Mr. Bickford laughed. “No, most of those stories are purely imagination,” he replied. “There isn’t a stretch of coast from Canada to South America that hasn’t got its tale of buried pirate treasure. If they all were true there’d be more valuables hidden by the pirates than all the corsairs ever took.” “Didn’t the buccaneers and pirates really bury treasure, then?” asked Jack. “You said that Davis was supposed to have hidden his loot on the Galápagos Islands.” “Undoubtedly they did,” his father assured him. “The buccaneer leaders were far more thrifty than their men, and as there were no banking facilities in the haunts of the pirates and no safe hiding places in the towns, I have not the least doubt that they did bury vast quantities of their booty. But, also, I have no doubt but that they eventually dug most of it up again. The majority of the buccaneer and pirate captains retired from the profession and settled down to a life of peace and plenty, as I have said, and there is no reason why they should have left their treasure hidden away. Of course those who were suddenly killed might have had money and valuables secreted at the time of their death, but there were far greater fortunes hidden by the Spaniards than by the pirates. No doubt thousands and thousands of dollars’ worth of money, plate and jewels were buried or hidden by the Dons to prevent their falling into the buccaneers’ hands and were never recovered. Very often the owners were killed or made prisoners and the secret of the treasure died with them, or they died a natural death without digging up their buried riches. “Of course a great deal of hidden treasure has been found of which the world never hears. In most countries the government claims a large share of such finds and naturally the finder, having no desire to share his unexpected fortune, keeps mum when he discovers it. There are countless cases of poor negroes and others in the West Indies suddenly becoming well-to-do without apparent reason. From time to time ancient coins appear at money changers and now and then we hear of treasure being found. But as a rule, the sums discovered are not large and are found by accident.