up to the cranberry-pond arter that are two dollars, but Mother Hokum she see him a comin' jist as he come past the juniper-bush on the corner. She says to Hokum, 'Get into bed, old man, quick, and let me tell the story,' says she. So she covered him up, and when Gidger come in she come up to him and says she, 'Why, Mr. Gidger, I'm jist ashamed to see ye; why Mr. Hokum was jist a comin' down to pay ye that are money last week, but ye see he was took down with the small-pox-' Joe did n't hear no more; he jist turned round and he streaked it out that are door with his coat-tails flyin' out straight ahind him, and old Mother Hokum she jist stood at the window holdin' her sides and laughin' fit to split to see him run. That are's jist a sample o' the ways them Hokums cut up. 66 Wal, you see, boys, there's a queer kind o' rock down on the bank o' the river that looks sort o' like a gravestone. The biggest part on 't is sunk down underground, and it's pretty well growed over with blackberry-vines, but when you scratch the bushes away they used to make out some queer marks on that are rock. They was sort o' lines and crosses, and folks would have it that them was Kidd's private marks, and that there was one o' the places where he hid his money. "Wal, there's no sayin' fairly how it come to be thought so, but fellers used to say so, and they used sometimes to talk it over up to the tahvern, and kind o' wonder whether or no if they should dig, they would n't come to suthin'. "Wal, old Mother Hokum she heard on 't, and she was a sort o' enterprisin' old crittur, fact was she had to be, 'cause the young Hokums was jist like bag-worms, the more they growed the more they eat, and I expect she found it pretty hard to fill their mouths; and so she said ef there was anything under that are rock, they'd as good's have it as the Devil; and so she did n't give old Hokum no peace o' his life but he must see what there was there. "Wal, I was with 'em the night they was a talkin' on 't up. Ye see Hokum he got thirty-seven cents' worth o' lemons and some sperit. I see him goin' by as I was out a splittin' kindlin's, and says he, Sam, you jist go 'long up to our house to-night,' says he; Toddy Whitney and Harry Wiggin 's comin' up, and we're goin' to have a little suthin' hot,' says he; and he kind o' showed me the lemons and sperit. And I told him I guessed I would go 'long. Wal, I kind o' wanted to see what they 'd be up to, ye know. "Wal, come to find out, they was a talkin' about Cap'n Kidd's treasures, and layin' out how they should get it, and a settin' one another on with gret stories about it. "I've heard that there was whole chists full o' gold guineas,' says one. "And I've heard o' gold bracelets and ear-rings and finger-rings all sparklin' with diamonds,' says another. 666 'Wal, boys,' says I, 'I kind o' don't feel jis like j'inin'. I sort o' ain't clear about the rights on 't; seems to me it's mighty nigh like goin' to the Devil for money.' "Wal,' says Mother Hokum, 'what if 'tis? Money's money, get it how ye will; and the Devil's money 'll buy as much meat as any. I'd go to the Devil, if he gave good money.' "Wal, I guess I would n't,' says I. 'Don't you 'member the sermon Parson Lothrop preached about hastin' to be rich, last Sabba' day?' "Parson Lothrop be hanged!' says she. Wal, now,' says she, 'I like to see a parson with his silk stockin's and great gold-headed cane, a lollopin' in his carriage behind his fat, prancin' hosses, comin' to meetin' to preach to us poor folks not to want to be rich! How'd he like it to have forty-"leven children, and nothin' to put onto 'em or into 'em, I wonder? Guess if Lady Lothrop had to rub and scrub and wear her fingers to the bone as I do, she 'd want to be rich; and I guess the Parson, if he could n't get a bellyful for a week, would be for diggin' up Kidd's money, or doing most anything else to make the pot bile.' "Wal,' says I, 'I'll kind o' go with ye, boys, and sort o' see how things turn out; but I guess I won't take no share in 't,' says I. "Wal, they got it all planned out. They was to wait till the full moon, and then they was to get Primus King to go with 'em and help do the diggin'. Ye see Hokum and Toddy Whitney and Wiggin are all putty softly fellers, and hate dreffully to work, and I tell you the Kidd money ain't to be got without a pretty tough piece o' diggin.' Why, it's jist like diggin' a well to get at it. Now Primus King was the master hand for diggin' wells, and so they said they'd get him by givin' on him a share. 66 Harry Wiggin he did n't want no nigger a sharin' in it, he said; but Toddy and Hokum they said that when there was such stiff diggin' to be done, they did n't care if they did go in with a nigger. "Wal, Wiggin he said he had n't no objection to havin' the nigger do the diggin', it was sharin' the profits he objected to. "Wal,' says Hokum, 'you can't get him without,' says he. Primus knows too much,' says he; 'you can't fool him. Finally they 'greed that they was to give Primus twenty dollars, and share the treasure 'mong themselves. "Come to talk with Primus he would n't stick in a spade, unless they'd pay him aforehand. Ye see Primus was up to 'em; he knowed about Gidger, and there wa' n't none on 'em that was particular good pay; and so they all jist hed to rake and scrape, and pay him down the twenty dollars among 'em; and they 'greed for the fust full moon, at twelve o'clock at night, the 9th of October. "Wal, ye see I had to tell Hepsy I was goin' out to watch. Wal, so I was ; but not jist in the way she took it; but, Lordy massy, a feller has to tell his wife suthin' to keep her quiet, ye know, 'specially Hepsy. “Wal, wal, of all the moonlight nights that ever I did see, I never did see one equal to that. Why, you could see the color o' everything. I'member I could see how the huckleberry-bushes on the rock was red as blood when the moonlight shone through 'em; 'cause the leaves, you see, had begun to turn. "Goin' on our way we got to talkin' about the sperits. "I ain't afraid of 'em,' says Hokum. 'What harm can a sperit do me?' says he. I don't care ef there's a dozen of 'em'; and he took a swig at his bottle. "O, there ain't no sperits,' says Harry Wiggin. That are talk's all nonsense'; and he took a swig at his bottle. ""Wal,' says Toddy, 'I don't know 'bout that are. Me and Ike Sanders has seen the sperits in the Captain Brown house. We thought we'd jist have a peek into the window one night, and there was a whole flock o' black colts without no heads on come rushin' on us and knocked us flat.' "I expect you'd been at the tahvern,' said Hokum. "Wal, yes, we had; but them was sperits; we wa'n't drunk, now; we was jist as sober as ever we was.' "Wal, they won't get away my money,' says Primus, 'for I put it safe away in Dinah's teapot afore I come out'; and then he showed all his ivories from ear to ear. 'I think all this ere's sort o' foolishness,' says Primus. "Wal,' says I, 'boys, I ain't a goin' to have no part or lot in this 'ere matter, but I'll jist lay it off to you how it's to be done. Ef Kidd's money is under this rock, there's sperits that watch it, and you must n't give 'em no advantage. There must n't be a word spoken from the time ye get sight o' the treasure till ye get it safe up on to firm ground,' says I. 'Ef ye do, it'll vanish right out o' sight. I've talked with them that has dug down to it and seen it, but they allers lost it, 'cause they'd call out and say something; and the minute they spoke, away it went.' "Wal, so they marked off the ground, and Primus he begun to dig, and the rest kind o' sot round. It was so still it was kind o' solemn. Ye see it was past twelve o'clock, and every crittur in Oldtown was asleep, and there was two whippoorwills on the great Cap'n Brown elm-trees, that kep' a answerin' each other back and forward sort o' solitary like; and then every once in a while there'd come a sort o' strange whisper up among the elm-tree leaves, jist as if there was talkin' goin' on; and every time Primus struck his spade into the ground it sounded sort o' holler, jist as if he'd been a diggin' a grave. 'It's kind o' malancholy,' says I, 'to think o' them poor critturs that had to be killed and buried jist to keep this 'ere treasure. What awful things 'll be brought to light in the judgmentday! Them poor critturs they loved to live and hated to die as much as any on us; but no, they hed to die jist to satisfy that crittur's wicked will. I've heard them as thought they could tell the Captain Kidd places by layin' their ear to the ground at midnight, and they'd hear groans and wailin's.'" "Why, Sam! were there really people who could tell where Kidd's money was?" I here interposed. "O, sartin; why yis. There was Shebna Bascom, he was one. Shebna could always tell what was under the earth. He'd cut a hazel stick and hold it in his hand when folks was wantin' to know where to dig wells, and that are stick would jist turn in his hand, and p'int down till it would fairly grind the bark off; and ef you dug in that place you was sure to find a spring. O yis, Shebna he 's told many where the Kidd money was, and been with 'em when they dug for it; but the pester on 't was they allers lost it, 'cause they would some on 'em speak afore they thought." "But, Sam, what about this digging? Let's know what came on 't," said we, as Sam appeared to lose his way in his story. "Wal, ye see, they dug down about five feet, when Primus he struck his spade smack on something that chinked like iron. "Wal, then Hokum and Toddy Whitney was into the hole in a minute; they made Primus get out, and they took the spade, 'cause they wanted to be sure to come on it themselves. "Wal, they begun, and they dug and he scraped, and sure enough they come to a gret iron pot as big as your granny's dinner-pot, with an iron bale to it. "Wal, then they put down a rope, and he put the rope through the handle; then Hokum and Toddy they clambered up on the bank, and all on 'em began to draw up jist as still and silent as could be. They drawed and they drawed, till they jist got it even with the ground, when Toddy spoke out all in a tremble. There,' says he, 'we've got it!' And the minit he spoke they was both struck by suthin' that knocked 'em clean over; and the rope give a crack like a pistol-shot, and broke short off, and the pot went down, down, down, and they heard it goin', jink, jink, jink; and it went way down into the earth, and the ground closed over it; and then they heard the screechinest laugh ye ever did hear." "I want to know, Sam, did you see that pot?" I exclaimed at this part of the story. "Wal, no, I didn't. Ye see I jist happened to drop asleep while they was diggin', I was so kind o' tired, and I did n't wake up till it was all over." "I was waked up, 'cause there was consid'able of a scuffle; for Hokum was so mad at Toddy for speakin', that he was a fistin' on him; and old Primus he jist hawhawed and laughed. 'Wal, I got my money safe, anyhow,' says he. "Wal, come to,' says I. T ain't no use cryin' for spilt milk; you 've jist got to turn in now and fill up this 'ere hole, else the selectmen 'll be down on ye.' "Wal,' says Primus, 'I did n't en gage to fill up no holes'; and he put his spade on his shoulder and trudged off. "Wal, it was putty hard work, fillin' in that hole; but Hokum and Toddy and Wiggin had to do it, 'cause they did n't want to have everybody a laughin' at 'em; and I kind o' tried to set it home to 'em, showin' on 'em that 't was all for the best. "Ef you'd a been left to get that are money, there 'd a come a cuss with “I HIGHLY EXPLOSIVE. SHALL not appear at breakfast to-morrow morning, I shall be gone a-Maying," announced Miselle, as she took her bedroom candlestick in hand. Caleb looked mildly up from the "Bride of Lammermoor," and the study of his illustrious prototype. "Very well, my dear," said he, "it is as harmless a vagary as could be expected. You will only spoil your clothes, and take cold in your head. Good night." "T was in the early twilight, ere yet the dew was hoar, I went plucking purple pansies,'' hummed Miselle going up stairs, and Caleb once more raised his eyes to ejaculate : "The wonderful power of alliteration properly applied! Nothing but the three p's in that last line could have prevailed upon so indolent a mortal as you, Miselle, to leave a comfortable bed and a good breakfast for the sake of draggling your skirts and —” But the rest of the apostrophe was lost in the depths of "The Bride," while Miselle, her candlestick, and her idea, pursued their upward journey. The purple pansies proved few and far between, and their places were somewhat shabbily filled by houstonia, saxifrage, catkins, and twigs of aronia. To gather these Miselle trav elled over miles of dewy upland and moist marsh, forded brooks, climbed fences, wet her feet, draggled her skirts, tore her dress, and finally, utterly bewildered and lost, emerged from the woods at the junction of two unknown roads, and there stood forlorn while the catbirds mockingly mewed in her face, and saucy robins dressed their plump red breasts with a maddening suggestion of a plentiful breakfast. The light roll of wheels, the deliberate patter of four-miles-to-the-hour horse-shoes, and the gentle creaking of chaise-springs, heralded an arrival, and Miselle, disposing her draperies, her broken hat, and her purple pansies, as decently as possible, prepared herself to arrest the traveller whoever he might be, and demand of him, not his purse or his life, but, à la Sphinx, an answer to her questioning. The nodding chaise-top rose above the alder-bushes, then came the rotund and contemplative horse, and finally appeared the sedate face of the Treasurer, who, at sight of the forlorn figure awaiting him, drew rein, gave salutation, and, in reply to the demand promptly fired at him, made reply. "The way home? why, you are so far out of it, that it is hard giving any direction. You must have crossed right through the Walden woods, and "Thank you very much, and I accept with pleasure," interposed Miselle, her impatient eyes fixed upon the deepcushioned seat beside the Treasurer, and a sense of unutterable weariness suddenly overpowering her. "Been out after flowers?" inquired her companion, in a tone of good-natured tolerance, as the chaise whirled upon its heel and began to jog steadily back in the direction whence it came. "Yes, but I did n't find a great many, you see." "Hardly enough to pay for the work, though I don't know but that is the amusing part of the business; I don't get much time for going Maying my self, and when I do "Good morning, Mr. Treasurer; fine day for the season; got your crops in yet?" And the speaker, a sturdy, brown fellow, clothed upon with a farmer's honest independence and blue frock, turned the cart in which he was carrying his plough afield a little to one side, and halted his Juno-eyed and sweet-breathed steers. ever presently restored, and in its first moments Miselle resumed her rôle of Sphinx. "What was that you told the man about having a mill go up, and one of your hands blown off?" inquired she, looking at the Treasurer's two shapely and apparently comfortable upper extremities. 66 "O, not one of my own hands,” replied he, smiling. But you know our powder-mills are just up here in Acton, and one of them exploded the other day, and the man who had it in charge was injured.” "Dear me, and that's the way you talk about it," exclaimed Miselle, opening her eyes. The Treasurer smiled again. “Why, yes, every business has its own phraseology, you know, and that's the way powder-men talk. You never hear of explosions and casualties and fatal accidents among them." "I suppose where there is a consciousness of so much danger, they like to disguise the mention of it as much as possible," said Miselle, thoughtfully; and then eagerly, "But were you going to the powder-mills, just now, Mr. Treasurer?" "Yes. That's the reason I did not offer to carry your home." "O, I wish instead you would carry me there!" 66 What, to the powder-mills?" "Yes. I should of all things like to see a powder-mill !” "Indeed! I shall be very happy to take you there if you really wish to go, but-" And the Treasurer looked dubiously at Miselle's forlorn raiment. She blushed to the roots of her hair, fearing that she was not considered presentable, even to a powder-mill. "But I am afraid you will spoil your clothes. It is a very dirty place," resumed the Treasurer, so evidently in good faith that Miselle laughed aloud. "They cannot be more spoiled than they are," said she. "So if that's all—" "And you are not afraid?" "O no. My eyes are not as bright as the Countess of Salisbury's, and on the |