“You sure did,” said Jack Benton, adding, with an attempt to control his own excitement. “Tell me something, Phil. How much wealth, in United States money do you figure there is down there in the hold of the ship?”
“I don’t know,” returned Phil, slowly. “You see there were some precious stones, too and it would be hard for me to give the value of them. Then too, for all we know, the other chests may not contain anything of value at all.”
“Say not so,” cried Steve reproachfully. “What are you trying to do, anyway? Throw gloom on this happy party.”
“Nothing like it,” grinned Phil, adding as he took up the little black bag and emptied the rest of its contents on the table. “Look at that diamond and that ruby. They must be worth a small fortune in themselves.”
The boys gasped. They had been so absorbed in Phil’s story that they had taken it for granted that the handful of coins which Dick had brought forth was all the bag contained. They had not even examined the coins closely. The mere fact that they were gold had been enough for them then.
Now they regarded the exquisite jewels which Phil had brought up from the bottom of the sea almost with a feeling of awe. It seemed impossible that they could be real.
But they were real. Even the boys, inexperienced in such matters as they were, could tell that. And as Phil had said, they were tremendously valuable.
“Were there many more like these?” asked Jack Benton softly.
Phil shook his head.
“There were mostly coins,” he said, “with a handful of gems sprinkled in for good luck. I believe the treasure, in that one chest, at least, was almost all gold.”