Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1865-10-05

lmmeoldle1y, anu SLoie IOrWdru 10 marx Inc
result.
A space thrice as great as single explo-
sion generally makes, had been excayated; a
great foundation rib of primitive rock form
ed the bottom, and this was full of small
glimmering objects, unshattered and crystal
lized, which dimly twinkled through the dust
and debris | lifted from the rubbish a
smoothly angled lump Of shining something,
and brought it toward lamp
| am swearing to what | speak upon the
Evangels. The crystal was clear topaz,
golden yellow in color, and as big as pull
let's egg.
One of the workmen here came to me,
holding something in his horny palm, as big
as my own great possession. | dropped the
topaz with cry. The dolt was carrying a
marvellous emerald.
We all looked into each others faces for a
moment and then the whole four rushed to
the assure; the usually dark and gray debris
eh0ne keenly here and there, and | saw in an
instant that there had been some strange
CONFUSION at this part of the mountain all
the strata lay in this small space, crushed or
bitten through with great granite upheav-
al, and the various orders had been lifted
almost vertically; coarse, micaceous sand
stone, trayersed by what seemed accidental
veins Of quartz, lay on the left, running at
its edges into a hard conglomorate which
barely yielded to a blow of a pick, and by
gradations of hard argillace0us slate, the re-
verse side of the assure, wonderful to say,
closed with solid basalt. A distribution so
much at variance with my experience was
not yet without precedents, but in the inten-
sity of the moment | had no time to think
a PROSTATE column of basalt, half concealed
in the DUST sparkled at my feet, and as
tumbled it towards the clear light, it broke
across It's breadth and disclosed the most
4 beautiful sapphire | have ever seen, consid-
ering with regard either to its purity or its
exceeding regularity.
At this instant one of the men who was
exploring another side of the cavern uttered
! a Shout
i" Don d. Se5atico! The stone is all gold -
| say again that my hand is on the Evan
| gels, and that tell but what saw. Through
the sandstone strayed vein of quartz, and
this was of mingled pale and metallic appear
ance, and the metallic place. were not sui
pilates, as l thought at first, but almost pure
| gold.
At this intelligence my comrades went al
most wild. They were poor beasts and knew
not the value of gems, but once or twice in
| their lives they had touched louis, and at
! the mention Of gold their animal greeds
burnt in their eyes till our little cloister
seemed scOoped out of a delirious dream,
and for an instant pressed my head in my
hands to know if | were poor Pierro Tag
| laire indeed, or the Prince OF Golconda
Ny struggle ceased at hard, hoarse word
from Crispino Bacco
"These are mine. | am the discoyerer Of
them all because head the gang. Do none
of you take up one stone"
l looked at him and shuddered His face
was like wild beasts: his fingers were
crooked hard, like cat when she is angry.
/ He did not weep nor embrace US at this gem
eral good fortune, but regarded US as enc
mics contesting his spoil.
"Crispinop' | said, are you mad If
we are to possess this wealth it must be in
common, and the secret must be kept among
! us, otherwise the crown will claim every
ounce of gold"
at is minen' he howled 81 am its dis
| coverer Stand off %
| l saw the gathering fury on the faces of
| our two assistants. They muttered, and
| their brows worked and blackened, and to-
| gether they rushed upon Bacco. Before
could stir or speak he lay upon the rock, and
they had pounded his skull with the very
nuggets of quartz which contained the veins
of gold.
When their fury abated and the murder
had been done, they stopped and breathed
hard. The sight of the blood sobered them !;
they turned upon me.
''You will betray US, Beccamorto?"
| saw that the crime they had done would
engulf us all unless could bring my superb
or intelligence TO bear upon these poor
wretches
Either we must all die but one, Felice,
Gaspare," | said, and he live a fugitive or
be hung; or we must agree to share this Sc
cret and be faithful to each other Take up
1 the body of Bacco and run it to the mouth Of
the gallery say that the mine exploded pre-
maturely and killed him; then return to
me!'
set Pafusto and all its pistons to work
Immediately, that the directory might not sus-
pect anything and before the two men had
returned the perforators were gashing the
softer slate and shale at the rate of metre
an hour. Every clip of the piston rods dis
engaged some new fragment, all beautiful
with crystals, and giving back to the iron
I
| Chrysobery lay imbedded in the coarse gran
tie at the bottom. The black and brown
Savoyard diamonds which had been found
in past years in the beds of torrents, were
here, of pale blue lustre, rarer than had
ever read of them, and | disengaged one
| fruticose cluster of the purest water, con-
| tanning seventeen. The gold quartz was also
varied by the glimmer of platinum, and a
OH Of oil thria 20 IN
so big that they could not lie in the palm of
my hand
do not forget that TO al this | am certi-
! flying under oath, and ] need not specify
when the whole truth of what disclose will
| be known tomorrow to the crown, if it be
not patent already. 1t is enough to add
that in the thirty or forty mines wherein my
drills broke Down this precious deposit in
the mountains, beheld and handled moro
wealth than all the cloisters of Dresden hold,
or the great mogul guards in his treasures.
The gems that fell were larger than all pre-
cedents admitted, and of wondrous crystalli-
cation. The topaz, beryl, tourmaline,
ryacoitas, spinelle, and corundum, were
often in the same fragment, and there to-
gether as if hidden years before. Sapphires,
little duh by the earth to which they were
attached, and weighing three hundred carats,
were common as pebbles around me. / fill.
ed my pockets with the rarest, and finding
others more precious still, threw them all
away and gathered and gathered, till at last
my head began to reel with possession, and
sat upon the ground, beneath my engines,
and laughed like one witless. | did not be-
lieve one winkful of light that shone upon
me from the lamps; the cold feel of dia-
mond in my grasp enraged me, because
believed it deception of the devil, and l