s, and in the then prosperous city of Simiti he
had stores and warehouses and much property. When the War of
Independence neared its end, and he saw that the Royalist cause was
lost, he made a last and flying trip to Simiti, going up the Magdalena
river from Cartagena in his own _champan_, propelled by some of his
still faithful slaves.

"_Bien_, he found that one of his foremen had just returned from the
mountains with the final clean-up from La Libertad _arrastras_. These
had been abandoned, for most of the slaves had deserted, or gone to
fight the Spaniards. But the foreman, who was not a slave, but a
faithful employe, had cleaned up the _arrastras_ and hidden the
amalgam until he could find a favorable opportunity to come down to
Simiti with it.

"Now, when Don Ignacio arrived here, he found the town practically
deserted. So he and the foreman retorted the amalgam and melted the
gold into bars. But, just as they had completed their task, a
messenger came flying to town and reported that a body of Royalist
soldiers were at Badillo, and that they had learned that Simiti was
the _bodega_ of the rich Guamoco district, and were preparing to come
over and sack the town. They were fleeing down the river to the coast,
to get away to Spain as soon as possible, but had put off at Badillo
to come over here. Fortunately, they had become very intoxicated, and
their expedition was for that reason delayed.

"_Bueno_, at the news the foreman dropped everything and fled for his
life. A few people gathered with the priest in the Rincon church, the
one you are using now, Padre. The priest of the other old church on
the hill fled. _Caramba_, but he was a coward--and he got well paid
for it, too! But of that later.

"Don Ignacio's _champan_ was at Badillo, and he had come across to
Simiti by canoe. _Bien_, he dared not take this gold back with him;
and so he thought of hiding it in one of the churches, for that is
always a sacred place. There were people in his own church, and so he
hurried to the one on the hill. Evidently, as he looked about in the
deserted building for a place to hide the bars, he saw that some of
the bricks could easily be removed from the rear of the altar. A
couple of hours sufficed to do the work of secreting the box. Then he
fled across the shales to the town of Boque, where he got a canoe to
take him down to the Magdalena; and there he waited until he saw the
soldiers come across and enter the _cano_. Then