After the fountain was drained

When the water began to sink, I stood beside the stone basin with a single tray, expecting only the leaves we had seen from above. The first sweep of the floor produced a button, two keys and a tiny brass wheel. Silt still covered the deeper channel, and each pass of the brush uncovered another object. Before lunch, I had borrowed six more trays and stopped trying to guess what the next patch would contain.

Select one word or phrase which conveys the writer's limited expectations before the search and one which reveals how greatly the search exceeded them.