When the disappointed jokers reached the camp, Jerry was found in the big tent, his head covered with a blanket, moaning and beseeching mercy from the spirit of the incensed Black Pirate. Deciding that their joke had gone far enough, the boys persuaded the colored lad to withdraw his head and cease his lamentations. Then Bob explained how the paper had been manufactured and how Jerry had been sent on his wild goose chase as an object lesson on the evils of telling falsehoods.

“Dar wa’n’t no ghoses?” exclaimed the agitated lad. “An’ dar wa’n’t no blood writin’?”

He was reassured that there was no reality to the alleged directions, that all would be forgiven, and that he would be allowed to remain in camp on his promise to abstain from romancing in the future. The boy promised, even crossing his heart. Then, as if ashamed to speak of it before, Bob said:

“You didn’t find anything, did you, Jerry?”

The colored boy, considerably bolder by this[232] time, scratched his head and looked at the tent opening.

“Don’t be afraid to tell,” added Bob, laughing. “I was your partner, but I didn’t go with you. Anything you found is yours.”

“Ah done did fine a li’l box,” answered Jerry, hesitatingly, “but Ah reckon ’tain’t no gold in it. An’ wen dat ghos’ come at me, Ah frowed it—” At that point, Jerry paused, while the other boys looked at each other curiously. The colored boy remembered his vow to tell the truth. “Ah frowed it hyah,” added Jerry. Signing his companions to follow him, he passed out of the tent, advanced with a candle into the scrub palmetto behind the camp and reappeared with a small black box resembling a glove case. The hearts of the four boys thumped with astonishment. One glance told that the box was old and protected with metal strips. A wave of chagrin swept over Jerry’s tormentors.

“But dat ain’t all,” volunteered the bolder growing Jerry. “De lid o’ de big box done cave in, an’ Ah grabbed de li’l box. Dar’s a big box!”

“Probably some fisherman’s lost kit,” suggested Hal.

But, when Bob took the little box from[233] Jerry’s hands, heard the sound of metal within it, pointed to the hard black wood and the oxydized metal keyhole, bands and corners, all the boys knew it was no common find. With a sigh, the romantic-minded Bob handed the box to its discoverer, and the confused colored boy began the task of opening it.

Now the opening of what may be a real treasure box is no common incident. The keyhole was filled with rust, and while Mac brought the hatchet, a blanket was spread on the ground and extra candles lit. The metal ornamentation did not restrain the colored boy. Before the other boys could stop him, he had smashed the top of the box. As its contents tumbled out on the blanket, there was a groan of disappointment from Jerry. Instead of a shower of money—golden doubloons and silver pieces-of-eight, there was but a confused heap of odds and ends.

“Some woman’s truck,” exclaimed Hal. It was. But when, ten minutes later, the “truck” had been laid out in order, even imaginative Bob was trembling with astonishment. From one of the first articles examined, a little oblong silver card case, it was easily understood that[234] the box was no pirate loot. The case was inscribed: “Marie Ducroix, New Orleans, 1807.”

With trembling fingers, and bulging eyes, the articles in the case, mildewed and discolored but not the less valuable on that account, were examined in turn with feverish eagerness. The next morning, a list was made including these items:

1. Card case and chain, silver, marked: “Marie Ducroix, New Orleans, 1807.” Eight indecipherable cards in the case.

2. Plain gold ring, inscribed within: “J. D. to M. D.”

3. Unset cameo, 1? inches by 1 inch; figure, girl with vase.

4. Miniature portrait, 2 inches by 1? inches; head of man with pompadour hair, smooth face, high collar and frilled shirt; set in a gold frame with rim of diamond brilliants.

5. Child’s gold ring with garnet set.

6. Woman’s gold ring with 3-carat diamond setting.

7. Woman’s gold ring, small diamond surrounded by six rubies.

8. Gold five-franc piece, worn smooth and with hole in edge.

9. Six gold waistcoat buttons.
 
10. Two slipper buckles, gold.

11. Woman’s brooch in a circle of pearls.

12. Tiara, small but elaborate pattern of gold, with central figure of bird outlined with small diamonds and rubies.

13. Belt buckle containing six half-carat diamonds.

While the boys knelt, their eyes reveling in the glint of the jewels, Mac sprang up.

“You don’t mean that this coon gets all that stuff?”

Jerry, never opposing Mac very strongly on any proposition, shrank back.

“That’s my idea,” remarked Bob. The other boys nodded their heads approvingly.

“Ah ain’t reckon dat’s all mine,” ventured Jerry, in turn. “Ef Ah kin hab de gold crown fo’ mah ole mammy, yo’ all kin hab dem rings an’ sich.”

This was manifestly unfair. For a long time, the question was debated. The colored boy insisted that the little box was only a part of the treasure—that a larger box remained untouched. What might be in this box was unknown, but if it was of considerable value, there was a feeling that the other members of the expedition had some sort of a claim on it. Finally,[236] and partly at Captain Joe’s suggestion, it was agreed by all that, of the treasure already found and yet to be examined, Jerry would be liberally compensated with a share equal to one-third.

This decision reached, Captain Joe called attention to the fact that it was half past one o’clock. But the hour meant nothing to the gold frenzied lads. With extra candles, an impetuous cavalcade made its way at once toward Oak Tree Point, Captain Joe protesting but following. Securing Jerry’s abandoned lantern, there was a rush over the smooth sand to the colored boy’s excavation.

The moon was low, a stiff breeze was blowing in from the sea and sweaters were not out of place. Jerry was not mistaken. There was a larger box or chest, part of which had been uncovered. No attempt was made to free the box, but Mac, with the shovel, soon removed the top.

The jeweled contents of “Marie Ducroix’ glove case” were for a time forgotten as the articles in the old chest were lifted out and laid on the white sand. Above all, was the unmistakable odor of mildewed and decayed clothing. In a few moments, the sand was littered with an[237] assortment of things such as no pirate ever dreamed of concealing.

“It’s certainly a woman’s trunk,” exclaimed Tom, “a big cypress chest.”

“Must have belonged to this same Madame Ducroix,” suggested Hal.

“Then, it wasn’t buried intentionally,” declared Bob. “I’ll bet there was a shipwreck. Like as not Marie Ducroix was on her way to Europe from New Orleans. This box must have been washed up here by the sea. The ship may be out yonder beyond the Keys.”

The possessions of Marie Ducroix came to light in two layers. The bottom of the box was filled with discolored and rotted garments, not one of which was worth preservation, although all gave signs of one-time richness. These included silk dresses, gossamer shawls and veils, silk slippers and hose, dainty handkerchiefs (all enclosed in what had been tissue p............