190 ALONG THE FLORIDA REEF. 



and I made up my mind I would never git 

 caught again ; so I keep the demijohn hid here, 

 and as we had plenty of water in the boat, I 

 went up to fill it this morning." 



" Well, if we haven't found the pirate's gold, 

 we have had some excitement over it," said the 

 doctor. 



" There used to be pirates enough here in old 

 times," said Long John. " I never found any 

 gold myself, but there's a story going around 

 the reef that a big Spanish treasure ship went 

 ashore on the east side of the key one hundred 

 years ago, and that the old light-house-keeper 

 picked up twenty thousand dollars in doub- 

 loons ; but I never see any of it, so can't say for 

 sartin." 



" These islands must have been a famous ren- 

 dezvous for the old Spanish freebooters," said 

 the doctor. " Cooper, the novelist, evidently 

 thought so, as here he laid the scene of one of 

 his novels Jack Tier." 



After breakfast a trip was made up the west 

 beach, where they found a fine collecting-place 

 for shells, and filled their pockets with many 



