The Coming Wave; Or, The Hidden Treasure of High Rock, Oliver Optic [story read aloud TXT] 📗

Bennington was an honest man; and further consideration of the subject would undoubtedly convince him that his son was exactly right and nobly just.

The dinner at the Sea Cliff House was as good, though no better than usual; but the guests, after the abundance of exercise during[Pg 281] the forenoon, were in better condition to enjoy it. They did enjoy it; and they talked about the hidden treasure of High Rock while they did so.

While they were eating and talking, and the landlord and his son were waiting upon them, the story of the bag of gold was travelling up the main street of the village, and, following the angles and bifurcations of the highways, was penetrating to the remotest corner of the town. Among other places, it went to the Island House, and Ethan Wormbury was utterly dismayed when he had listened to it. Though it was almost dinner-time, he left the few guests in his house to wait upon themselves, and hastened over to his father's house, where he found that the astounding news had preceded him. Squire Moses was as much disconcerted and cast down as his son had been.

"Twelve hundred dollars in gold!" exclaimed the old man, wiping the perspiration from his bald head.

"Of course Bennington will be able to pay his interest money now," added Ethan.

"I suppose so," groaned the squire. "But[Pg 282] where on earth did the money come from? Who buried it in the sand?"

"One of the men that was lost on the Waldo."

"Who was he?"

"I don't know," replied Ethan, for not many of the particulars in regard to the hidden treasure had yet been circulated. "But they say Stumpy was with young Bennington when he found the money."

"What! Stumpy! With him! Then they will divide it between them!" exclaimed Squire Moses; and the amiable old gentleman did not seem to rejoice at this possible accession of fortune on the part of his grandson.

"I don't know about that," said Ethan, who was certainly not less troubled than his worthy patriarch.

"But they ought not to touch the money—none of them. It belongs to the heirs of the man that was drowned. It ain't no better'n stealing to keep the gold," continued Squire Moses, with an overflow of honest indignation.

"That's so," added Ethan, sharing the virtuous sentiments of his father. "Of course the money belongs to somebody, if the man that[Pg 283] buried it is dead. But I want to know more about it; and I'm going down to see Stumpy."

"I'll go with you, Ethan," said the squire; and together they left the house.

"If they should keep the money, and divide it, Joel's widow would pay off the mortgage on the house, and Bennington would settle up his interest money on the first of July, I suppose," mused Ethan aloud, as they walked along the street.

The landlord of the Island House appeared to be disposed to look the facts squarely in the face, however disagreeable they might be. If the money was divided, he could not expect to become the landlord of the new hotel, which was the height of his ambition.

"I don't know," replied Squire Moses. "I don't go near Bennington now; I don't say anything to him about the interest money; I don't want to disturb him, or to set him a thinking. He not only promises to pay the interest, but he promises to pay it on the first day of July. If he don't do it at the right time, I shall foreclose. I believe the man is ruined now; and the longer I wait, the more money I shall[Pg 284] lose. He ought to know that such a big hotel, furnished as extravagantly as the new house, would not pay in such a place as Rockhaven. He can never recover himself in the world."

"But, father, even if the boys don't divide the gold, Bennington's customers will pay him enough to enable him to settle the interest," suggested Ethan, whose hopes were somewhat inflated by the reasoning of his father.

"That may be; but Bennington owes everybody in town, and his expenses for keeping those New Yorkers in his house are enough to swamp him. I don't believe he'll think of the interest at all, he's so busy, till after it is too late. He owes Jones three hundred dollars of borrowed money, which Jones lent him till the first of July, when he is to pay the mortgage on his house. I've already told Jones I couldn't wait a single day for my money; and he will have to make Bennington pay. Then I have hinted to Green, the market-man, Butler, the grocer, and others Bennington owes, that they had better look out and get their pay before the first of July. They are after him now, and he promises to pay them all just as soon as[Pg 285] these New York folks settle for their board. If Bennington ain't short on the first of July, I'll lose my guess," said the old man; and he believed that he had made things intensely hot for his creditor. "I can count up over a thousand dollars he has promised to pay by the first of July."

In justice to the landlord of the Sea Cliff House, it should be said that Squire Moses had overstated the facts, for Mr. Bennington had not promised to pay, but had merely expressed his hope and belief that he should be able to do so in the month of July. He actually owed, besides his interest, about seven hundred dollars; and his debts troubled him sorely. He could only hope that his creditors would wait a few weeks, though even now they harassed him every day of his life.

Squire Moses and Ethan entered the cottage of Joel's widow, and found the family at dinner. They did not knock at the door, or stand upon any ceremony.

"Stumpy, what's this story about the money found on the beach?" demanded Squire Moses, as though he felt that he had a right to know.[Pg 286]

Now, half a dozen persons had already spoken to Stumpy about the hidden treasure, and he was aware the subject was no longer a secret.

"Leopold found a bag of gold buried on the beach," replied Stumpy; and without reserve, he proceeded to tell all he knew about the treasure.

"And you and he are going to divide this money between you!" exclaimed Squire Moses, jumping at once to the point, as soon as Stumpy had told the story.

"Who says we are?" asked Stumpy, indignantly.

"That is what they say," added Ethan, who had, possibly, heard such a suggestion, as the narrative became distorted in its passage along the main street.

"I want to tell you, Susan Wormbury," continued Squire Moses, addressing himself to "Joel's widow," as he and Ethan usually called her,—"I want to tell you, Susan Wormbury, that I don't believe this boy has been brought up right. You ought to have brought him up to be honest."

"Like his grandfather!" exclaimed Stumpy, sullenly.[Pg 287]

"Yes, like your grandfather," added the squire, severely. "No man can say that Moses Wormbury ever stole a cent from anybody."

This remark evidently indicated the boundary line of the squire's homestead.

"Done just the same thing," muttered Stumpy.

"Why, father, Stumpy is a good boy," pleaded Mrs. Wormbury.

"If he takes any of this money, it will be just the same as stealing it," added the squire, projecting the remark savagely at the trembling widow of his lost son.

"Who is going to take any of it?" demanded Stumpy, springing to his feet, with his mouth full of fried fish.

"You! you and Bennington's son are going to divide it between you!"

"Its no such thing," protested Stumpy. "I wish we were, though."

"Do you say you are not?"

"I do say so! Leopold thinks the money belongs to the heirs of the man who buried it on the beach; and he is going to try to find them."

"That alters the case," replied the squire,[Pg 288] more mildly. "I hope the man's heirs will get the money for it belongs to them."

"I hope everybody will get what belongs to him," said Stumpy; but the remark was too indefinite to be appreciated by his amiable grandfather.

"You have no right to a dollar of this money, Stumpy; and if you touch it, I want you to understand that it will be stealing."

"I have nothing to do with the money. Le Bennington found it, and he knows what to do with it. If he chooses to give me some of it, I will take it fast enough."

Squire Moses and Ethan were both satisfied, so far as Stumpy was concerned; and they were rejoiced to know that Leopold intended to keep the gold until he could find the heirs of the man who had committed it to the sand.

"Susan," said Squire Moses, as he turned to depart, "I told you that you might stay in this house till the first of August; and so you may; but I am going to foreclose the mortgage right off, so that I can get legal possession sooner. It won't make any difference to you."

The old miser did not wait to hear any reply[Pg 289] to this announcement; but the tears dropped from the widow's eyes as the door closed upon the hard old man. The squire and Ethan walked down to the main street, talking with every one they met about the treasure, protesting that it ought to be kept for the heirs of the rightful owner, and manufacturing public sentiment which should compel the landlord of the Sea Cliff House and his son to pursue this course. It is true that the people of Rockhaven were very much surprised to hear Squire Moses and his son preaching such a doctrine; but they were willing to accept it, for it seemed to be just and right that the heirs should have what plainly belonged to them.

Unknown to them, and not yet with the entire approbation of his father, Leopold was their ally in directing public sentiment. After dinner, the parlor of the Sea Cliff House was filled by the New Yorkers and others who desired to hear the narrative of the finding of the hidden treasure. Leopold, in his best clothes, washed, dressed, and combed for a great occasion, appeared at the door of the parlor with Harvey Barth's diary in his hand. Stumpy, who had[Pg 290] come over to see him in regard to the exciting topic, followed him, and took a back seat in one corner of the room. The money-digger was not a little abashed when he saw so many pairs of eyes directed towards him; but he commenced his story, and soon recovered his self-possession. He began with the wreck of the Waldo, for the New Yorkers knew little or nothing of this exciting event. He then came to the appearance of Harvey Barth at the Cliff House, and detailed all the incidents relating to the diary, the visit of Miss Sarah Liverage, and the finding of the journal when the chimney was pulled down.

Leopold stated he had read only those portions of the diary which related to the treasure; and then he read the description from the book of the burying of the gold in the thunder and lightning. He had dug the beach all over, under the instruction of the nurse; and he had been unable to find the bag even after he read the journal, until he went down to High Rock in a thunder shower. Then, for the first time, he could distinguish Coffin Rock. Thus guided, he had found the treasure.

Leopold then gave his views in regard to the[Pg 291] ownership of the gold, and declared that he intended to keep the money in his uncle's safe till he had seen the owners of the Waldo, and they had sent to Havana. This statement to the astonishment and confusion of the money-digger, was followed by hearty applause, in which even the ladies joined. Public sentiment in the parlor earnestly indorsed his views.

"Leopold reads very well," said Mr. Hamilton; "and as we desire to rest for an hour or two, I suggest that he read the diary to us from the time the Waldo left Havana."

This suggestion was warmly applauded, and verbally seconded by half a dozen of the party. Leopold consented under this pressure, and read for a full hour, till he came to the afternoon of the day on which the brig was lost; in a word, till he came to what Harvey Barth had just written when Wallbridge came to the galley to light his pipe, as recorded in the first chapter of this story.