body by accident were near hand, and within sight of a neighbour's window,
and their hearing also, being close by: only my father says that he saw
them all gone to church before he begun the work, when he laid the money,
but that do not excuse it to me. But I was out of my wits almost, and the
more from that, upon my lifting up the earth with the spudd, I did discern
that I had scattered the pieces of gold round about the ground among the
grass and loose earth; and taking up the iron head-pieces wherein they
were put, I perceive the earth was got among the gold, and wet, so that
the bags were all rotten, and all the notes, that I could not tell what in
the world to say to it, not knowing how to judge what was wanting, or what
had been lost by Gibson in his coming down: which, all put together, did
make me mad; and at last was forced to take up the head-pieces, dirt and
all, and as many of the scattered pieces as I could with the dirt discern
by the candlelight, and carry them up into my brother's chamber, and there
locke them up till I had eat a little supper: and then, all people going
to bed, W. Hewer and I did all alone, with several pails of water and
basins, at last wash the dirt off of the pieces, and parted the pieces and
the dirt, and then begun to tell [them]; and by a note which I had of the
value of the whole in my pocket, do find that there was short above a
hundred pieces, which did make me mad; and considering that the
neighbour's house was so near that we could not suppose we could speak one
to another in the garden at the place where the gold lay--especially my
father being deaf--but they must know what we had been doing on, I feared
that they might in the night come and gather some pieces and prevent us
the next morning; so W. Hewer and I out again about midnight, for it was
now grown so late, and there by candlelight did make shift to gather
forty-five pieces more. And so in, and to cleanse them: and by this time
it was past two in the morning; and so to bed, with my mind pretty quiet
to think that I have recovered so many. And then to bed, and I lay in the
trundle-bed, the girl being gone to bed to my wife, and there lay in some