after excessive toil, at one o'clock in the
morning. Worn out as we were, it was not in human nature to do more
immediately. We rested until two, and had supper; starting for the
hills immediately afterward, armed with three stout sacks, which, by
good luck, were upon the premises. A little before four we arrived at
the pit, divided the remainder of the booty, as equally as might be,
among us, and, leaving the holes unfilled, again set out for the hut,
at which, for the second time, we deposited our golden burdens, just as
the first faint streaks of the dawn gleamed from over the tree-tops in
the East.

We were now thoroughly broken down; but the intense excitement of the
time denied us repose. After an unquiet slumber of some three or four
hours' duration, we arose, as if by preconcert, to make examination of
our treasure.

The chest had been full to the brim, and we spent the whole day, and
the greater part of the next night, in a scrutiny of its contents.
There had been nothing like order or arrangement. Everything had been
heaped in promiscuously. Having assorted all with care, we found
ourselves possessed of even vaster wealth than we had at first
supposed. In coin, there was rather more than four hundred and fifty
thousand dollars--estimating the value of the pieces, as accurately as
we could, by the tables of the period. There was not a particle of
silver. All was gold of antique date and of great variety--French,
Spanish, and German money, with a few English guineas, and some
counters, of which we had never seen specimens before. There were
several very large and heavy coins, so worn that we could make nothing
of their inscriptions. There was no American money. The value of the
jewels we found more difficulty in estimating. There were
diamonds--some of them exceedingly large and fine--a hundred and ten in
all, and not one of them small; eighteen rubies of remarkable
brilliancy;--three hundred and ten emeralds, all very beautiful; and
twenty-one sapphires, with an opal. These stones had all been broken
from their settings and thrown loose in the chest. The settings
themselves, which we picked out from among the other gold, appeared to
have been beaten up with hammers, as if to prevent identification.
Besides all this, there was a vast quantity of solid gold ornaments;
nearly two hundred massive finger and ear rings; rich chains--thirty of
these, if I remember; eighty-three very large and heavy c