Owen, poking about among the wreck, observed an open space in the
middle of one of the shattered walls, as if something had been built
into it. With the assistance of my grandfather's cane, he succeeded
in dislodging the surrounding masonry, already loosened by shot, and
they discovered it to be a recess made in the thickness of the wall,
and closed by a small iron door. At the bottom was lying a small
box, also of iron, which they raised, not without difficulty, for
its weight was extraordinary in proportion to its dimensions. This
being conveyed to my grandfather's, and opened, was found to contain
more than six hundred doubloons, (a sum in value about two thousand
pounds,) and many bills of exchange and promissory notes, mostly
those of officers. The latest was that of Von Dessel. These the
Major, by Esther's desire, returned to the persons whose signatures
they bore.
Esther never completely recovered from the effects of her sojourn
in the cave, but remained always pale and of weak health. My
grandfather took good care of her inheritance for her, and on
leaving Gibraltar, at the conclusion of the siege, invested the
whole of it safely for her benefit, placing her, at the same time,
in the family of some respectable persons of her own religion. She
afterwards married a wealthy Hebrew; and, in whatever part of
the world the Major chanced to be serving, so long as she lived,
valuable presents would constantly arrive from Gibraltar--mantillas
and ornaments of jewellery for Carlota, and butts of delicious
sherry for my grandfather. These, however, ceased with her death,
about twenty years afterwards.
This is, I believe, the most connected and interesting episode to
be found in the Major's note-book; and it is, I think, the last
specimen I shall offer of these new "Tales of my Grandfather."
As a child I used to listen, with interest ever new, to the tale
of the young Jewess, which the narrator had often heard from the
lips of Carlota and her husband. St Michael's Cave took rank in my
mind with those other subterranean abodes where Cassim, the brother
of Ali Baba, who forgot the word "_Open Sesame_," was murdered by
the Forty Thieves; where Aladdin was shut by the magician in the
enchanted garden; and where Robinson Crusoe discovered the dying
he-goat. And when, at the conclusion of the tale, the scrap of
paper containing the Jew's will was produced from a certain desk,
and carefully unfolded, I seemed to be connected by some awful and
mysterious link with these departed actors in the scenes I had so
breathlessly listened to.
LIFE AMONGST THE LOGGERS.
_Forest Life and Forest Trees._ By JOHN S. SPRINGER. New York:
Harper. London: Sampson Low. 1851.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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