4. The towers were exactly one hundred and eighty feet apart, but the true centre of the river would be forty feet from the west bank and eighty feet from the east bank. 5. River _beds_ may rise or fall from their original level, by deposits of earthy particles settling, and thus covering up what was once the true river-bed; or by a swift river scouring off the upper surface of the bed, which would thus eventually expose anything hidden at a depth of five or six feet below the bed. 6. The deepest part of a river is usually in the centre, and there would probably be the spot where anything in the way of treasure would be buried, because of the greater inaccessibility. Next day the Jew and I held a consultation, when we decided, after carefully weighing the above ideas, that I should cut a trench five feet deep and twenty or thirty yards long, from north to south, along the bed of the river in a line with its course, and at a distance of forty feet from the west bank, a spot which we surmised to be the centre of the river in ancient times. Again night after night I toiled, and for three weeks I dug and delved, but this time not _quite_ in vain, for at the end of this period I came upon a hard substance which I supposed to be just what I had struck my spade upon many times before--a stone. I took it in my hand, for the water was too turbid to see anything clearly beneath its surface, and felt it to be much too heavy for a flint of the size of one’s fist. Probably it was metal! My heart beat swiftly as I ascended. I took it to the hut and examined it. It was indeed metal--it was gold! We gazed upon it for some time, and then, placing it upon the table, I capered round it with delight. The Jew was very calm over it. “Wait,” said he; “this may only be a solitary nugget dropped from a boat, or thrown into the stream by some thief to hide his guilt.” I went soberly to work again, taking with me a small basket weighted with stones to prevent it floating away. I dug, and again struck upon large nuggets, which I placed in the basket; I also found pieces of metal which had evidently been shaped by human hands, although they were in such a corroded state that I could only surmise what had once been their shape or use. I washed off the adhering gravel and took my find ashore to the hut, trembling with excitement as I did so. Hurrah! every piece was pure gold! gold!! gold!!! Then, being thoroughly exhausted by my long dive and the excitement of my discovery, I frightened my companion nearly out of his wits by fainting, and falling like a log of timber at his feet. When I awoke it was broad daylight, and I was lying comfortably in my cot, but with a very bad headache. I groaned, for it at once flashed across my mind that the basket of gold was, after all, nothing but a dream, a delusion! Calling my friend from the other room, and glaring at him the while, I asked half-a-dozen questions before he could answer one.