ngland literally laden with
wealth. Richard Saint Leger was one of the first to hear the news; and
it so fired his imagination--and probably his cupidity--that he never
rested until he had traced the rumour to its source, and found it to be
true. He then sought out the leader of the fortunate expedition, and
having pledged himself to the strictest secrecy, obtained the fullest
particulars relating to the adventure. This done, his next step was to
organise a company of adventurers, with himself as their head and
leader, to sail in search of the next year's galleon. This was in the
year 1742. The expedition was a failure, so far as the capture of the
galleon was concerned, for she fell into the hands of Commodore Anson.
In other respects, however, the voyage proved fairly profitable; for
though they missed the great treasure ship, they fell in with and
captured another Spanish vessel which had on board sufficient specie to
well recompense the captors for the time and trouble devoted to the
adventure. And now I come to the part of the story which relates to
what has always been spoken of in the family as Richard Saint Leger's
buried treasure. It appears that on board the captured Spanish ship of
which I have just spoken, certain English prisoners were found, the
survivors of the crew of an English ship that had fought with and been
destroyed by the Spanish ship only a few days prior to her own capture.
These men were of course at once removed to Richard Saint Leger's own
ship, where they received every care, and their hurts--for it is said
that every man of them was more or less severely wounded--treated with
such skill as happened to be available, with the result that a few of
them recovered. Many, however, were so sorely hurt that they succumbed
to their injuries, the English captain being among this number. He
survived, however, long enough to tell Richard Saint Leger that he had
captured the galleon of the previous year, and had determined upon
capturing the next also. With this object in view, and not caring to
subject their booty to the manifold risks attendant upon a cruise of an
entire year, they had sought out a secluded spot, and had there
carefully concealed the treasure by burying it in the earth. Now,
however, the poor man was dying, and could never hope to enjoy his share
of the spoil, or even insure its possession to his relatives. He
therefore made a compact with Richard Saint Leger, confiding to