"In my opinion," he continued, "it was a very good story. Of course, it
goes without saying that it is true. I tell you, sir, that it is my
judgment that this whole section of coast line is rich in gold. Not only
did those pirates bury gold here, but, during the Civil War, the
Confederate blockade runners, when fearing capture, were known
repeatedly to throw gold into the sea along the beach, sometimes by the
keg full; and not one dollar's worth of it has ever yet been recovered,
so far as I can learn. It is all right there where they dropped it. And
besides that, at least on one occasion, it is a well proven fact that a
chest of gold was buried by the commander of one of the blockade runners
in the marsh grass on the shore not far below Wilmington; and there is
no evidence that it has ever yet been unearthed. In fact, all knowledge
of the exact spot has been lost, I understand."

"Yes," interposed the editor, "it is all quite reasonable; and, as
something germain to the subject, I can cite an interesting instance.
When, soon after the War our old Confederate naval captain bought his
home on Greenville Sound and was preparing to build his residence, he
had the old house which stood upon the site torn down, and, upon the
carpenters coming one morning to begin the erection of the new building,
they found an immense excavation right where the old house stood. Now,
that old building was in former years used by a Portuguese as an inn for
the entertainment of sailors from the vessels in the port of Wilmington;
and, there being certain traditions in regard to some money having been
buried beneath it, it was natural to conclude that the excavation
resulted from an energetic effort to find the money. The hole was made
at night, but by whom it has never been found out. The incident was
shrouded in a mystery which has never been cleared."

We talked still further along that vein, the editor emphatically
asserting his assured belief in the possibility of recovering quantities
of gold from the seashore below Wilmington, and from the decaying hulks
of blockade runners that rise a little here and there above the waves,
where they met a disastrous check to their efforts to slip into the
harbor.

As we started out again upon the street, Jamesby said, "Well,
sir,--pardon my frankness--but I must say that I have never found your
company so interesting before; and I shall be equally frank in saying
that--I have never been able yet to