Captain Kidd’s Money
by Harrett Beecher StoweGenre: Drama
Setting: America
Format of Original Source: Short Story
Recommended Adaptation Length:
Candidate for Adaptation? Not Reviewed
EXCERPT:
Who was Capt. Kidd, Sam? said I.
“Wal, he was an officer in the British navy, and he got to bein’ a pirate: used to take ships and sink ’em, and murder the folks; and so they say he got no end o’ money,–gold and silver and precious stones, as many as the wise men in the East. But ye see, what good did it all do him? He couldn’t use it, and dar’sn’t keep it; so he used to bury it in spots round here and there in the awfullest heathen way ye ever heard of. Why, they say he allers used to kill one or two men or women or children of his prisoners, and bury with it, so that their sperits might keep watch on it ef anybody was to dig arter it. That ‘are thing has been tried and tried and tried, but no man nor mother’s son on ’em ever got a cent that dug. ‘Twas tried here’n Oldtown; and they come pretty nigh gettin’ on’t, but it gin ’em the slip. Ye see, boys, it’s the Devil’s money, and he holds a pretty tight grip on’t.”
“Well, how was it about digging for it? Tell us, did you do it? Were you there? Did you see it? And why couldn’t they get it?” we both asked eagerly and in one breath.
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