Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1910-10-07

THE GOLD-BUG
Rv EDGAR ALLAN POE

never seen specimens before. There
were several very large and heavy
coins, so worn that we could make
nothing of their inscriptions. There
was no American money. The value OF
| Jewels we found more difficult in es-
timating. There were diamonds
some of them exceedingly large and
| fne,-a hundred and ten in all, and not
one of them small. eighteen ruhies of
remarkable brilliancy: three hundred
and ten emeralds, all very beautiful;
and twenty-one sapphires. with an
opal. These stones had all been broken
| from their settings and thrown loose in
the chest The settings themselves.
which we picked out from among the
other gold. appeared to have been
beaten up with hammers as if to pre-
vent Identification. Besides all this.
there was a vast quantity of solid gold
ornaments nearly two hundred mas
sive snfier and ear rings; rich chains,
thirty of these. if | remember;-'
eighty-three very large and heavy cru
cifXes five gold censers of great
value:-a prodigiOus golden punch
bowl. Ornamented with richly chased
I.vine-leaves and Bacchanalian figures;
with two swOrd-handles cNquisitely
embossed, and many other smaller ar
ticles which | cannot recollect. Tn"
, weight of these valuables exceeded
three hundred and fifty pounds avoir-
dupois; and in this estimate have not
included one hundred and ninety-seVen
superb gold watches: three OF the
number being worth each five hundred
dollars, if one. Many of them were
very old, and as timekeepers value
less; the works having suffered. more
or less, from corrosion; but all were
richly jeweled and in cases of great
worth. We estimated the entire con-
tents of the chest, that night. at mill
lion and a half of dollars; and. upon
the subsequent disposal of the trink-
cts and Jewels Ga few being retained
for our own use), it was found that we
had greatly undervalued the treasure.
When. at length, we had concluded
our examination. and the intense ex-
citement of the time had in some meas
ure suhsidcd. LeSrand, who saw that
was dying with impatience for a solu-
ton of this most extraordinary riddle,
entered into a full detail of all the cir
cumstances connected with it,
You remember" said he, the night
when l handed you the rough sketch
had made of the scarabaeus. You rec
ollect, also, that 1 became quite VeX-
ed at you for insisting that my draw
ing rcsembled a deaths head. When
YOU first made this assertion | thought
YOU were testing; but afterwards |
called to mind the peculiar spots on
| the back of the insect, and admitted to
myself that your remark had some lit
tie foundation in fact. Still, the sneer
at nv graphic powers irritatcd me-
for am considered a good artist
and, therefore. when YOU handed me
the scrap of parchment, l was about
! to crumple it up and throw it angrily
into the fire"
THE scrap of paper YOU mean" said
II.
No: it had much of the appearance
of paper. and at first | supposed it to
he such, but when came to draw upon
| it, | discovered it. at once, to he piece
of very thin parchment. 1t was quite
dirty, YOU remember. Well, as | was
in the very act of crumpling it up, my
glance fell upon the sketch at which