ther than risk capture by
the British fleet, and unwilling to run all the way back to South
America, the captain resolved to try to gain the nearest of the West
Indies and save his treasure.

Passing to the southward of Madeira, a cluster of small, uninhabited
islands, called the Salvages, was sighted. Thereupon the crew decided
that it was foolishness to continue the voyage. The captain was
accordingly stabbed to death with a dirk, and the ship steered to an
anchorage. The chests of Spanish dollars were landed in a small bay, a
deep trench dug in the sand above highwater mark, and the treasure
snugly buried, the body of the captain deposited in a box on top of it.
The mutineers then sought the Spanish Main where they intended to burn
their ship, buy a small vessel under British colors, and return to
carry off the two million dollars.

Near Tobago they suffered shipwreck because of poor navigation and only
two were saved. One died ashore, and the other was the Spanish seaman
who made the dying declaration to Christian Cruse in the hospital at
Vera Cruz.

Captain Hercules Robinson was a seasoned officer of His Majesty's navy,
used to taking sailors' yarns with a grain of salt, but that he was
convinced of the good faith of Christian Cruse and of the truth of the
narrative is shown by his interesting comments, as he wrote them down a
century ago:

"May Cruse not have had some interested object in fabricating this
story? Why did he not tell it before? Is not the cold-blooded murder
inconceivable barbarity, and the burying the body over the treasure too
dramatic and buccaneer-like? Or might not the Spaniard have lied from
love of lying and mystifying his simple shipmate, or might he not have
been raving?

"As to the first difficulty, I have the strongest conviction of the
honesty of Christian Cruse, and I think I could hardly be grossly
deceived as to his character, and his disclaiming any reward unless the
discovery was made, went to confirm my belief that he was an honest
man. And then as to his withholding the information for four or five
years, be it remembered that the war with Denmark might have truly shut
him out from any intercourse with England. Next as to the wantonness
and indifference with which the murder was perpetrated, I am afraid
there is no great improbability in this. I have witnessed a disregard
of human life in matters of promotion in our service, etc., which makes
the conduct of these