and covered with barnacles, appeared to have been a long time under water. The unexpected appearance of this document of warfare occasioned much speculation among my pacific companions. One supposed it to have fallen there during the revolutionary war. Another, from the peculiarity of its fashion, attributed it to the voyagers in the earliest days of the settlement; perchance to the renowned Adrian Block, who explored the Sound and discovered Block Island, since so noted for its cheese. But a third, after regarding it for some time, pronounced it to be of veritable Spanish workmanship. “I’ll warrant,” said he, “if this pistol could talk it would tell strange stories of hard fights among the Spanish Dons. I’ve not a doubt but it’s a relique of the buccaneers of old times.” “Like enough,” said another of the party. “There was Bradish the pirate, who at the time Lord Bellamont made such a stir after the buccaneers, buried money and jewels somewhere in these parts or on Long-Island; and then there was Captain Kidd—” “Ah, that Kidd was a daring dog,” said an iron-faced Cape Cod whaler. “There’s a fine old song about him, all to the tune of: ‘My name is Robert Kidd, As I sailed, as I sailed.’ And it tells how he gained the devil’s good graces by burying the Bible: ‘I had the Bible in my hand, As I sailed, as I sailed, And I buried it in the sand, As I sailed.’ Egad, if this pistol had belonged to him I should set some store by it out of sheer curiosity. Ah, well, there’s an odd story I have heard about one Tom Walker, who, they say, dug up some of Kidd’s buried money; and as the fish don’t seem to bite at present, I’ll tell it to you to pass away time.” THE DEVIL AND TOM WALKER