died in the midst of
the scheming. He had married a very young wife, and she set great
store by the chart and directions preserved as a heritage from Captain
Thompson. In 1894 she struck a partnership with a Captain Hackett and
they organized an expedition which sailed for Cocos Island in a small
brig called the _Aurora_. This adventure amounted to nothing. There
was dissension on board, the voyage was longer than expected,
provisions fell short, and the _Aurora_ jogged homeward without
sighting the treasure island.

Meanwhile other explorers had been busy. A German, Von Bremer, spent
several thousand dollars in excavating and tunneling, but found no
reward. The tales of treasure also fired the brain of a remarkable
person named Gissler, who took up his solitary residence on Cocos
Island more than twenty years ago where he has since reigned with the
title and authority of governor of the same, by virtue of a commission
duly signed, sealed, and delivered by the republic of Costa Rica. As a
persistent and industrious treasure-hunter, this tropical hermit is
unique.

He was visited in 1896 by Captain Shrapnel of H.M.S. _Haughty_ who had
heard the stories of Thompson and Benito Bonito along the coastwise
ports. By way of giving his blue-jackets something to do, he landed a
party three hundred strong on Cocos Island whose landscape they vainly
blasted and otherwise disarranged for several days, but without
success. The Admiralty lacked imagination and reprimanded Captain
Shrapnel for his enterprising break in the dull routine of duty. It
was decreed that no more naval vessels were to touch at Cocos Island on
any pretext whatever.

This by no means discouraged Captain Shrapnel who waited until it was
permissible for him to apply for leave of absence. In England he found
gentlemen adventurers sufficient to finance an expedition which sailed
in the _Lytton_ in 1903. Of this party was Hervey de Montmorency,
whose account of the venture includes the following information:

"On the ninth of August, at four o'clock in the morning, every
treasure-seeker was on deck straining his eyes to penetrate the mist
and darkness; then as the sun rose, the gray mass on the horizon turned
to green, and Cocos Island, with its lofty wooded peak, its abrupt,
cliff-like shores, its innumerable cascades of sparkling water, was
displayed to eager and admiring eyes.

"The anchor was dropped in the little bay, and at the splash, flocks