y
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 evide