"This is what happened," he continued. "At Tijuco it is customary to
send off in one delivery the diamonds collected during the year. They
are divided into two lots, according to their size, after being
sorted in a dozen sieves with holes of different dimensions. These
lots are put into sacks and forwarded to Rio de Janeiro; but as they
are worth many millions you may imagine they are heavily escorted. A
workman chosen by the superintendent, four cavalrymen from the
district regiment, and ten men on foot, complete the convoy. They
first make for Villa Rica, where the commandant puts his seal on the
sacks, and then the convoy continues its journey to Rio de Janeiro. I
should add that, for the sake of precaution, the start is always kept
secret. Well, in 1826, a young fellow named Dacosta, who was about
twenty-two or twenty-three years of age, and who for some years had
been employed at Tijuco in the offices of the governor-general,
devised the following scheme. He leagued himself with a band of
smugglers, and informed them of the date of the departure of the
convoy.
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