CHAPTER I.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 6728, 24 February 1900, Page 2

CHAPTER I.

June 30. Sir,—One .of the guards—the one whom I bribed, and one who will see that this reaches you—has just informed me thai I am to be shot at sunrise to-morrow. It was really pitiful to see how it hurt the pool' fellow to break the news to me, for. he 19 evidently kind-hearted, and has' become much attached to me . . . To he" shot as a spy, sir. . . .at sunrise tomorrow —can you comprehend "that? And this is What I am to get for being a patriot; for foolishly volunteering to gain entrance to this fort for the purpose of reporting its strength an-d condition to you. And it was you, sir, who so eagerly accepted my services^ giving not a moment's heed to "the awful dangers of the undertaking, -riot" .ft 'second's thought to what 5t means to "a onan to be discovered, -tried, stood with his face to the wall, and riddled "with lead at sunrise— as a Bpy! not an instant's reflection-to the agonised young wife and the orphaned baby. Sir, there are- hot nether fires burning for sushusyoul " ; •. . : -Disrespect to my general, eh?' Yes, but the men who have coiidemned me -to-day, and those who will shoot me to-morrow, have an implacable enmity for me, not a scintilla less than that which filled your heafFwhen you sent me upon this mission. I am a common soldier, and you my general, but the sentence of death severed my relations with you, and made me infinitely your superior in the rank of patriots. When, have you offered to put your life in jeopardy for your country? How comical would be your pompous parade-day strut as you marched to the wall to foe shot in the back at sunrise —as a spy! It is not through love of you, nor of the country that gave me birth, and that by your hands has sent me to a shameful death, that I send you the information which, t have gathered, but through a desire for revenge mJon these brutes who arc-to. have my 1)loc"d to-morrow. In such a moment aa this a man opsris his heart to God, .with whatever of blackness it may hold.— No gibes *an reach me in the grave. I will 'write now, whilemy blood-is hot, and the fangs of despair are gnawing my soul. . (Then followed much particular information in the letter concerning the armament of the fortifications, the character of the works, the number of guns and defenders, the kind and quantity of ammunition in. the magazines, the situation and purpose of underground passages, the position of mines and torpedoes in the harbour, and many other things of great importance to an enemy, but of dull interest here. After that came the following passage:) I also made an unremitting search for <the secret vaults that you believed to exist within the fortifications. My close relations with the commandant enabled me to make investigations with considerable freedom, and while I found that there was a legend concerning certain mysterious vaults,} ib was treated as' one of those idle myths that follow in the wake of war. But this did not make me any the less vigilant. ■. If, as has been long asserted^ such vault* existed, and contained the vast treasure that the legend gave them, they would certainly be found sooner or later by the enemy, and would enable him to command the outcome of the war. If, on the other hand, I could secure possession of the treasure and smuggle it away, it would be of incalculable value—to me! My wife and little boy could — Well, in the bottom of an old iron box buried under earth and rubbish in a vault of the arsenal I finally found an exceedingly old pairchment—so old that the greatest care was required in handling it, lest, in its rotteYi state, it should fall to pieces. With infinite care I opened it at a convenient time, and found the writing and other marks upon it almost obliterated. Many surreptitious hours and vast patience and study were required to solve the riddle that it presented, but at last I mastered it: it was a plan showing the situation of .tihe long-forgotten treasure.vault! After'having thus learned the secret, I deposited the parchment in a safe place. The treasure-vault is beneath the arsenal. (The letter here gave a very minute description of the approach to the vlault, together -with an ingenious explanation of the manner in whjch it had been lost, and explicit directions for finding it. With an. injunction to pay the guard a certain large sum of money that the writer had promised him for getting tihrough the lines with the letter, and another outburst of scorn for his general and hatred for his country and all the world, tihe letter ended with a touching message to^thte writer's wife).