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 his
followers, who otherwise might never have heard that the 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 downward, and
put the pan upon a furnace of lighted charcoal.
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