“Well, here goes. In the first place you must know that I was born in the city of Gloucester, Massachusetts, and my parents still live there in the same house. You of course know that Gloucester used to be a famous home port for whalers and for many years my ancestors followed that trade. I believe a man named Rogers is more or less famous for having captured the largest whale ever brought in. That was more than a hundred and fifty years ago but it is a matter of record. It’s an old house, the one in which I was born, but they knew how to build in those days and it is still in good shape and the timbers seem as sound as ever. “I’ve been home a few days with my wife and yesterday morning it was raining and, having nothing to do, I went up into the attic, where there is a great conglomeration of all sorts of things, and began rummaging about as I like to do. Well, stuck away back in one corner and covered with dust I found a small trunk which must have been there no one knows how many years. Strange why no one ever noticed it before but it was way back in a dark corner, as I said, and I guess no one ever saw it, as there was a lot of stuff piled in front of it. “It was locked but the leather had rotted away so that the lock fell out almost as soon as I touched it. It was almost full of papers yellow with age and most of them were newspapers and didn’t mean a thing to me except that they were pretty old, most of them being dated back before the Civil War. But, to make a long story short, down at the bottom of the heap I found an old pocket-book and in it was a paper and that paper is what brings me here.” He reached in his pocket and took from it a large and very thin pocket-book which looked to the boys to be very old. From it he drew a sheet of paper which he handled with extreme care and they could see that it was very brittle. “I’ve read this about a dozen times and as the writing is barely legible I’ll read it aloud to you as it would take you some time to decipher it. It’s dated March 20th, 1816.” “What year did you say?” Bill asked as he paused. “1816,” Rogers told him. “Over one hundred years ago,” Gordon gasped. “I knew you’d be surprised,” Rogers smiled. “It’s hardly believable,” Bill added. “And that isn’t the hardest part to believe either,” Rogers told him as he again bent his gaze on the letter. “Listen. “‘I burried Jim yesterday. He was sick only a few days and I did all I could for him but ’twasn’t any use. I ain’t feeling none too good myself and perhaps I’m going to get what got him. Well, it’s all right if I do. I’ve had a pretty good life but I would like to see the folks at home once more. I’ve hid the metal we found and there’s about a hundred pounds of it. I don’t know what it is and maybe it’s no good but it’s queer stuff and I never saw any like it before. Looks like silver but ’tain’t because Jim tried it with some aqua fortis he had and——’” “What’s that stuff?” Gordon interrupted. “You mean aqua fortis?”