ll in the assistance of Rogers and his party.

Even thus reinforced, it soon became apparent that a heavy task lay
before us, and it was not until the boatswain was piping to breakfast
that the first chest was successfully broken out and raised to the
surface.

Breakfast was soon over that morning, and then the question arose, how
were such ponderous chests to be conveyed to the ship? They measured,
roughly, about two and a half feet square, and were so heavy that eight
men--all who could conveniently get round one of them--could not raise
the weight from the ground, much less carry it along a narrow path
cumbered with stumps and prostrate trunks of trees. Greatly as I
disliked such a proceeding, it seemed that there was no alternative but
to break open each chest, and convey its contents piecemeal to the
boats; and this course was therefore perforce adopted.

The task of merely breaking open the chests proved to be one of no
ordinary difficulty; for they were constructed of solid oak, nearly
three inches thick, so well made, and so strongly bound with iron, that
I could not help surmising that they must have been the chests in which
the Spaniards had originally stowed the treasure, and specially made for
the purpose. They were black with age; but the timber was perfectly
sound, while the iron bands, though more than half eaten away with rust,
were still stout enough to give us an immense amount of trouble.

At length, however, the first chest was broken open, and was found to
contain sixty-four bricks or ingots of solid silver! They were arranged
in four tiers of sixteen bricks each, exactly fitting the chest, and
each brick weighed about a quarter of a hundredweight. Each chest,
therefore, if all contained the same precious metal, would represent the
value of sixteen hundredweight of silver. How many chests there were we
did not yet know; but it was evident that there were several. Some said
there were eight or nine, but I thought there must be more, judging by
the way in which they were arranged in the ground.

The men were now divided into two working parties, one of which, under
my supervision, carried the silver to one of the boats, while the other,
under Forbes, proceeded to break out and open another chest. The
contents of one chest I considered a sufficient load for the gig, and
accordingly, as soon as this amount had been placed in her, we shoved
off for the ship; my crew consisting of Joe, the Nor