One of my men began to speak of the difficulties of such an attempt, the want of provisions, and other dangers which we should be exposed to on the way; but the other, a bold, brisk fellow, told me he made no question but it might be easily done, and especially because all the rivers they should meet with would, of course, run along with us, so that we should be sure to have the tide with us, as he called it; and, at last, he added, that he would be content to be one of those men who should undertake it, provided he should be assured that the ships in the mean time would not go away, and pretend that they could not be found.
I told him, we would talk farther about it; that I had such a thought in my head, and a strong inclination to undertake it myself, but that I could not answer it to leave the ships, which depended so much upon my care of the voyage.
After some talk of the reasonableness of such an undertaking, and the methods of performing it, my second midshipman began to come into it, and to think it was practicable enough, and added, that though he used some cautions in his first hearing proposals, yet, if he undertook that enterprise, I should find that he would do as much of his duty in it as another man; and so he did at last, as will appear in its proper place.
We were, by this time, preparing to be satisfied with our journey, and my patron coming to me and asking if I was for returning, I told him I could not say how many days it would be before I should say I had enough of that prospect, but that I would return when he pleased, only I had one question to ask him, which was, whether the mountains were as full of gold on this side as they were on the side of Chili?
As to that, seignior, says he, the best way to be certain is to make a trial, that you may be sure we do not speak without proof; so he called his gentleman, and another servant that was with him, and desired me to call my two midshipmen, and, speaking something to his own servants first, in the language of the country, as I supposed, he turned to me, and said, Come, let us sit down and rest ourselves, while they go together, and see what they can do.
Accordingly, they went away, and, as my men told me afterwards, they searched in the small streams of water which they found running, and in some larger gulleys or channels, where they found little or no water running, but where, upon hasty rains, great shoots of water had been used to run, and where water stood still in the holes and falls, as I have described once before on the like occasion.
They had not been gone above an hour, when I plainly heard my two Englishmen halloo, which I could easily distinguish from the voices of any other nation, and immediately I ran out of the tent, Captain Merlotte followed, and then I saw one of my midshipmen running towards us, so we went to meet him, and, what with hallooing and running, he could hardly speak; but, recovering his breath, said, he came to desire me to come to them, if I would behold a sight which I never saw in my life.
I was eager enough to go, so I went with him, and left Captain Merlotte to go back to the tent to my patron, the Spaniard, and the Spanish doctor, who had not so much share in the curiosity; he did so, and they followed soon after.
When we came to the place, we saw such a wonder as indeed I never saw before, for there they were sitting down round a little puddle, or hole, as I might call it, of water, where, in the time of rain, the water running hastily from a piece of the rock, about two foot higher than the rest, had made a pit under it with the fall, like the tail of a mill, only much less.
Here they took up the sand or gravel with their hands, and every handful brought up with it such a quantity of gold as was surprising; for there they sat picking it out, just as the boys in London, who go with a broom and a hat, pick out old iron, nails, and pins from the channels, and it lay as thick.