2. A river does not keep its exact course for ever: many things may
cause it to change its course.
3. This river had not diverged much from its original course, as proved
by the towers; but if it had diverged at all it was towards the eastern
tower (cottage side).
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.