A wild thrill shot through him. By that one act they had conquered the deep. At last the treasure was within their grasp!
CHAPTER XXI
FROM THE OCEAN BED
Three boxes they retrieved from the sunken vessel that day, and since it was getting dark when the last of these was hauled to the surface, they decided to postpone any further operations till the next day.
The boys were curiously silent as they tugged and hauled the chests to the cave where they might examine their contents. Suppose the mysterious boxes did not contain treasure after all? They were almost afraid to open them.
Phil it was who began to pry off the lid of the first box. His body ached with fatigue from his adventures under the sea but he never even thought of it. His whole mind was concentrated on the business of getting that lid off.
The boys stood around him holding their breath, their eyes fairly burning with excited expectation of what they hoped to see.
Then with a grinding noise the ancient lock gave way and the cover slipped off. The boys gave a wild cry and sank to their knees beside the open chest. They couldn’t speak. They could hardly think. They knelt there, bathing their hands in a wealth of golden coins and sparkling gems, a treasure that had defied the years under the sea, the old pirate’s treasure come to life and glittering as brightly as it had on that day so long ago when the ship had sunk with the loss of all her crew.
If the boys had seemed crazy when Phil had emptied the little black bag of coins and gems before them, bringing them the first word of the treasure, they were ten times worse now.
They laughed, they danced, they shouted to one another. Steve scandalized Bimbo by seizing the black boy about the waist and whirling him madly about the cave, ending up in a gyrating mass of arms and legs as they slipped and landed on the floor together.
Even Jack Benton acted for a little while as though he had “gone loco.” It was a long time before they could pull themselves together enough to open the other two chests.