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Page 42
The sheet of paper was of the old, blue kind used during the rebellion
of the abolitionists against the secessionists. It was dated June 14,
1863, and it described the hiding-place of ten burro-loads of gold and
silver coin valued at three hundred thousand dollars. Old Rundle--
grandfather of his grandson, Sam--was given the information by a
Spanish priest who was in on the treasure-burying, and who died many
years before--no, afterward--in old Rundle's house. Old Rundle wrote
it down from dictation.
"Why didn't your father look this up?" I asked young Rundle.
"He went blind before he could do so," he replied.
"Why didn't you hunt for it yourself?" I asked.
"Well," said he, "I've only known about the paper for ten years.
First there was the spring ploughin' to do, and then choppin' the
weeds out of the corn; and then come takin' fodder; and mighty soon
winter was on us. It seemed to run along that way year after year."
That sounded perfectly reasonable to me, so I took it up with young
Lee Rundle at once.
The directions on the paper were simple. The whole burro cavalcade
laden with the treasure started from an old Spanish mission in Dolores
County. They travelled due south by the compass until they reached
the Alamito River. They forded this, and buried the treasure on the
top of a little mountain shaped like a pack-saddle standing in a row
between two higher ones. A heap of stones marked the place of the
buried treasure. All the party except the Spanish priest were killed
by Indians a few days later. The secret was a monopoly. It looked
good to me.
Lee Rundle suggested that we rig out a camping outfit, hire a surveyor
to run out the line from the Spanish mission, and then spend the three
hundred thousand dollars seeing the sights in Fort Worth. But,
without being highly educated, I knew a way to save time and expense.
We went to the State land-office and had a practical, what they call a
"working," sketch made of all the surveys of land from the old mission
to the Alamito River. On this map I drew a line due southward to the
river. The length of lines of each survey and section of land was
accurately given on the sketch. By these we found the point on the
river and had a "connection" made with it and an important, well-
identified corner of the Los Animos five-league survey--a grant made
by King Philip of Spain.
By doing this we did not need to have the line run out by a surveyor.
It was a great saving of expense and time.
So, Lee Rundle and I fitted out a two-horse wagon team with all the
accessories, and drove a hundred and forty-nine miles to Chico, the
nearest town to the point we wished to reach. There we picked up a
deputy county surveyor. He found the corner of the Los Animos survey
for us, ran out the five thousand seven hundred and twenty varas west
that our sketch called for, laid a stone on the spot, had coffee and
bacon, and caught the mail-stage back to Chico.
I was pretty sure we would get that three hundred thousand dollars.
Lee Rundle's was to be only one-third, because I was paying all the
expenses. With that two hundred thousand dollars I knew I could find
May Martha Mangum if she was on earth. And with it I could flutter
the butterflies in old man Mangum's dove-cot, too. If I could find
that treasure!
But Lee and I established camp. Across the river were a dozen little
mountains densely covered by cedar-brakes, but not one shaped like a
pack-saddle. That did not deter us. Appearances are deceptive. A
pack-saddle, like beauty, may exist only in the eye of the beholder.
I and the grandson of the treasure examined those cedar-covered hills
with the care of a lady hunting for the wicked flea. We explored
every side, top, circumference, mean elevation, angle, slope, and
concavity of every one for two miles up and down the river. We spent
four days doing so. Then we hitched up the roan and the dun, and
hauled the remains of the coffee and bacon the one hundred and forty-
nine miles back to Concho City.
Lee Rundle chewed much tobacco on the return trip. I was busy
driving, because I was in a hurry.
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