Explore "The Cruise of the Alerte" by E. F. Knight on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
Such is the story of the Trinidad treasure, a story that seemed to me to bear the stamp of truth, and it was difficult to conceive that -- allowing Captain P -- -- 's narrative to be correct, and there is every reason to believe it as such -- so many coincidences could have collected round a mere fabrication.
It is highly improbable that the foreign quartermaster evolved the whole matter from an imaginative brain, especially on his deathbed, when he was professing to confide a valuable secret to a friend as a token of his gratitude; neither can his statements be considered as being the ravings of a sick man, for they were far too circumstantial and compatible with facts.