"We all did our best, but were overpowered, and the whole crew, except three, were killed.  I was one of the three they did not kill.  They carried us on board their ship and kept us until next day when they asked us to join them.  They tried to entice us, by showing us great piles of money and telling us how rich we could become, and many other ways, and they tried to get us to join them willingly, but we would not, when they became enraged and loaded three cannon and lashed each one of us before the mouth of each cannon and told us to take our choice to join them, as they would touch the guns and that dam quick.  It is useless to say we accepted everything before death, so we came one of the pirates’ crew.  Both of my companions were killed in less time than six months, but I was with them for more than two years, in which time we collected a vast quantity of money from different ships we captured and we buried a great amount in two different lots.  I helped to bury it with my own hands.  The location of which it is my purpose to point out, so that it can be found without trouble in the Bahama Islands.  After I had been with them for more than two years, we were attacked by a large warship and our commander told us to fight for our lives, as it would be death if we were taken.  But the guns of our ship were too small for the warship, so our ship soon began to sink, when the man-of-war ran alongside of our vessel and tried to bore us, but we were sinking too fast, so she had to haul off again, when our vessel sunk with everything on board, and I escaped by swimming under the stern of the ship, as ours sunk, without being seen, and holding on to the ship until dark, when I swam to a portion of the wrecked vessel floating not far away.  And on that I floated.  The next morning the ship was not seen.  I was picked up by a passing vessel the next day as a shipwrecked seaman.

"And let me say here, I know that no one escaped alive from our vessel except myself and those that were taken by the man-of-war.  And those were all executed as pirates,—­so I know that no other man knows of this treasure except myself and it must be and is where we buried it until to-day and unless you get it through this statement it will remain there always and do no one any good.

"Therefore, it is your duty to trace it up and get it for your own benefit, as well as others, so delay not, but act as soon as possible.

"I will now describe the places, locations, marks etc., etc., so plainly that it can be found, without any trouble.

"The first is a sum of one million and a half dollars—­($1,500,000)—­“

At this point, John paused.  We all took a long breath, and Charlie Webster gave a soft whistle, and smacked his lips.

“A million and a half dollars.  What ho!”

Then I, happening to cast my eye through the open door, caught sight of a face gazing through the ironwork of the outer office with a fixed and glittering expression, a face anything but prepossessing, the face of a half-breed, deeply pock-marked, with a coarse hook nose, and evil-looking eyes, unnaturally close together.  He looked for all the world like a turkey buzzard, eagerly hanging over offal, and it was evident from his expression, that he had not missed a word of the reading.