A STRANGE STORY.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 10599, 20 February 1896, Page 8

A STRANGE STORY.

MOUNT EGMONrs MYSTERY.

Somewhere about 1862, when the 57th Regiment was stationed at Taranaki, near Mount Egmont (so runs a story supplied to us by a person who could have no motive in misleading the public) a party of eight officers decided to make the ascent of tha mountain. They obtained leave from the colonel, and, taking their baggage servants to tho foot of the peak, dismissed them, with instructions te return to the spot in five days—they having taken provisions for that period. The camp followers then retired. From one of these, who served )

his master till his death, comes this mysterious narrative, which ia based on the last testimony of the officer himself. It wss ths old story. Two of the party had quarrelled about a girl in Berkshire, and it was mainly for the purpose of deciding their quarrel that they had ascended the mountain. Both as regards Maoris and their own people, it was considered a safe spot for the business. The duel took place on a small plot near the summit. Pistols were used. At the third discharge, one fell, mortally wounded. His last ditpositions wero taken. He was then carried nearer the top, and buried beneath some blocks of stone, with a tin canister containing a newspaper, the day and date, the names of the party, and the coins of the realm—sovereign, half-sovereign, half-crown, florin, shilling, sixpence, fourpence, threepence, a penny, and a half-penny The party then hurriedly descended to the woods at the base, where they recnaiued till the fifth day in close hiding. They then joined the servants who had come to seek them, and returned to camp, giving out that their companion had been lost in the bush, and stating that from the appearances he probably had been surprised and ent off by the Maoris. He was simply entered up as missing on the books of ths regiment, aad that ended the matter. But somewhere on the summit of the mountain there is a mound (if it has not been displaced by the ice and snow of 30 years), and beneath it lies a skeleton with the depositions of the witoesafs and the coins. No adventurous tourist has yet unearthed this memento, aiid thus the object of those who placed it there has, so far, been defeated. They calculated that, in a few years, it wonld be discovered, the mystery would be solved, and the truth given to the world. But the mountain proudly lifts its snowy head, and ve'fUhly preserves its trust. Whether the plant >vill ever be exposed is a problem of which thtt issue is extremely doubtful.—Hawera Post.