For no very good reason Meyer had concluded that the gold must have been
concealed in or about the cave, so here it was that they began their
investigations.
First, they bethought them of the well into which it might possibly
have been thrown, but the fact of this matter proved very difficult
to ascertain. Tying a piece of metal--it was an old Portuguese
sword-hilt--to a string, they let it down and found that it touched
water at a depth of one hundred and twenty feet, and bottom at a depth
of one hundred and forty-seven feet. Therefore there were twenty-seven
feet of water. Weighting a bucket they sank it until it rested upon this
bottom, then wound it up again several times. On the third occasion it
brought up a human bone and a wire anklet of pure gold. But this proved
nothing, except that some ancient, perhaps thousands of years ago, had
been thrown, or had fallen, into the well.
Still unsatisfied, Jacob Meyer, who was a most intrepid person,
determined to investigate the place himself, a task of no little
difficulty and danger, since proper ladders were wanting, nor, had they
existed, was there anything to stand them on. Therefore it came to this:
a seat must be rigged on to the end of the old copper chain, and be
lowered into the pit after the fashion of the bucket.
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