"God! You have seen it?" Isabel was trembling as if with an ague.
"What is it like? How much is there? Good Sebastian, I'll give you
water; I'll have you set free if you tell me."

"How much? I don't know. But there is much--pieces of Spanish
gold, silver coins in casks and in little boxes--the boxes are
bound with iron and have hasps and staples; bars of precious metal
and little paper packages of gems, all tied up and hidden in
leather bags." Sebastian could hear his listener panting; her
bloodless fingers were wrapped tightly around the bars above his
head.--

"Yes! Go on."

"There are ornaments, too. God knows they must have come from
heaven, they are so beautiful; and pearls from the Caribbean as
large as plums."

"Are you speaking the truth?"

"Every peso, every bar, every knickknack I have handled with my
own hands. Did I not make the hiding-place all alone? Senora,
everything is there just as I tell you--and more. The grants of
title from the crown for this quinta and the sugar-plantations,
they are there, too. Don Esteban used to fear the government
officials, so he hid his papers securely. Without them the lands
belong to no one. You understand?"

"Of course! Yes, yes! But the jewels--God! where are they hidden?"