Although this man had been wily in making his revelations, and had chosen his confidant with caution and sagacity, most of that which he related was true.  He had belonged to a sealer that had been in a very high southern latitude, where it had made some very important discoveries, touching the animals that formed the objects of its search.  It was possible to fill a vessel in those islands in a few weeks; and the master of the sealer, Daggett having been his mate, had made all his people swear on their “bible oaths” not to reveal the facts, except under prescribed circumstances.  His own vessel was full when he made the discoveries, but misfortune befel her on her homeward-bound passage, until she was herself totally lost in the West Indies, and that in a part of the ocean where she had no business to be.

In consequence of these several calamities, Daggett and one more man were the sole living depositories of the important information.  These men separated, and, as stated, Daggett had reason to think that his former shipmate had been recently killed by a whale.  The life and movements of a sailor are usually as eccentric as the career of a comet.  After the loss of the sealing-vessel, Daggett remained in the West Indies and on the Spanish Main for some time, until falling into evil company he was imprisoned on a charge of piracy, in company with one who better deserved the imputation.  While in the same cell, the pirate had made a relation to Daggett of all the incidents of a very eventful life.  Among other things revealed was the fact that, on a certain occasion, he and two others had deposited a very considerable amount of treasure on a key that he described very minutely, and which he now bestowed on Daggett as some compensation for his present unmerited sufferings, his companions having both been drowned by the upsetting of their boat on the return from the key in question.  Subsequently, this pirate had been executed, and Daggett liberated.  He was not able to get to the key without making friends and confidants on whom he could rely, and he was actually making the best of his way to Martha’s Vineyard with that intent, when put ashore on Oyster Pond.  In most of that which this man had related to the deacon, therefore, he had told the truth, though it was the truth embellished, as is so apt to be the case with men of vulgar minds.  He might have been misled by the narrative of the pirate, but it was his own opinion that he had not been.  The man was a Scot, prudent, wary, and sagacious; and in the revelations he made he appeared to be governed by a conviction that his own course was run, and that it was best that his secret should not die with him.  Daggett had rendered him certain services, too, and gratitude might have had some influence.

“My mind has been much exercised with this matter of the hidden gold,” resumed the deacon, after the long pause already mentioned.  “You will remember that there may be lawful owners of that money, should Gar’ner even succeed in finding it.”