A Queer Race: The Story of a Strange People — page 25: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

22 A QUFER RACE. case. It had been there a matter of forty or fifty years, maybe, washed up by the sea, and never seen by a soul before it was spied by my father. Inside the case was a dokyment as teld how, in 1744, a British man-of-war captured the Santa Anna, a Spanish galleon, with nmill- ions of money on board.” : ‘Millions! Not millions of pounds?” } «Yes, millions of pounds. She wasa big ship, carried forty guns, and must have beena matter cf two thousand tons burden. Now, a ship of that size can hold a sight of gold-and silver, Mr. Erle.” , | «< Rather. Almost as much as there is in all England, T should say.” «Just so, Mr. Erle,” said Bolsover, with glistening eyes. ‘‘ Suppose she carried no more than one thousand five hundred tons dead weight, and half of it was gold and half silver, that would be a pile of money—make- baskets and buckets full of sovereigns and crowns and shillings, to say nothing of six-pences and fourpenny- pieces, wouldn't it, sir?” ‘‘Oartloads! Why, you might give away a few wheel- barrows full without missing them.” As the poor fellow was evidently quite cracked on the subject, | thought it best to humor him. ‘‘ But you surely don’t mean to say that the galleon was full—bang up full of gold and silver?” ‘Yes, [ do; and why not? Doesn’t the dokyment say as she was a richly laden treasure-ship? and doesn’t it stand to reason that if she was richly laden—mark them words, sir, ‘richly laden “that she mnst ha’ been full. ‘““Why, yes, it does look so, when you come to think ebout it,” I said, gravely. ‘‘The man who finds the Santa Anna will have a grand haul; nothing so sure.” ‘‘Won’t he!” returned the boatswain, gleefully, in his excitement chucking his pipe into the sea. ‘‘ Now, look here, Mr. Erle; you said you was poor—as you had lost all the money as you had. Here’s a chance for you to get it all back, and twenty thousand times more! Help me to find the Santa Anna, and we will go halves—share and share alike, you know.” ‘<'l'hank you very much, Bolsover. It’s a very hand- some offer on your part, and Iam awfully obliged; but as yet I must own to being just a little inthe dark. Say ex- Eomichooks.com ~*