“We might hold on for another hour,” Bethune said hopefully; but breaking off he pointed out to sea. “That settles it,” he added. “If it’s any way possible, we must cut the bulkhead to-night.”
A tall, glimmering shape crept out of the fog about a mile away. It was irregular in outline, and looked like a detached crag, except that it shone with a strange ghostly brightness against the leaden haze. It came on, sliding smoothly forward with the tide, another mass which was smaller and lower rocking in its wake; and then a third crept into sight behind. The men gazed at them with anxious faces; then Jimmy held out his hand for the helmet.
“They’ll ground before they reach us, but the sooner I get to work the better,” he said.
A bent iron plate hung from a tottering beam when he crawled up to the after end of the hold, and he savagely tried to wrench it out with a bar. The effort taxed his strength, but when he felt that he could keep it up no longer the timber yielded, and he fell forward into the gap. It cost him some trouble to recover his balance, and while he crouched on hands and knees, the disturbed water pulsed heavily into the dark hole. Lifting his lamp, he saw that the floor was deep in sand; and out of the sand two wooden boxes projected. He found that he could not drag them clear, and it seemed impossible to remove them without some tackle, but in groping about he came upon a bag. It was made of common canvas, and had been heavily sealed, though part of the wax had broken away, but on lifting it Jimmy found the material strong enough to hold its contents.
He sat still for a moment or two, his heart beating with exultant excitement. The sand was much deeper at the other side of the small, slanted room. He could not tell what lay beneath it; but he could see two boxes, and he held a heavy bag. Gold was worth about twenty dollars an ounce, and value to a large amount would go into a small compass. It looked as if wealth were within his grasp.
The effects of the continued pressure made themselves felt, and Jimmy hastily picked his way out of the hold. He had some trouble in getting up the ladder, which swung to and fro, and when he reached the deck he saw Moran busy forward, shortening cable. Bethune released him from his canvas dress, and lifted the bag.
“You got in?” he cried.
“Yes; here’s a bag of gold. I saw two boxes, and expect there are others in the sand.”
Bethune clenched his hand tight.
“And we can’t hold on! It’s devilish luck, I say! She has dragged the kedge up to the stream anchor, and is putting her bows in. Still, I’m going to make a try.”