreens to the hut of my friend, whom I had
not visited for several weeks - my residence being, at that time, in
Charleston, a distance of nine my miles from the Island, while the facilities
of passage and repassage were very far behind
those of the present day. Upon reaching the hut I rapped, as was my custom,
and getting no reply, sought for the key where I knew it was secreted,
unlocked the door and went in. A fine fire was blazing upon the hearth. It
was a novelty, and by no means an ungrateful one. I threw off an overcoat,
took an armchair by the crackling logs, and awaited
patiently the arrival of my hosts.
Soon after dark they arrived, and gave me a
most cordial welcome. Jupiter, grinning from ear to ear, bustled about to
prepare some marshhens for supper. Legrand was in one of his fits - how else shall I term
them? - of enthusiasm. He had found an unknown
bivalve, forming a new genus, and, more than this, he had hunted down and
secured, with Jupiter's assistance, a scarabaeus
which he believed to be totally new, but in respect to which he wished to
have my opinion on the morrow.
"And why not tonight?" I asked,
rubbing my hands over the blaze, and wishing the whole tribe of scarabaei at the devil.
"Ah, if I had only known you were
here!" said Legrand, "but it's so long
since I saw you; and how could I foresee that you would pay me a visit this
very night of all others? As I was coming home I met Lieutenant G- , from the
fort, and, very foolishly, I lent him the bug; so it will be impossible for
you to see it until morning. Stay here tonight, and I will send Jup down for it at sunrise. It is the loveliest thing in
creation!"
"What? - sunrise?"
"Nonsense! no! -
the bug. It is of a brilliant gold color - about the
size of a large hickorynut - with two jet
black spots near one extremity of the back, and another, somewhat longer, at
the other. The antennae are - "
"Dey aint no tin in him, Massa Will, I keep a tellin on you," here interrupted Jupiter; "de
bug is a goole bug, solid, ebery
bit of him, inside and all, sep him wing - neber feel half so hebby a bug
in my life."
"Well, suppose it is, Jup,"
replied Legrand, somewhat more earnestly, it seemed
to me, than the case demanded, "is that any reason for your letting the birds burn? The color" - here he turned to me -
"is really almost enough to warrant Jupiter's idea. You never saw a more
brilliant metallic lustre than the scales emit -
but of this you cannot judge till tomorrow. In the mean time I can give you
some idea of the shape." Saying this, he seated himself at a small
table, on which were a pen and ink, but no paper. He looked for some in a
drawer, but found none.
"Never mind," said he at length,
"this will answer"; and he drew from his waistcoat pocket a scrap
of what I took to be very dirty foolscap, and made upon it a rough drawing
with the pen. While he did this, I retained my seat by the fire, for I was
still chilly. When the design was complete, he handed it to me without
rising. As I received it, a loud growl was heard, succeeded by a scratching
at the door. Jupiter opened it, and a large Newfoundland, belonging to Legrand, rushed in, leaped upon my shoulders, and loaded
me with caresses; for I had shown him much attention during previous visits.
When his gambols were over, I looked at the paper, and, to speak the truth,
found myself not a little puzzled at what my friend had depicted.
"Well!" I said, after contemplating
it for some minutes, "this is a strange scarabaeus,
I must confess: new to me: never saw anything like it before - unless it was
a skull, or a death'shead - which it more
nearly resembles than anything else that has come under my observation."
"A death'shead!"
echoed Legrand - "Oh - yes - well, it has
something of that appearance upon paper, no doubt. The two upper black spots
look like eyes, eh? and the longer one at the bottom
like a mouth - and then the shape of the whole is oval."
"Perhaps so," said I; "but, Legrand, I fear you are no artist. I must wait until I
see the beetle itself, if I am to form any idea of its personal
appearance."
"Well, I don't know," said he, a
little nettled, "I draw tolerably - should do it at least - have had
good masters, and flatter myself that I am not quite a blockhead."
"But, my dear fellow, you are joking
then," said I, "this is a very passable skull - indeed, I may say that
it is a very excellent skull, according to the vulgar notions about such
specimens of physiology - and your scarabaeus must
be the queerest scarabaeus in the world if it
resembles it. Why, we may get up a very thrilling bit of superstition upon
this hint. I presume you will call the bug scarabaeus
caput hominis, or something of that kind - there are many titles in the
Natural Histories. But where are the antennae you spoke of?"
"The antennae!" said Legrand, who seemed to be getting unaccountably warm upon
the subject; "I am sure you must see the antennae. I made them as
distinct as they are in the original insect, and I presume that is
sufficient."
"Well, well," I said, "perhaps
you have - still I don't see them;" and I handed him the paper without
additional remark, not wishing to ruffle his temper; but I was much surprised
at the turn affairs had taken; his ill humor puzzled me - and, as for the
drawing of the beetle, there were positively no antennae visible, and the
whole did bear a very close resemblance to the ordinary cuts of a death'shead.
He received the paper very peevishly, and was
about to crumple it, apparently to throw it in the fire, when a casual glance
at the design seemed suddenly to rivet his attention. In an instant his face
grew violently red - in another as excessively pale. For some minutes he
continued to scrutinize the drawing minutely where he sat. At length he
arose, took a candle from the table, and proceeded to seat himself upon a seachest in the farthest corner of the room. Here
again he made an anxious examination of the paper; turning it in all
directions. He said nothing, however, and his conduct greatly astonished me;
yet I thought it prudent not to exacerbate the growing moodiness of his
temper by any comment. Presently he took from his coat pocket a wallet,
placed the paper carefully in it, and deposited both in a writingdesk,
which he locked. He now grew more composed in his demeanor; but his original
air of enthusiasm had quite disappeared. Yet he seemed not so much sulky as
abstracted. As the evening wore away he became more and more absorbed in
reverie, from which no sallies of mine could arouse him. It had been my to
pass the night at the hut, as I had frequently done before, but, seeing my
host in this mood, I deemed it proper to take leave. He did not press me to
remain, but, as I departed, he shook my hand with even more than his usual
cordiality.
It was about a month after this (and during
the interval I had seen nothing of Legrand) when I
received a visit, at Charleston, from his man, Jupiter. I had never seen the
good old negro look so dispirited, and I feared that some serious disaster
had befallen my friend.
"Well, Jup,"
said I, "what is the matter now? - how is your master?"
"Why, to speak de troof,
massa, him not so berry
well as mought be."
"Not well! I am truly sorry to hear it.
What does he complain of?"
Dar! dat's
it! - him neber plain of notin
- but him berry sick for all dat."
"Very sick, Jupiter! - why
didn't you say so at once? Is he confined to bed?"
"No, dat he ain't! - he ain't find nowhar - dat's just whar de shoe pinch - my mind is got to be berry hebby bout poor Massa Will."
"Jupiter, I should like to understand
what it is you are talking about. You say your master is sick. Hasn't he told
you what ails him?"
"Why, massa,
taint worf while for to git
mad bout de matter - Massa Will say noffin at all ain't de matter wid him - but
den what make him go about looking dis here way, wid
he head down and he soldiers up, and as white as a gose?
And den he keep a syphon all de time - "
"Keeps a what, Jupiter?"
"Keeps a syphon wid
de figgurs on de slate - de queerest figgurs I ebber did see. Ise gittin to be skeered, I tell you. Hab for to
keep mighty tight eye pon him noovers.
Todder day he gib me slip
fore de sun up and was gone de whole ob de blessed
day. I had a big stick ready cut for to gib him d-
d good beating when he did come - but Ise sich a fool dat I hadn't de
heart arter all - he look so berry poorly."
"Eh? - what? - ah yes! - upon the whole I think you had better not be too
severe with the poor fellow - don't flog him, Jupiter - he can't very well
stand it - but can you form no idea of what has occasioned this illness, or
rather this change of conduct? Has anything unpleasant happened since I saw
you?"
"No, massa, dey ain't bin noffin onpleasant since den - 't was fore den I'm feared - 't was de berry day you was
dare."
"How? what do
you mean?"
"Why, massa, I
mean de bug - dare now."
"The what?"
"De bug - I'm berry sartain
dat Massa Will bin bit somewhere bout de head by dat goolebug."
"And what cause have
you, Jupiter, for such a supposition?"
"Claws enoff, massa, and mouff too. I nabber did see sich a d- d bug
- he kick and he bite ebery ting what cum near him.
Massa Will cotch him fuss, but had for to let him
go gin mighty quick, I tell you - den was de time he must ha got de bite. I
didn't like de look ob de bug mouff,
myself, no how, so I wouldn't take hold ob him wid my finger, but I cotch him wid a piece ob paper dat I found. I rap him up in de paper and stuff piece ob it in he mouff
- dat was de way."
"And you think, then, that your master
was really bitten by the beetle, and that the bite made him sick?"
"I don't tink noffin about it - I nose it. What make him dream bout de goole so much, if tain't cause
he bit by de goolebug? Ise
heerd bout dem goolebugs fore dis."
"But how do you know he dreams about
gold?"
"How I know? why
cause he talk about it in he sleep - dat's how I nose."
"Well, Jup,
perhaps you are right; but to what fortunate circumstance am I to attribute
the honor of a visit from you today?"
"What de matter, massa?"
"Did you bring any message from Mr. Legrand?"
"No, massa, I
bring dis here pissel;" and here Jupiter
handed me a note which ran thus:
My DEAR -
Why have I not seen you for so long
a time? I hope you have not been so foolish as to take offence at any little brusquerie of mine; but no, that is improbable.
Since I saw you I have had great
cause for anxiety. I have something to tell you, yet scarcely know how to
tell it, or whether I should tell it at all.
I have not been quite well for some
days past, and poor old Jup annoys me, almost
beyond endurance, by his wellmeant attentions.
Would you believe it? - he had prepared a huge stick, the other day, with
which to chastise me for giving him the slip, and spending the day, solus, among the hills on the main land. I verily believe
that my ill looks alone saved me a flogging.
I have made no addition to my
cabinet since we met.
If you can, in any way, make it
convenient, come over with Jupiter. Do come. I wish to see you tonight, upon
business of importance. I assure you that it is of the highest importance.
Ever yours,
WILLIAM LEGRAND.
There was something in the tone of this note which
gave me great uneasiness. Its whole style differed materially from that of Legrand. What could he be dreaming of? What new crotchet
possessed his excitable brain? What "business of the highest
importance" could he possibly have to transact? Jupiter's account of him
boded no good. I dreaded lest the continued pressure of misfortune had, at
length, fairly unsettled the reason of my friend. Without a moment's
hesitation, therefore, I prepared to accompany the negro.
Upon reaching the wharf, I noticed a scythe
and three spades, all apparently new, lying in the bottom of the boat in
which we were to embark.
"What is the meaning of all this, Jup?" I inquired.
"Him syfe, massa, and spade."
"Very true; but what are they doing
here?"
"Him de syfe
and de spade what Massa Will sis pon my buying for
him in de town, and de debbil's own lot of money I
had to gib for em."
But what, in the name of all that is
mysterious, is your 'Massa Will' going to do with scythes and spades?"
"Dat's more dan I know, and debbil take me
if I don't blieve 'tis more dan
he know, too. But it's all cum ob de bug."
Finding that no satisfaction was to be
obtained of Jupiter, whose whole intellect seemed to be absorbed by "de
bug," I now stepped into the boat and made sail. With a fair and strong
breeze we soon ran into the little cove to the northward of Fort Moultrie,
and a walk of some two miles brought us to the hut. It was about three in the
afternoon when we arrived. Legrand had been
awaiting us in eager expectation. He grasped my hand with a nervous empressement which alarmed me and strengthened the
suspicions already entertained. His countenance was pale even to ghastliness,
and his deepset eyes glared with unnatural lustre. After some inquiries respecting his health, I
asked him, not knowing what better to say, if he had yet obtained the scarabaeus from Lieutenant G- .
"Oh, yes," he replied, coloring
violently, "I got it from him the next morning. Nothing should tempt me
to part with that scarabaeus. Do you know that
Jupiter is quite right about it?"
"In what way?" I asked, with a sad
foreboding at heart.
"In supposing it to be a bug of real
gold." He said this with an air of profound seriousness, and I felt
inexpressibly shocked.
"This bug is to make my fortune," he
continued, with a triumphant smile, "to reinstate me in my family
possessions. Is it any wonder, then, that I prize it? Since Fortune has
thought fit to bestow it upon me, I have only to use it properly and I shall
arrive at the gold of which it is the index. Jupiter, bring me that scarabaeus!"
"What! de bug, massa? I'd rudder not go fer trubble dat bug - you mus git him for your own
self." Hereupon Legrand arose, with a grave
and stately air, and brought me the beetle from a glass case in which it was
enclosed. It was a beautiful scarabaeus, and, at
that time, unknown to naturalists - of course a great prize in a scientific
point of view. There were two round, black spots near one extremity of the
back, and a long one near the other. The scales were exceedingly hard and
glossy, with all the appearance of burnished gold. The weight of the insect
was very remarkable, and, taking all things into consideration, I could
hardly blame Jupiter for his opinion respecting it; but what to make of Legrand's agreement with that opinion, I could not, for
the life of me, tell.
"I sent for you," said he, in a
grandiloquent tone, when I had completed my examination of the beetle,
"I sent for you, that I might have your counsel and assistance in
furthering the views of Fate and of the bug"-
"My dear Legrand,"
I cried, interrupting him, "you are certainly unwell, and had better use
some little precautions. You shall go to bed, and I will remain with you a
few days, until you get over this. You are feverish and"-
"Feel my pulse," said he.
I felt it, and, to say the truth, found not
the slightest indication of fever.
"But you may be ill and yet have no
fever. Allow me this once to prescribe for you. In the first place, go to
bed. In the next"-
"You are mistaken," he interposed,
"I am as well as I can expect to be under the excitement which I suffer.
If you really wish me well, you will relieve this excitement."
"And how is this to be done?"
"Very easily. Jupiter and myself are
going upon an expedition into the hills, upon the main land, and, in this
expedition, we shall need the aid of some person in whom we can confide. You
are the only one we can trust. Whether we succeed or fail, the excitement
which you now perceive in me will be equally allayed."
"I am anxious to oblige you in any
way," I replied; "but do you mean to say that this infernal beetle
has any connection with your expedition into the hills?"
"It has."
"Then, Legrand,
I can become a party to no such absurd proceeding.
"I am sorry - very sorry - for we shall
have to try it by ourselves."
"Try it by yourselves! The man is surely
mad! - but stay! - how long do you propose to be
absent?"
"Probably all night. We shall start
immediately, and be back, at all events, by sunrise."
"And will you promise me, upon your
honor, that when this freak of yours is over, and the bug business (good
God!) settled to your satisfaction, you will then
return home and follow my advice implicitly, as that of your physician?"
"Yes; I promise; and now let us be off,
for we have no time to lose."
With a heavy heart I accompanied my friend. We
started about four o'clock - Legrand, Jupiter, the
dog, and myself. Jupiter had with him the scythe and
spades - the whole of which he insisted upon carrying - more through fear, it seemed to me, of trusting either of the implements
within reach of his master, than from any excess of industry or complaisance.
His demeanor was dogged in the extreme, and "dat
d- d bug" were the sole words which escaped his lips during the journey.
For my own part, I had charge of a couple of dark lanterns, while Legrand contented himself with the scarabaeus,
which he carried attached to the end of a bit of whipcord; twirling it
to and fro, with the air of a conjuror, as he went. When I observed this
last, plain evidence of my friend's aberration of mind, I could scarcely
refrain from tears. I thought it best, however, to humor his fancy, at least
for the present, or until I could adopt some more energetic measures with a
chance of success. In the mean time I endeavored, but all in vain, to sound him
in regard to the object of the expedition. Having succeeded in inducing me to
accompany him, he seemed unwilling to hold conversation upon any topic of
minor importance, and to all my questions vouchsafed
no other reply than "we shall see!"
We crossed the creek at the head of the island
by means of a skiff, and, ascending the high grounds on the shore of the
mainland, proceeded in a northwesterly direction,
through a tract of country excessively wild and desolate, where no trace of a
human footstep was to be seen. Legrand led the way
with decision; pausing only for an instant, here and there, to consult what
appeared to be certain landmarks of his own contrivance upon a former
occasion.
In this manner we journeyed for about two
hours, and the sun was just setting when we entered a region infinitely more dreary than any yet seen. It was a species of table
land, near the summit of an almost inaccessible hill, densely wooded from
base to pinnacle, and interspersed with huge crags that appeared to lie
loosely upon the soil, and in many cases were prevented from precipitating
themselves into the valleys below, merely by the support of the trees against
which they reclined. Deep ravines, in various directions, gave an air of
still sterner solemnity to the scene.
The natural platform to which we had clambered
was thickly overgrown with brambles, through which we soon discovered that it
would have been impossible to force our way but for the scythe; and Jupiter,
by direction of his master, proceeded to clear for us a path to the foot of
an enormously tall tuliptree, which stood,
with some eight or ten oaks, upon the level, and far surpassed them all, and
all other trees which I had then ever seen, in the beauty of its foliage and
form, in the wide spread of its branches, and in the general majesty of its
appearance. When we reached this tree, Legrand
turned to Jupiter, and asked him if he thought he could climb it. The old man
seemed a little staggered by the question, and for some moments made no
reply. At length he approached the huge trunk, walked slowly around it, and
examined it with minute attention. When he had completed his scrutiny, he
merely said,
"Yes, massa, Jup climb any tree he ebber see
in he life."
"Then up with you as soon as possible,
for it will soon be too dark to see what we are about."
"How far mus go
up, massa?" inquired Jupiter.
"Get up the main trunk first, and then I
will tell you which way to go - and here - stop! take
this beetle with you."
"De bug, Massa Will! - de goole bug!" cried the negro, drawing back in dismay
- "what for mus tote de bug way up de tree? -
d- n if I do!"
"If you are afraid, Jup,
a great big negro like you, to take hold of a harmless little dead beetle,
why you can carry it up by this string - but, if you do not take it up with
you in some way, I shall be under the necessity of breaking your head with
this shovel."
"What de matter now, massa?"
said Jup, evidently shamed into compliance;
"always want for to raise fuss wid old me. Was only funnin'
anyhow. Me feered de bug! what
I keer for de bug?" Here he took cautiously
hold of the extreme end of the string, and, maintaining the insect as far
from his person as circumstances would permit, prepared to ascend the tree.
In youth, the tuliptree,
or Liriodendron Tulipiferum, the most magnificent
of American foresters, has a trunk peculiarly smooth, and often rises to a
great height without lateral branches; but, in its riper age, the bark
becomes gnarled and uneven, while many short limbs make their appearance on
the stem. Thus the difficulty of ascension, in the present case, lay more in
semblance than in reality. Embracing the huge cylinder, as closely as
possible, with his arms and knees, seizing with his hands some projections,
and resting his naked toes upon others, Jupiter, after one or two narrow
escapes from falling, at length wriggled himself into the first great fork,
and seemed to consider the whole business as virtually accomplished. The risk
of the achievement was, in fact, now over, although the climber was some sixty
or seventy feet from the ground.
"Which way mus
go now, Massa Will?" he asked.
Keep up the largest branch - the one on this
side," said Legrand. The negro obeyed him promptly, and apparently with but little trouble;
ascending higher and higher, until no glimpse of his squat figure could be
obtained through the dense foliage which enveloped it. Presently his voice
was heard in a sort of halloo.
"How much fudder
is got for go?"
"How high up are you?" asked Legrand.
"Ebber so
fur," replied the negro; "can see de sky fru
de top ob de tree."
"Never mind the sky, but attend to what I
say. Look down the trunk and count the limbs below you on this side. How many
limbs have you passed?"
"One, two, tree, four, fibe - I done pass fibe big limb, massa, 'pon dis side."
"Then go one limb higher."
In a few minutes the voice was heard again,
announcing that the seventh limb was attained.
"Now, Jup,"
cried Legrand, evidently much excited, "I want
you to work your way out upon that limb as far as you can. If you see anything
strange, let me know."
By this time what little doubt I might have
entertained of my poor friend's insanity, was put finally at rest. I had no
alternative but to conclude him stricken with lunacy, and I became seriously anxious
about getting him home. While I was pondering upon what was best to be done,
Jupiter's voice was again heard.
"Mos' feerd for to ventur 'pon dis limb berry far - 'tis dead limb putty much all de
way."
"Did you say it was a dead limb,
Jupiter?" cried Legrand in a quavering voice.
"Yes, massa,
him dead as de doornail - done up for sartain
- done departed dis here
life."
"What in the name of heaven shall I
do?" asked Legrand, seemingly in the greatest
distress.
"Do!" said
I, glad of an opportunity to interpose a word, "why come home and go to
bed. Come now! - that's a fine fellow. It's getting
late, and, besides, you remember your promise."
"Jupiter," cried he, without heeding
me in the least, "do you hear me?"
"Yes, Massa Will, hear you ebber so plain."
"Try the wood well, then, with your
knife, and see if you think it very rotten."
"Him rotten, massa, sure nuff," replied
the negro in a few moments, "but not so berry rotten as mought be. Mought ventur out leetle way pon de limb by myself, dat's true."
"By yourself! - what do you mean?"
"Why I mean de bug. 'Tis berry hebby bug. Spose I drop him
down fuss, and den de limb won't break wid just de
weight ob me."
"You infernal scoundrel!" cried Legrand, apparently much relieved, "what do you mean
by telling me such nonsense as that? As sure as you let that beetle fall! -
I'll break your neck. Look here, Jupiter! do you
hear me?"
"Yes, massa,
needn't hollo at poor me dat
style."
"Well! now
listen! - if you will venture out on the limb as far as you think safe, and
not let go the beetle, I'll make you a present of a silver dollar as soon as
you get down."
"I'm gwine,
Massa Will - deed I is," replied the negro very promptly - "mos out to the eend now."
"Out to the end!" here fairly
screamed Legrand, "do you say you are out to
the end of that limb?"
"Soon be to de eend,
massa, - oooooh!
Lorgolamarcy! what
is dis here pon de tree?"
"Well!" cried Legrand,
highly delighted, "what is it?"
"Why taint noffin
but a skull - somebody bin lef him head up de tree,
and de crows done gobble ebery bit ob de meat off."
"A skull, you say! - very
well! - how is it fastened to the limb? - what holds
it on?"
"Sure nuff, massa; mus look. Why dis berry curous sarcumstance, pon my word - dare's a great big nail in de skull, what fastens
ob it on to de tree."
"Well now, Jupiter, do exactly as I tell
you - do you hear?"
"Yes, massa."
"Pay attention, then! - find the left eye
of the skull."
"Hum! hoo! dat's
good! why dar ain't no eye lef' at all."
"Curse your stupidity! do
you know your right hand from your left?"
"Yes, I nose dat
- nose all bout dat - 'tis my left hand what I
chops de wood wid."
"To be sure! you
are lefthanded; and your left eye is on the
same side as your left hand. Now, I suppose, you can find the left eye of the
skull, or the place where the left eye has been. Have you found it?"
Here was a long pause. At length the negro
asked,
"Is de lef' eye
of de skull pon de same side as de lef' hand of de skull, too? - cause
de skull ain't got not a bit ob
a hand at all - nebber mind! I got de lef' eye now - here de lef'
eye! what mus do wid it?"
"Let the beetle drop through it, as far as the string will reach - but be careful and
not let go your hold of the string."
"All dat done,
Massa Will; mighty easy ting for to put de bug fru
de hole - look out for him dar below?"
During this colloquy no portion of Jupiter's
person could be seen; but the beetle, which he had suffered to descend, was
now visible at the end of the string, and glistened, like a globe of
burnished gold, in the last rays of the setting sun, some of which still
faintly illumined the eminence upon which we stood. The scarabaeus hung quite clear
of any branches, and, if allowed to fall, would have fallen at our feet. Legrand immediately took the scythe, and cleared with it
a circular space, three or four yards in diameter, just beneath the insect,
and, having accomplished this, ordered Jupiter to let go the string and come
down from the tree.
Driving a peg, with great nicety, into the
ground, at the precise spot where the beetle fell, my friend now produced
from his pocket a tapemeasure. Fastening one
end of this at that point of the trunk of the tree which was nearest the peg,
he unrolled it till it reached the peg, and thence farther unrolled it, in
the direction already established by the two points of the tree and the peg,
for the distance of fifty feet - Jupiter clearing away the brambles with the
scythe. At the spot thus attained a second peg was driven, and about this, as
a centre, a rude circle, about four feet in
diameter, described. Taking now a spade himself, and giving one to Jupiter
and one to me, Legrand begged us to set about one
to digging as quickly as possible.
To speak the truth, I had no especial relish
for such amusement at any time, and, at that particular moment, would most
willingly have declined it; for the night was coming on, and I felt much
fatigued with the exercise already taken; but I saw no mode of escape, and
was fearful of disturbing my poor friend's equanimity by a refusal. Could I
have depended, indeed, upon Jupiter's aid, I would have had no hesitation in
attempting to get the lunatic home by force; but I was too well assured of
the old negro's disposition, to hope that he would assist me, under any
circumstances, in a personal contest with his master. I made no doubt that
the latter had been infected with some of the innumerable Southern
superstitions about money buried, and that his phantasy had received
confirmation by the finding of the scarabaeus, or,
perhaps, by Jupiter's obstinacy in maintaining it to be "a bug of real
gold." A mind disposed to lunacy would readily be led away by such
suggestions - especially if chiming in with favorite preconceived ideas - and
then I called to mind the poor fellow's speech about the beetle's being
"the index of his fortune." Upon the whole, I was sadly vexed and
puzzled, but, at length, I concluded to make a virtue of necessity - to dig
with a good will, and thus the sooner to convince the visionary, by ocular
demonstration, of the fallacy of the opinions he entertained.
The lanterns having been lit, we all fell to
work with a zeal worthy a more rational cause; and, as the glare fell upon
our persons and implements, I could not help thinking how picturesque a group
we composed, and how strange and suspicious our labors must have appeared to
any interloper who, by chance, might have stumbled upon our whereabouts.
We dug very steadily for two hours. Little was
said; and our chief embarrassment lay in the yelpings
of the dog, who took exceeding interest in our proceedings. He, at length,
became so obstreperous that we grew fearful of his giving the alarm to some
stragglers in the vicinity; - or, rather, this was the apprehension of Legrand; - for myself, I should have rejoiced at any
interruption which might have enabled me to get the wanderer home. The noise
was, at length, very effectually silenced by Jupiter, who, getting out of the
hole with a dogged air of deliberation, tied the brute's mouth up with one of
his suspenders, and then returned, with a grave chuckle, to his task.
When the time mentioned had expired, we had
reached a depth of five feet, and yet no signs of any treasure became
manifest. A general pause ensued, and I began to hope that the farce was at
an end. Legrand, however, although evidently much
disconcerted, wiped his brow thoughtfully and recommenced. We had excavated
the entire circle of four feet diameter, and now we slightly enlarged the
limit, and went to the farther depth of two feet. Still nothing appeared. The
goldseeker, whom I sincerely pitied, at length
clambered from the pit, with the bitterest disappointment imprinted upon
every feature, and proceeded, slowly and
reluctantly, to put on his coat, which he had thrown off at the beginning of
his labor. In the mean time I made no remark. Jupiter, at a signal from his
master, began to gather up his tools. This done, and the dog having been unmuzzled, we turned in profound silence towards home.
We had taken, perhaps, a dozen steps in this
direction, when, with a loud oath, Legrand strode
up to Jupiter, and seized him by the collar. The astonished negro opened his
eyes and mouth to the fullest extent, let fall the spades, and fell upon his
knees.
"You scoundrel," said Legrand, hissing out the syllables from between his
clenched teeth - "you infernal black villain! - speak, I tell you! -
answer me this instant, without prevarication! which
- which is your left eye?"
"Oh, my golly, Massa Will! ain't dis here my lef' eye for sartain?" roared the terrified Jupiter, placing his
hand upon his right organ of vision, and holding it there with a desperate
pertinacity, as if in immediate dread of his master's attempt at a gouge.
"I thought so! - I knew it! - hurrah!"
vociferated Legrand, letting the negro go, and
executing a series of curvets and caracols, much to
the astonishment of his valet, who, arising from his knees, looked, mutely,
from his master to myself, and then from myself to his master.
"Come! we must
go back," said the latter, "the game's not up yet;" and he
again led the way to the tuliptree.
"Jupiter," said he, when we reached
its foot, come here! was the skull nailed to the
limb with the face outward, or with the face to the limb?"
"De face was out, massa,
so dat de crows could get at de eyes good, widout any trouble."
"Well, then, was it this eye or that
through which you let the beetle fall?" - here Legrand touched each of Jupiter's eyes.
"'Twas dis eye,
massa - de lef' eye - jis as you tell me," and here it was his right eye
that the negro indicated.
"That will do - we must try it
again."
Here my friend, about whose madness I now saw,
or fancied that I saw, certain indications of method, removed the peg which
marked the spot where the beetle fell, to a spot about three inches to the
westward of its former position. Taking, now, the tapemeasure
from the nearest point of the trunk to the peg, as before, and continuing the
extension in a straight line to the distance of fifty feet, a spot was indicated,
removed, by several yards, from the point at which we had been digging.
Around the new position a circle, somewhat
larger than in the former instance, was now described, and we again set to
work with the spades. I was dreadfully weary, but, scarcely understanding
what had occasioned the change in my thoughts, I felt no longer any great
aversion from the labor imposed. I had become most unaccountably interested -
nay, even excited. Perhaps there was something, amid all the extravagant
demeanor of Legrand - some air of forethought, or
of deliberation, which impressed me. I dug eagerly, and now and then caught
myself actually looking, with something that very much resembled expectation,
for the fancied treasure, the vision of which had demented my unfortunate
companion. At a period when such vagaries of thought most fully possessed me,
and when we had been at work perhaps an hour and a half, we were again
interrupted by the violent howlings of the dog. His
uneasiness, in the first instance, had been, evidently, but the result of
playfulness or caprice, but he now assumed a bitter and serious tone. Upon
Jupiter's again attempting to muzzle him, he made furious resistance, and,
leaping into the hole, tore up the mould
frantically with his claws. In a few seconds he had uncovered a mass of human
bones, forming two complete skeletons, intermingled with several buttons of
metal, and what appeared to be the dust of decayed woollen.
One or two strokes of a spade upturned the blade of a large Spanish knife,
and, as we dug farther, three or four loose pieces of gold and silver coin
came to light.
At sight of these the joy of Jupiter could
scarcely be restrained, but the countenance of his master wore an air of
extreme disappointment. He urged us, however, to continue our exertions, and
the words were hardly uttered when I stumbled and fell forward, having caught
the toe of my boot in a large ring of iron that lay half buried in the loose
earth.
We now worked in earnest, and never did I pass
ten minutes of more intense excitement. During this interval we had fairly
unearthed an oblong chest of wood, which, from its perfect preservation, and
wonderful hardness, had plainly been subjected to some mineralizing process -
perhaps that of the Bichloride of Mercury.
This box was three feet and a half long, three feet broad, and two and a half
feet deep. It was firmly secured by bands of wrought iron, riveted, and
forming a kind of trelliswork over the whole. On each side of the chest,
near the top, were three rings of iron - six in all - by means of which a
firm hold could be obtained by six persons. Our utmost united endeavors
served only to disturb the coffer very slightly in its bed. We at once saw
the impossibility of removing so great a weight. Luckily, the sole fastenings
of the lid consisted of two sliding bolts. These we drew back - trembling and
panting with anxiety. In an instant, a treasure of incalculable value lay
gleaming before us. As the rays of the lanterns fell within the pit, there
flashed upwards, from a confused heap of gold and of jewels, a glow and a
glare that absolutely dazzled our eyes.
I shall not pretend to describe the feelings
with which I gazed. Amazement was, of course, predominant. Legrand appeared exhausted with excitement, and spoke
very few words. Jupiter's countenance wore, for some minutes, as deadly a
pallor as it is possible, in the nature of things, for any negro's visage to
assume. He seemed stupefied - thunderstricken.
Presently he fell upon his knees in the pit, and, burying his naked arms up
to the elbows in gold, let them there remain, as if enjoying the luxury of a
bath. At length, with a deep sigh, he exclaimed, as if in a soliloquy.
"And dis all cum ob
de goolebug! de putty
goolebug! de poor
little goolebug, what I boosed
in dat sabage kind ob style! Ain't you shamed ob yourself? - answer me dat!"
It became necessary, at last, that I should
arouse both master and valet to the expediency of removing the treasure. It
was growing late, and it behooved us to make exertion, that we might get every thing housed before daylight. It was difficult to
say what should be done; and much time was spent in deliberation - so
confused were the ideas of all. We, finally, lightened the box by removing
two thirds of its contents, when we were enabled, with some trouble, to raise
it from the hole. The articles taken out were deposited among the brambles,
and the dog left to guard them, with strict orders from Jupiter neither, upon
any pretence, to stir from the spot, nor to open
his mouth until our return. We then hurriedly made for home with the chest;
reaching the hut in safety, but after excessive toil, at one o'clock in the
morning. Worn out as we were, it was not in human nature to do more just
then. We rested until two, and had supper; starting for the hills immediately
afterwards, armed with three stout sacks, which, by good luck, were upon the
premises. A little before four we arrived at the pit, divided the remainder
of the booty, as equally as might be, among us, and, leaving the holes unfilled,
again set out for the hut, at which, for the second time, we deposited our
golden burthens, just as the first streaks of the dawn gleamed from over the
treetops in the East.
We were now thoroughly broken down; but the
intense excitement of the time denied us repose. After an unquiet slumber of
some three or four hours' duration, we arose, as if by preconcert, to make
examination of our treasure.
The chest had been full to the brim, and we
spent the whole day, and the greater part of the next night, in a scrutiny of
its contents. There had been nothing like order or arrangement. Every thing had been heaped in promiscuously. Having
assorted all with care, we found ourselves possessed of even vaster wealth
than we had at first supposed. In coin there was rather more than four
hundred and fifty thousand dollars - estimating the value of the pieces, as
accurately as we could, by the tables of the period. There was not a particle
of silver. All was gold of antique date and of great variety - French, Spanish,
and German money, with a few English guineas, and some counters, of which we
had never seen specimens before. There were several very large and heavy
coins, so worn that we could make nothing of their inscriptions. There was no
American money. The value of the jewels we found more difficulty in
estimating. There were diamonds - some of them exceedingly large and fine - a
hundred and ten in all, and not one of them small; eighteen rubies of
remarkable brilliancy; - three hundred and ten emeralds, all very beautiful;
and twentyone sapphires, with an opal. These
stones had all been broken from their settings and thrown loose in the chest.
The settings themselves, which we picked out from among the other gold,
appeared to have been beaten up with hammers, as if to prevent
identification. Besides all this, there was a vast quantity of solid gold
ornaments; - nearly two hundred massive finger and ear rings; - rich chains -
thirty of these, if I remember; - eightythree
very large and heavy crucifixes; - five gold censers of great value; - a
prodigious golden punchbowl, ornamented with richly chased vineleaves and Bacchanalian figures; with two swordhandles exquisitely embossed, and many other
smaller articles which I cannot recollect. The weight of these valuables
exceeded three hundred and fifty pounds avoirdupois; and in this estimate I
have not included one hundred and ninetyseven
superb gold watches; three of the number being worth each five hundred
dollars, if one. Many of them were very old, and as time keepers valueless;
the works having suffered, more or less, from corrosion - but all were richly
jewelled and in cases of great worth. We estimated
the entire contents of the chest, that night, at a million and a half of
dollars; and, upon the subsequent disposal of the trinkets and jewels (a few
being retained for our own use), it was found that
we had greatly undervalued the treasure.
When, at length, we had concluded our
examination, and the intense excitement of the time had, in some measure, subsided,
Legrand, who saw that I was dying with impatience
for a solution of this most extraordinary riddle, entered into a full detail
of all the circumstances connected with it.
"You remember," said he, "the
night when I handed you the rough sketch I had made of the scarabaeus. You recollect also, that I became quite vexed
at you for insisting that my drawing resembled a death'shead.
When you first made this assertion I thought you were jesting; but afterwards
I called to mind the peculiar spots on the back of the insect, and admitted
to myself that your remark had some little foundation in fact. Still, the
sneer at my graphic powers irritated me - for I am considered a good artist -
and, therefore, when you handed me the scrap of parchment, I was about to
crumple it up and throw it angrily into the fire."
"The scrap of paper, you mean," said
I.
"No; it had much of the appearance of
paper, and at first I supposed it to be such, but when I came to draw upon
it, I discovered it, at once, to be a piece of very thin parchment. It was
quite dirty, you remember. Well, as I was in the very act of crumpling it up,
my glance fell upon the sketch at which you had been looking, and you may
imagine my astonishment when I perceived, in fact, the figure of a death'shead just where, it seemed to me, I had made
the drawing of the beetle. For a moment I was too much amazed to think with
accuracy. I knew that my design was very different in detail from this -
although there was a certain similarity in general outline. Presently I took
a candle, and seating myself at the other end of the room, proceeded to
scrutinize the parchment more closely. Upon turning it over, I saw my own
sketch upon the reverse, just as I had made it. My first idea, now, was mere
surprise at the really remarkable similarity of outline - at the singular
coincidence involved in the fact, that unknown to me, there should have been
a skull upon the other side of the parchment, immediately beneath my figure
of the scarabaeus and that this skull, not only in
outline, but in size, should so closely resemble my drawing. I say the
singularity of this coincidence absolutely stupefied me for a time. This is
the usual effect of such coincidences. The mind struggles to establish a
connection - a sequence of cause and effect - and, being unable to do so,
suffers a species of temporary paralysis. But, when I recovered from this
stupor, there dawned upon me gradually a conviction which startled me even
far more than the coincidence. I began distinctly, positively,
to remember that there had been no drawing on the parchment when I made my
sketch of the scarabaeus. I became perfectly
certain of this; for I recollected turning up first one side and then the
other, in search of the cleanest spot. Had the skull been then there, of
course I could not have failed to notice it. Here was indeed a mystery which
I felt it impossible to explain; but, even at that early moment, there it
seemed to glimmer, faintly, within the most remote and secret chambers of my
intellect, a glowwormlike conception of
that truth which last night's adventure brought to so magnificent a
demonstration. I arose at once, and putting the parchment securely away,
dismissed all farther reflection until I should be alone.
"When you had gone, and when Jupiter was
fast asleep, I betook myself to a more methodical investigation of the
affair. In the first place I considered the manner in which the parchment had
come into my possession. The spot where we discovered the scarabaeus
was on the coast of the main land, about a mile eastward of the island, and
but a short distance above high water mark. Upon my taking hold of it, it
gave me a sharp bite, which caused me to let it drop. Jupiter, with his
accustomed caution, before seizing the insect, which had flown towards him,
looked about him for a leaf, or something of that nature, by which to take
hold of it. It was at this moment that his eyes, and
mine also, fell upon the scrap of parchment, which I then supposed to be
paper. It was lying half buried in the sand, a corner sticking up. Near the
spot where we found it, I observed the remnants of the hull of what appeared
to have been a ship's long boat. The wreck seemed to have been there for a
very great while; for the resemblance to boat timbers could scarcely be traced.
"Well, Jupiter picked up the parchment,
wrapped the beetle in it, and gave it to me. Soon afterwards we turned to go
home, and on the way met Lieutenant G- . I showed him the insect, and he
begged me to let him take it to the fort. On my consenting, he thrust it
forthwith into his waistcoat pocket, without the parchment in which it had
been wrapped, and which I had continued to hold in my hand during his
inspection. Perhaps he dreaded my changing my mind, and thought it best to
make sure of the prize at once - you know how enthusiastic he is on all
subjects connected with Natural History. At the same time without being
conscious of it, I must have deposited the parchment in my own pocket.
"You remember that when I went to the
table, for the purpose of making a sketch of the beetle, I found no paper
where it was usually kept. I looked in the drawer, and found none there. I
searched my pockets, hoping to find an old letter - and then my hand fell
upon the parchment. I thus detail the precise mode in which it came into my
possession; for the circumstances impressed me with peculiar force.
"No doubt you will think me fanciful -
but I had already established a kind of connexion.
I had put together two links of a great chain. There was a boat lying on a
seacoast, and not far from the boat was a parchment - not a paper - with
a skull depicted on it. You will, of course, ask 'where is the connexion?' I reply that the skull, or death'shead, is the wellknown
emblem of the pirate. The flag of the death'shead
is hoisted in all engagements.
"I have said that the scrap was
parchment, and not paper. Parchment is durable - almost imperishable. Matters
of little moment are rarely consigned to parchment; since, for the mere
ordinary purposes of drawing or writing, it is not nearly so well adapted as
paper. This reflection suggested some meaning - some relevancy - in the death'shead. I did not fail to observe, also, the
form of the parchment. Although one of its corners had been, by some
accident, destroyed, it could be seen that the original form was oblong. It
was just such a slip, indeed, as might have been chosen for a memorandum -
for a record of something to be long remembered and carefully
preserved."
"But," I interposed, "you say
that the skull was not upon the parchment when you made the drawing of the
beetle. How then do you trace any connexion between
the boat and the skull - since this latter, according to your own admission,
must have been designed (God only knows how or by whom) at some period
subsequent to your sketching the scarabaeus?"
"Ah, hereupon turns the whole mystery;
although the secret, at this point, I had comparatively little difficulty in
solving. My steps were sure, and could afford but a single result. I
reasoned, for example, thus: When I drew the scarabaeus,
there was no skull apparent on the parchment. When I had completed the
drawing, I gave it to you, and observed you narrowly until you returned it.
You, therefore, did not design the skull, and no one else was present to do
it. Then it was not done by human agency. And nevertheless it was done.
"At this stage of my reflections I
endeavored to remember, and did remember, with entire distinctness, every
incident which occurred about the period in question. The weather was chilly
(oh rare and happy accident!), and a fire was blazing on the hearth. I was
heated with exercise and sat near the table. You, however, had drawn a chair
close to the chimney. Just as I placed the parchment in your hand, and as you
were in the act of inspecting it, Wolf, the Newfoundland, entered, and leaped
upon your shoulders. With your left hand you caressed him and kept him off,
while your right, holding the parchment, was permitted to fall listlessly
between your knees, and in close proximity to the fire. At one moment I
thought the blaze had caught it, and was about to caution you, but, before I
could speak, you had withdrawn it, and were engaged in its examination. When
I considered all these particulars, I doubted not for a moment that heat had
been the agent in bringing to light, on the parchment, the skull which I saw
designed on it. You are well aware that chemical preparations exist, and have
existed time out of mind, by means of which it is possible to write on either
paper or vellum, so that the characters shall become visible only when
subjected to the action of fire. Zaire, digested in aqua regia,
and diluted with four times its weight of water, is sometimes employed; a
green tint results. The regulus of cobalt,
dissolved in spirit of nitre, gives a red. These colors
disappear at longer or shorter intervals after the material written on cools,
but again become apparent upon the reapplication of heat.
"I now scrutinized the death'shead with care. Its outer edges - the edges
of the drawing nearest the edge of the vellum - were far more distinct than
the others. It was clear that the action of the caloric had been imperfect or
unequal. I immediately kindled a fire, and subjected every portion of the
parchment to a glowing heat. At first, the only effect was the strengthening
of the faint lines in the skull; but, on persevering in the experiment, there
became visible, at the corner of the slip, diagonally opposite to the spot in
which the death'shead was delineated, the
figure of what I at first supposed to be a goat. A closer scrutiny, however,
satisfied me that it was intended for a kid."
"Ha! ha!" said I, "to be sure I
have no right to laugh at you - a million and a half of money is too serious
a matter for mirth - but you are not about to establish a third link in your
chain - you will not find any especial connexion
between your pirates and goat - pirates, you know, have nothing to do with
goats; they appertain to the farming interest."
"But I have just said that the figure was
not that of a goat."
"Well, a kid then - pretty much the same
thing."
"Pretty much, but not altogether,"
said Legrand. "You may have heard of one
Captain Kidd. I at once looked on the figure of the animal as a kind of
punning or hieroglyphical signature. I say
signature; because its position on the vellum suggested this idea. The death'shead at the corner diagonally opposite, had, in the same manner, the air of a stamp, or
seal. But I was sorely put out by the absence of all else - of the body to my
imagined instrument - of the text for my context."
"I presume you expected to find a letter
between the stamp and the signature."
"Something of that kind. The fact is, I
felt irresistibly impressed with a presentiment of some vast good fortune
impending. I can scarcely say why. Perhaps, after all, it was rather a desire
than an actual belief; - but do you know that Jupiter's silly words, about
the bug being of solid gold, had a remarkable effect on my fancy? And then
the series of accidents and coincidences - these were so very extraordinary.
Do you observe how mere an accident it was that these events should have
occurred on the sole day of all the year in which it has been, or may be,
sufficiently cool for fire, and that without the fire, or without the
intervention of the dog at the precise moment in which he appeared, I should
never have become aware of the death'shead,
and so never the possessor of the treasure?"
"But proceed - I am all impatience."
"Well; you have heard, of course, the
many stories current - the thousand vague rumors afloat about money buried,
somewhere on the Atlantic coast, by Kidd and his associates. These rumors
must have had some foundation in fact. And that the rumors have existed so
long and so continuously could have resulted, it appeared to me, only from
the circumstance of the buried treasure still remaining entombed. Had Kidd
concealed his plunder for a time, and afterwards reclaimed it, the rumors
would scarcely have reached us in their present unvarying form. You will
observe that the stories told are all about moneyseekers,
not about moneyfinders. Had the pirate
recovered his money, there the affair would have dropped. It seemed to me
that some accident - say the loss of a memorandum indicating its locality -
had deprived him of the means of recovering it, and that this accident had
become known to is followers, who otherwise might never have heard that
treasure had been concealed at all, and who, busying themselves in vain,
because unguided attempts, to regain it, had given first birth, and then
universal currency, to the reports which are now so common. Have you ever
heard of any important treasure being unearthed along the coast?"
"Never."
"But that Kidd's accumulations were
immense, is well known. I took it for granted, therefore, that the earth
still held them; and you will scarcely be surprised when I tell you that I
felt a hope, nearly amounting to certainty, that the parchment so strangely
found, involved a lost record of the place of deposit."
"But how did you proceed?"
"I held the vellum again to the fire,
after increasing the heat; but nothing appeared. I now thought it possible
that the coating of dirt might have something to do with the failure; so I
carefully rinsed the parchment by pouring warm water over it, and, having
done this, I placed it in a tin pan, with the skull downwards, and put the
pan upon a furnace of lighted charcoal. In a few minutes, the pan having
become thoroughly heated, I removed the slip, and, to my inexpressible joy,
found it spotted, in several places, with what appeared to be figures
arranged in lines. Again I placed it in the pan, and suffered it to remain
another minute. On taking it off, the whole was just as you see it now."
Here Legrand, having reheated
the parchment, submitted It my inspection. The following characters were
rudely traced, in a red tint, between the death'shead
and the goat:
53++!305))6*;4826)4+.)4+);806*;48!8`60))85;]8*:+*8!83(88)5*!;
46(;88*96*?;8)*+(;485);5*!2:*+(;4956*2(5*4)8`8*; 4069285);)6
!8)4++;1(+9;48081;8:8+1;48!85;4)485!528806*81(+9;48;(88;4(+?3
4;48)4+;161;:188;+?;
"But," said I, returning him the slip, "I am as much in the
dark as ever. Were all the jewels of Golconda awaiting me on my solution of
this enigma, I am quite sure that I should be unable to earn them."
"And yet," said Legrand,
"the solution is by no means so difficult as
you might be led to imagine from the first hasty inspection of the
characters. These characters, as any one might readily guess, form a cipher -
that is to say, they convey a meaning; but then, from what is known of Kidd,
I could not suppose him capable of constructing any of the more abstruse
cryptographs. I made up my mind, at once, that this was of a simple species -
such, however, as would appear, to the crude intellect of the sailor,
absolutely insoluble without the key."
"And you really solved it?"
"Readily; I have solved others of an abstruseness ten thousand times greater. Circumstances,
and a certain bias of mind, have led me to take interest in such riddles, and
it may well be doubted whether human ingenuity can construct an enigma of the
kind which human ingenuity may not, by proper application, resolve. In fact,
having once established connected and legible characters, I scarcely gave a
thought to the mere difficulty of developing their import.
"In the present case - indeed in all cases of
secret writing - the first question regards the language of the cipher; for
the principles of solution, so far, especially, as the more simple ciphers
are concerned, depend on, and are varied by, the genius of the particular
idiom. In general, there is no alternative but experiment (directed by
probabilities) of every tongue known to him who attempts the solution, until
the true one be attained. But, with the cipher now before us, all difficulty
is removed by the signature. The pun on the word 'Kidd' is appreciable in no
other language than the English. But for this consideration I should have
begun my attempts with the Spanish and French, as the tongues in which a secret
of this kind would most naturally have been written by a pirate of the
Spanish main. As it was, I assumed the cryptograph to be English.
"You observe there are no divisions between the
words. Had there been divisions, the task would have been comparatively easy.
In such case I should have commenced with a collation and analysis of the
shorter words, and, had a word of a single letter occurred, as is most
likely, (a or I, for example,) I should have
considered the solution as assured. But, there being no division, my first
step was to ascertain the predominant letters, as well as the least frequent.
Counting all, I constructed a table, thus:
Of the character 8 there are 33.
; = 26.
4 = 19.
+ ) = 16.
* = 13.
5 = 12.
6 = 11.
! 1 = 8.
0 = 6.
9 2 = 5.
: 3 = 4.
? = 3.
` = 2.
. = 1.
"Now, in English, the letter which most
frequently occurs is e. Afterwards, the succession runs thus: a o i d h n r s t u y c f g l m w b k p q x z. E however
predominates so remarkably that an individual sentence of any length is
rarely seen, in which it is not the prevailing character.
"Here, then, we have, in the very beginning,
the groundwork for something more than a mere guess. The general use which
may be made of the table is obvious - but, in this particular cipher, we
shall only very partially require its aid. As our predominant character is 8,
we will commence by assuming it as the e of the natural alphabet. To verify
the supposition, let us observe if the 8 be seen often in couples - for e is
doubled with great frequency in English - in such words, for example, as
'meet,' 'fleet,' 'speed, 'seen,' 'been,' 'agree,' &c. In the present
instance we see it doubled less than five times, although the cryptograph is
brief.
"Let us assume 8, then, as e. Now, of all words
in the language, 'the' is the most usual; let us see, therefore, whether they
are not repetitions of any three characters in the same order of collocation,
the last of them being 8. If we discover repetitions of such letters, so
arranged, they will most probably represent the word 'the.' On inspection, we
find no less than seven such arrangements, the characters being
;48. We may, therefore, assume that the semicolon represents t, that 4
represents h, and that 8 represents e - the last being now well confirmed.
Thus a great step has been taken.
"But, having established a single word, we are
enabled to establish a vastly important point; that is to say, several
commencements and terminations of other words. Let us refer, for example, to
the last instance but one, in which the combination ;48
occurs - not far from the end of the cipher. We know that the semicolon
immediately ensuing is the commencement of a word, and, of the six characters
succeeding this 'the,' we are cognizant of no less than five. Let us set
these characters down, thus, by the letters we know them to represent, leaving
a space for the unknown-
t eeth.
"Here we are enabled, at once, to discard the 'th,' as forming no portion of the word commencing with
the first t; since, by experiment of the entire alphabet for a letter adapted
to the vacancy we perceive that no word can be formed of which this th can be a part. We are thus narrowed into
t ee,
and, going through the alphabet, if necessary, as before, we arrive at
the word 'tree,' as the sole possible reading. We thus gain another letter,
r, represented by (, with the words 'the tree' in juxtaposition.
"Looking beyond these words, for a short
distance, we again see the combination ;48, and
employ it by way of termination to what immediately precedes. We have thus
this arrangement:
the tree ;4(+?34 the,
or substituting the natural letters, where known, it
reads thus:
the tree thr+?3h the.
"Now, if, in place of the unknown characters,
we leave blank spaces, or substitute dots, we read thus:
the tree thr...h the,
when the word 'through' makes itself evident at once. But this discovery
gives us three new letters, o, u and g, represented by + ?
and 3.
"Looking now, narrowly, through the cipher for
combinations of known characters, we find, not very far from the beginning,
this arrangement,
83(88, or egree,
which, plainly, is the conclusion of the word 'degree,' and gives us
another letter, d, represented by !.
"Four letters beyond the word 'degree,' we
perceive the combination
;46(;88*.
"Translating the known characters, and
representing the unknown by dots, as before, we read thus:
th.rtee.
an arrangement immediately suggestive of the word 'thirteen,' and again
furnishing us with two new characters, i and n,
represented by 6 and *.
"Referring, now, to the beginning of the
cryptograph, we find the combination,
53++!.
"Translating, as before, we obtain
.good,
which assures us that the first letter is A, and that the first two words
are 'A good.'
"To avoid confusion, it is now time that we
arrange our key, as far as discovered, in a tabular form. It will stand thus:
5 = a
! = d
8 = e
3 = g
4 = h
6 = i
* = n
+ = o
( = r
; = t
"We have, therefore, no less than ten of the
most important letters represented, and it will be unnecessary to proceed
with the details of the solution. I have said enough to convince you that
ciphers of this nature are readily soluble, and to give you some insight into
the rationale of their development. But be assured that the specimen before
us appertains to the very simplest species of cryptograph. It now only
remains to give you the full translation of the characters upon the
parchment, as unriddled. Here it is:
'A good glass in the bishop's hostel in the devil's
seat twentyone degrees and thirteen minutes
northeast and by north main branch seventh limb east side shoot from the left
eye of the death'shead a bee line from the
tree through the shot fifty feet out.'"
"But," said I, "the enigma seems
still in as bad a condition as ever. How is it possible to extort a meaning
from all this jargon about 'devil's seats,' 'death'sheads,'
and 'bishop's hostel'?"
"I confess," replied Legrand,
"that the matter still wears a serious aspect, when regarded with a
casual glance. My first endeavor was to divide the sentence into the natural
division intended by the cryptographist."
"You mean, to
punctuate it?"
"Something of that kind."
"But how was it possible to effect
this?"
"I reflected that it had been a point with the
writer to run his words together without division, so as to increase the
difficulty of solution. Now, a not overacute man,
in pursuing such an object, would be nearly certain to overdo the matter.
When, in the course of his composition, he arrived at a break in his subject which would naturally require a pause, or a point, he
would be exceedingly apt to run his characters, at this place, more than
usually close together. If you will observe the MS., in the present instance,
you will easily detect five such cases of unusual crowding. Acting on this
hint, I made the division thus:
'A good glass in the bishop's hostel in the devil's
- twentyone degrees and thirteen minutes -
northeast and by north - main branch seventh limb east side - shoot from the
left eye of the death'shead - a beeline
from the tree through the shot fifty feet out.'"
"Even this division," said I, "leaves me still in the dark."
"It left me also in the dark," replied Legrand, "for a few days; during which I made
diligent inquiry, in the neighborhood of Sullivan's Island, for any building
which went by the name of the 'Bishop's Hotel'; for, of course, I dropped the
obsolete word 'hostel.' Gaining no information on the subject, I was on the
point of extending my sphere of search, and proceeding in a more systematic
manner, when, one morning, it entered into my head, quite suddenly, that this
'Bishop's Hostel' might have some reference to an old family, of the name of Bessop, which, time out of mind, had held possession of
an ancient manorhouse, about four miles to the
northward of the Island. I accordingly went over to the plantation, and
reinstituted my inquiries among the older negroes of the place. At length one
of the most aged of the women said that she had heard of such a place as Bessop's Castle, and thought that she could guide me to
it, but that it was not a castle, nor a tavern, but a high rock.
"I offered to pay her well for her trouble,
and, after some demur, she consented to accompany me to the spot. We found it
without much difficulty, when, dismissing her, I proceeded to examine the
place. The 'castle' consisted of an irregular assemblage of cliffs and rocks
- one of the latter being quite remarkable for its height as well as for its
insulated and artificial appearance. I clambered to its apex, and then felt
much at a loss as to what should be next done.
"While I was busied in reflection, my eyes fell
upon a narrow ledge in the eastern face of the rock, perhaps a yard below the
summit on which I stood. This ledge projected about eighteen inches, and was
not more than a foot wide, while a niche in the cliff just above it, gave it
a rude resemblance to one of the hollowbacked
chairs used by our ancestors. I made no doubt that here was the 'devil'sseat' alluded to in the MS., and now I seemed
to grasp the full secret of the riddle.
"The 'good glass,' I knew, could have reference
to nothing but a telescope; for the word 'glass' is rarely employed in any
other sense by seamen. Now here, I at once saw, was a telescope to be used,
and a definite point of view, admitting no variation, from which to use it.
Nor did I hesitate to believe that the phrases, 'twentyone
degrees and thirteen minutes,' and northeast and by north,' were intended as
directions for the levelling of the glass. Greatly
excited by these discoveries, I hurried home, procured a telescope, and
returned to the rock.
"I let myself down to the ledge, and found that
it was impossible to retain a seat on it unless in one particular position.
This fact confirmed my preconceived idea. I proceeded to use the glass. Of
course, the 'twentyone degrees and thirteen
minutes' could allude to nothing but elevation above the visible horizon,
since the horizontal direction was clearly indicated by the words, 'northeast
and by north.' This latter direction I at once established by means of a pocketcompass; then, pointing the glass as nearly at
an angle of twentyone degrees of elevation as
I could do it by guess, I moved it cautiously up or down, until my attention
was arrested by a circular rift or opening in the foliage of a large tree
that overtopped its fellows in the distance. In the centre
of this rift I perceived a white spot, but could not, at first, distinguish
what it was. Adjusting the focus of the telescope, I again looked, and now
made it out to be a human skull.
"On this discovery I was so sanguine as to
consider the enigma solved; for the phrase 'main branch, seventh limb, east
side,' could refer only to the position of the skull on the tree, while shoot
from the left eye of the death'shead'
admitted, also, of but one interpretation, in regard to a search for buried
treasure. I perceived that the design was to drop a bullet from the left eye
of the skull, and that a beeline, or, in other words, a straight line,
drawn from the nearest point of the trunk through 'the shot,' (or the spot
where the bullet fell,) and thence extended to a distance of fifty feet,
would indicate a definite point - and beneath this point I thought it at least
possible that a deposit of value lay concealed."
"All this," I said, "is exceedingly
clear, and, although ingenious, still simple and explicit. When you left the
Bishop's Hotel, what then?"
"Why, having carefully taken the bearings of
the tree, I turned homewards. The instant that I left 'the devil's seat,'
however, the circular rift vanished; nor could I get a
glimpse of it afterwards, turn as I would. What seems to me the chief
ingenuity in this whole business, is the fact (for repeated experiment has convinced
me it is a fact) that the circular opening in question is visible from no
other attainable point of view than that afforded by the narrow ledge on the
face of the rock.
"In this expedition to the 'Bishop's Hotel' I
had been attended by Jupiter, who had, no doubt, observed, for some weeks
past, the abstraction of my demeanor, and took especial care not to leave me
alone. But, on the next day, getting up very early, I contrived to give him
the slip, and went into the hills in search of the tree. After much toil I
found it. When I came home at night my valet proposed to give me a flogging.
With the rest of the adventure I believe you are as well acquainted as myself."
"I suppose," said I, "you missed the
spot, in the first attempt at digging through Jupiter's stupidity in letting
the bug fall through the right instead of the left of the skull."
"Precisely. This mistake made a difference of
about two inches and a half in the 'shot' - that is to say, in the position
of the peg nearest the tree; and had the treasure been beneath the 'shot,'
the error would have been of little moment; but the 'shot,' together with the
nearest point of the tree, were merely two points for the establishment of a
line of direction; of course the error, however trivial in the beginning,
increased as we proceeded with the line, and by the time we had gone fifty
feet, threw us quite off the scent. But for my deepseated
convictions that treasure was here somewhere actually buried, we might have
had all our labor in vain."
"I presume the fancy of the skull, of letting
fall a bullet through the skull's eye - was suggested to Kidd by the
piratical flag. No doubt he felt a kind of poetical consistency in recovering
his money through this ominous insignium."
"Perhaps so; still I cannot help thinking that
commonsense had quite as much to do with the matter as poetical
consistency. To be visible from the devil'sseat,
it was necessary that the object, if small, should be white; and there is
nothing like your human skull for retaining and even increasing its whiteness
under exposure to all vicissitudes of weather."
"But your grandiloquence, and your conduct in
swinging the beetle - how excessively odd! I was sure you were mad. And why
did you insist on letting fall the bug, instead of a bullet, from the
skull?"
"Why, to be frank, I felt somewhat annoyed by
your evident suspicions touching my sanity, and so resolved to punish you
quietly, in my own way, by a little bit of sober mystification. For this
reason I swung the beetle, and for this reason I let it fall from the tree.
An observation of yours about its great weight suggested the latter
idea."
"Yes, I perceive; and now there is only one
point which puzzles me. What are we to make of the skeletons found in the
hole?"
"That is a question I am no more able to answer
than yourself. There seems, however, only one
plausible way of accounting for them - and yet it is dreadful to believe in
such atrocity as my suggestion would imply. It is clear that Kidd - if Kidd
indeed secreted this treasure, which I doubt not - it is clear that he must
have had assistance in the labor. But, the worst of this labor concluded, he
may have thought it expedient to remove all participants in his secret.
Perhaps a couple of blows with a mattock were sufficient, while his
coadjutors were busy in the pit; perhaps it required a dozen - who shall
tell?"
Edgar Allan
Poe, 1843
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