Adventure Magazine Cover — page 72: what you’re looking at

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

828 left exposed to the waves. In later years some subterranean upheaval raised the reef into plainer view till now at low tide any one going near it sees long, low glittering masses amid the breaking waves. Those are the bars of silver kept bright by the fine sand in the water that forever pours and tumbles over the millions of dollars’ worth of treasure lying in open daylight. It has long been a favorite diversion of the hardy and reckless Chinese pirates to put their junks in as close as they dare to the reef, which is surrounded by treacherous waters. Strong swimmers leap overboard and make for the piles of silver and each endeavors to bring away a bar tied to a cord about his neck. It is figured that it costs about one life to get three bars, as the swim- mers are tossed about by the waves and battered against the rocks. Once they are crippled, they are doomed, for no boat dares go near to rescue them. So far no one seems to have thought of trying to plant a pillar or stanchion on the reefs to which a trolley could be rigged and the silver taken aboard ship in baskets. THE “‘MADAGASCAR’S” LOST $11,000,000 OMEWHERE in the East lies the wreck of the Madagascar. There must be men living who can remember her wreck in 1853, and if such there be and they can point out the spot where she sank there is a strong likelihood that $11,000,000 may be re- covered. She sailed from Melbourne, Aus- tralia, and was driven far out of her course by storms. At the time of her wreck it was kept secret that this big sum in Australian gold was aboard her. This secret was main- tained for many years. Now, when helmet diving-apparatus with air-supply has been invented, no one seems to know where she sank and the official records have been mis- laid. Her loss was accounted a great dis- aster in those days and surely some one who reads these words will remember the wreck or may have a clipping concerning it in an old scrap-book, and so be able to produce the needed clue. CHINA’S VANISHED IMPERIAL JADES I‘ THE whole story were in hand and could be written in full detail there would be disclosed a tale concerning the loot of the imperial jades of China which rivals Adventure the most lurid fiction. The principal actor is now the commandant of the armed guard of a gold pack-train in Korea and is one of the best known of the Oriental adventurers. Another prominent character is an Ameri- can naval officer, now in command of one of this country’s greatest battleships. The jewels at stake were priceless and—but this is as much of the story as is told in the Fast. When the Allies entered Pekin, the pres- ence of so many kinds of troops divided the responsibility for looting and there was depredation of the boldest sort. The royal family in its flight to the Ming Tombs was able to remove only a part of the valuables of the dynasty, and in the Summer Palace, adroitly concealed, were the royal jades, a set of the most exquisite pieces to be found in the world and of incalculable value. These jewels were sacred and had come down through all the centuries of Manchu reign, and were held in superstitious awe among the nobles and court dignitaries. Probably the most amazing feature about their disappearance is that China does not yet know that they were looted. The news would have an effect on the nation similar to that of a party of Japanese soldiers paint- ing caricatures of George Washington on the walls of the Capitol. The American naval and marine officers and men are said to have done more looting than did the army, because they had ships to which to return their plunder. One officer located the box in which were the jades and other jewels. He secured it and got aboard an American vessel lying in the harbor at Ta-Ka in the Gulf of Pechili. When the jades were missed the diplomatic representatives of the Powers foresaw the terrific effect of the news on the Chinese public and set about recovering them. More than one hundred spies were at work trying to find them and at last they were traced to the officer mentioned and to the wardroom of the American ship. To take them by warrant would bring disclosure of this particular piece of loot, and then of looting in general, and would discredit the whole expedition. Acanvass of the spies was made and one particularly bold adventurer was selected to steal them back and was paid handsomely in advance. He succeeded in getting aboard the Amer- ican vessel. Ata given signal a junk was to go adrift, seemingly by accident, and bear Comiclbooks C©