Myths and Legends of Our Own Land, vol 9 | Page 8

secret, like that of
many another miser, perished with him. In 1888, when a northeast gale
had blown back the water of the river, a farmer living on the island
discovered, just under the surface, a stone foundation built in circular

form, as if it had once supported a tower. In the mud within this circle
he found a number of French gold and silver coins, one of them minted
in 1537. Close by, other coins of later date were found, and a
systematic examination of the whole channel has been proposed, as it
was also said that two French frigates, scuttled to keep them out of the
hands of the English, lie bedded in sand below the island, one of them
with a naval paymaster's chest on board.
On the shore of Oneida Lake is an Indian's grave, where a ball of light
is wont to swing and dance. A farmer named Belknap dreamed several
times of a buried treasure at this point, and he was told, in his vision,
that if he would dig there at midnight he could make it his own. He
made the attempt, and his pick struck a crock that gave a chink, as of
gold. He should, at that moment, have turned around three times, as his
dream directed, but he was so excited that he forgot to. A flash of
lightning rent the air and stretched him senseless on the grass. When he
recovered the crock was gone, the hole filled in, and ever since then the
light has hovered about the place. Some say that this is but the
will-o'-the-wisp: the soul of a bad fellow who is doomed to wander in
desolate regions because, after dying, Peter would not allow him to
enter heaven, and the devil would not let him go into the other place,
lest he should make the little devils unmanageable; but he is allowed to
carry a light in his wanderings.
In Indian Gap, near Wernersville, Pennsylvania, the Doane band of
Tories and terrorists hid a chest of gold, the proceeds of many robberies.
It is guarded by witches, and, although it has been seen, no one has
been able to lay hands on it. The seekers are always blinded by blue
flame, and frightened away by roaring noises. The Dutch farmers of the
vicinity are going to dig for it, all the same, for it is said that the watch
of evil spirits will be given over at midnight, but they do not know of
what date. They will be on hand at the spot revealed to them through
the vision of a "hex layer" (a vision that cost them fifty cents), until the
night arrives when there are no blue flames.
In the southern part of Chester County, Pennsylvania, is money, too,
but just where nobody knows. A lonely, crabbed man, who died there
in a poor hut after the Revolution, owned that he had served the British
as a spy, but said that he had spent none of the gold that he had taken
from them. He was either too sorry for his deeds, or too mean to do so.

He had put it in a crock and buried it, and, on his death-bed, where he
made his statement, he asked that it might be exhumed and spent for
some good purpose. He was about to tell where it was when the
death-rattle choked his words.
The Isle of the Yellow Sands, in Lake Superior, was supposed by
Indians to be made of the dust of gold, but it was protected by vultures
that beat back those who approached, or tore them to pieces if they
insisted on landing. An Indian girl who stole away from her camp to
procure a quantity of this treasure was pursued by her lover, who,
frightened at the risk she was about to run from the vultures, stopped
her flight by staving in the side of her canoe, so that she was compelled
to take refuge in his, and he rowed home with her before the birds had
come to the attack.
Old Francois Fontenoy, an Indian trader, buried a brass kettle full of
gold at Presque Isle, near Detroit, that is still in the earth.
On the banks of the Cumberland, in Tennessee, is a height where a
searcher for gold was seized by invisible defenders and hurled to the
bottom of the cliff, receiving a mortal hurt.
The Spaniards were said to have entombed three hundred thousand
dollars in gold near Natchez. A man to whom the secret had descended
offered to reveal it, but, as he was a prisoner, his offer was laughed at.
Afterward an empty vault was found where he said it would be.
Somebody had accidentally opened it and had removed the treasure.