Perhaps the
thing was really miscarrying. Soon I felt certain that it had
miscarried, and bitterly regretted taking the matter in hand. Then one
man came up gruntingly and began cursing and swearing as soon as he
saw us. He did that because he was afraid. I feared the worst. On his
shoulders there was one single great lump of silver and nothing else,
and as he clambered out to where we stood he tilted it with a dull
thud to the ground, and said sullenly that that was the only thing
left, and that others had been there before us. He repeated this
several times, so that there should be no mistake; there was only this
enormous piece of silver and nothing else. The smile's left
everybody's face. Never have I seen such a sudden change. However, to
me it was _kismet_....

In some trepidation we at length approached L---- and told him what had
been said, and then there was another storm. He said that it was
impossible--that there must be some mistake--that the men had said
that the bullion was there, and there it must be. As he spoke his
anger rose again, and coming up and kicking the massive silver ingot,
he asked again and again in a few words of French, which I believe he
had learned especially for the occasion, "_Mais ou est l'or? mais ou
est l'or?_" It was almost pitiful to hear him repeat these words again
and again like a child. He believed we were cheating him....

The position had now become suddenly ridiculous, and I did not know
what to do. Everyone soon took up L----'s attitude, and felt that
they had been cheated by some one. Indeed, they acted as if they had
lost valued possessions. They all clambered around me, and said that
it was disgraceful, and that something should be done to punish the
men who had brought the false information. They became so excited that
it was necessary to create a diversion by going down into that hole
ourselves to see exactly what it meant. That proved the last straw.

It was the dirtiest and most uncomfortable descent I have ever made.
Sliding down through those piles of sacks led one to a false floor,
some planks of which had been forced up by the Chinese informants.
Beneath this was a short ladder, and, stepping down, one found one's
self in an immense underground chamber. The air was so thick and dank
here that it was almost impossible to breathe, and in the flickering
light of the candles we could just see a confused mass of chests and
boxes ranged round. Everyone of these had