mer.

No wonder the chest was so heavy, for the bottom of it was covered with
seventeen leather bags, each containing one hundred Spanish coins,
called doubloons, which I believe are worth for the mere intrinsic value
of the metal, about ten shillings each, but their monetary value was
about twelve shillings and sixpence each. This was something like a
find.

At the end of the chest was a portion partitioned off, which contained
two drawers, a large and a small one, both of iron, lined with wood. The
large one contained three parchment books written in French, the first
of which Alec declared was an account of the life of Barbe Rouge, and
the other two were log books of his various voyages.[5]

In the right hand or small drawer was a very small gold casket of
exquisite workmanship, filled quite full of precious stones in their
natural rough state, together with a few cut gems of medium size. I
should say altogether they would have just filled a half-pint measure;
not that I believe they are ever sold in this manner, as if they were
nuts or peas. These then were Tussaud's "petite fees," and pretty ones
too.

Of course we put a fabulous price on this part of our treasure; I think
in our ignorance we mentioned ten thousand pounds as about their value;
but when they were sold in London some months after, in a well-known
auction room, they realised but little more than a tithe of this amount.

Next day being fine we carefully filled the hole up again, ramming the
earth down with a heavy wooden ram, and finished up by replanting the
currant bush, which I believe still lives, or its descendant, to mark
the spot where we discovered Jean (Barbe Rouge) Tussaud's treasures.

We presumed at the time that the skeleton we found was that of the mate,
William Treffry, mentioned in the document, who had quarrelled with Red
Beard as to the property, and that the latter had stabbed him to the
heart, afterwards throwing the corpse upon the treasure, thus burying
his guilt and his goods at the same time. A translation of the books we
found corroborated us in this surmise, and accounted for many other
things regarding the property which at the time we could not understand.

I may add that among the clothing, we found a number of odds and ends,
relics of the eighteenth century, which I still treasure in my home, one
room of which forms quite a respectable museum, as since my sojourn in
Jethou I have brought many curious things from Hol