CAPTAIN KIDD'S TREASURE. 



395 



To Execution Dock will many thousands flock, 

 But I must bear the shock : I must die. 



Come, all you young and old, see me die, see me die ; 



Come, all you young and old, see me die ; 

 Come, all you young and old, you're welcome to my gold, 



For by it I've lost my soul, and must die. 



Bellamont, having in some way learned that treasure had been 

 concealed upon Gardiner's Island, sent commissioners to secure 

 it. They found a box containing seven hundred and thirty- 

 eight ounces of gold, eight hundred and forty-seven ounces of 

 silver, a bag of silver rings, a bag of unpolished stones, a 

 quantity of agates, amethysts, and silver buttons. For this 

 they gave a receipt to Mr. Gardiner, which is still preserved by 

 the family. Other sums were discovered at various periods in 

 the possession of persons who had had relations with Kidd ; but 

 the soil of Long Island never yielded up any other booty than 

 the box which we have mentioned. 



It was natural that the knowledge that Kidd had buried a 

 portion of his spoil, that his companions had shared his good 

 fortune according to their rank, that the vicinity of New York 

 was the rendezvous of pirates for years, — it was natural that 

 this knowledge should induce the prevalent belief that it was 

 the custom among them thus to conceal their booty, and that 

 the spot chosen by Kidd was, perhaps, the scene of the deposits 

 of the entire gang. It was evident, too, that, unless rumor had 

 greatly exaggerated the value of Kidd's ill-gotten gains, the box 

 of gold and silver reckoned in ounces was but a tithe of what 

 he had buried. It was thus that was created that feverish ex- 

 citement which stimulated eager searchers for piratical store 

 along the coasts of New York and Massachusetts, and particu- 

 larly among the islets of the Sound. This search has been 

 again and again renewed, and even now, at the distance of a 

 century and a half, the hope of discovering the abandoned 

 wealth of the great pirate is not altogether extinct. 



Romances, ballads, and tales without number have been 



