This letter he
showed to Balbo who to use his own expression, was "thrown on his beam
ends" with astonishment. Paul now persuaded him to give up the
dredging of wreckage and treasure hunting and devote the whole time to
seeking curiosities. The old man was loth to give up his pet ideas of
treasure-hunting and of making long, useless voyages in quest of
phantoms. Paul assured him that there was more chance of finding
treasure ships by systematically working one locality, so he agreed to
turn the schooner into a "shellhunter" as he sarcastically termed
it. Everything was ready for another cruise through the Keys and small
islands, when the captain, who had secretly been interviewing another
fortune-teller, announced his intention of sailing to the coast of
Mexico. The first point sighted was Cape Catoche, the northeast point
of Yucatan. Along this coast they were most successful and soon filled
the schooner with a large and valuable collection of curios with
which they sailed to Campachie where they were transferred to a vessel
bound for New Orleans. While at Campache, news came in of the wreck
of a Mexican brig that occurred on the Alakranes Bank.
The daughter of a rich planter living near Merida, Yucatan, was one of
the lost passengers and her father offered one thousand dollars reward
for the recovery of her body.
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