The Redress of Poetry

There is something about a treasure, wrote Joseph Conrad, that fastens on a man's mind. And, yes, there is something about the subject of treasure hunting that continues to fascinate us. One need only browse the Web to discover a whole netherworld of treasure-hunting magazines, metal-detector clubs, and lost-mine information exchanges that apparently engage the funds and spare time of thousands of hopefuls. Charles Elliott recaptures the essential romance of the search in this collection of classic stories. Many are true - or purport to be. They take place under the sea, in jungles, on desert islands, even in the attics of old houses. What is common to them all is the excitement of the chase and the possibility - irrational, perhaps, but unavoidable - that a fabulous treasure really is there for the finding.