THE MYSTERY OF THE BLUE GOOSE 



201 



When New York was still young a vested his earnings in land and genera- 

 sturdy Dutch merchant by the name of tions of people who needed the land as 

 Van Linkle acquired wealth by his an opportunity to carry on business 

 ventures in shipping. In those days willingly paid large sums for the privi- 



the difference between a pirate and an 

 honest merchantman was often as 

 slight as it is to-day between an honest 

 merchant and a trust magnate, and it 

 had little or nothing to do with business 

 ethics. Van Linkle sent many ships to 

 the "Red Sea," as it was called, loaded 

 with gunpowder and shot, which was 

 traded off for silks, spices and oriental 

 goods. These were brought back to 

 New York by vessels manned by 

 strangely dressed and fierce looking 

 sailors. The details of the trade did 

 not appear upon the books of Van 

 Linkle, though his less venturesome 

 neighbors shook their heads and threw 

 out dark hints and even suggested that 

 the gunpowder was exploded and the 

 shot expelled through the brass and 

 bronze throats of the comical old can- 

 nons before the trade was effected. 

 However that may be, Van Linkle in- 



lege of using it, and the Van Linkle 

 estate grew and fattened on the neces- 

 sities of the community until now, 

 without labor and without effort, it had 

 so increased that its value was esti- 

 mated in millions. 



But what appealed, to my love of 

 mystery was the fact there is a legend 

 in the Van Linkle family which had 

 lent an interest to the musty records 

 and added a flavor of romance to the 

 quaint old parchments. 



All lawyers are fond of romance and 

 their seemingly dry records obstructed 

 with legal terms hampered by repetitions 

 and "aforesaids" and "hereuntos" and 

 "parties of the first part" and ditto "of 

 the second part" are their library of 

 stories of love, adventure and tragedy. 



Amongst the mouldy documents of 

 the Van Linkle estate I found a frag- 

 ment of a diary and to my great joy it 

 contained the legend written in a quaint 

 hand, with the long loops and antique 

 flourishes of two centuries ago and the 

 precision of a writing master's copy. It 

 seems that one of the piratical vessels 



