QUEST FOR TREASURE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 14984, 4 May 1912, Page 2 (Supplement)

QUEST FOR TREASURE.

MYSTERIES OF AN ISLAND.

"NO WILD GOOSE CHASE."

A romantic story of a quest in a treasure island is related in the Yachtsman by an Englishman who has visited the island with a companion, and claims to have located the treasure.

The writer says :—'" Our Kingsleys and j our Clark Russells have so many times j utilised the- desert island, with its bound- j less store of bullion waiting for the hero j to sail down upon and 'secure, subsequently to return to Merrie England and live happy ever after, that most people suppose nowadays a tale of hidden treasure to be an impossibility in fact. " Yet we, two British subjects, both of age, and in, we believe, a perfectly sane state, affirm that we have knowledge of a desert, island on which is buried treasure of enormous value. Furthermore, we have, within, the past year, visited that .island, have explored it, and have satisfied ourselves . . . that this treasure was buried in a certain place on the island, j and that it has never been disturbed. j "Wo went out from England at our j own expense, and carried out the investi- ' gations for our own satisfaction. . . . 'or years we have been eased of papers so convincing, seemingly, to us, that we were on tenter-hooks of suspense as to whether the information they con* tained regarding the treasure was authentic or not. Now' we have been and seen. There is no longer doubt. We know. "For five weeks we sojourned on'the island. ... A representative of the Government to whom the island belongs accompanied us. Wo had to conduct our investigations with secrecy . . . but tho directions were so plain in our papers that long ere the return of the, vessel | which, by arrangement, was to call and | take us back to civilisation, we had con- ! vinced ourselves that ours was no wild goose chase, and the treasure for which we sought was in actual being. "On returning to the mainland we sought and obtained an interview with the President of the country to which our treasure island belongs. He granted us a legal concession empowering us to again visit the island to take possession, of the treasure. By the terms of the agreement the Government claims one-third of all treasure found there. This agreement, duly witnessed by the British Consul for the country in question, and other documents have been examined by the editor of this journal "We are not in a financial position strong enough to enable us to equip another expedition to secure the treasure. . . . Perhaps there is some yachtsman, whose .vessel mar be . even now" fitting-out for an extended cruise, who may welcome this opportunity to add zest to his contemplated voyage by the knowledge that a treasure-hunt, with every conceivable prospect of success, is open to him. All we ask is that wo may be. allowed to join his yacht at the nearest port to the island, and thence guide him to this Elysium."