The result was quickly apparent.
A section of the wainscoting moved back. Time had not affected the locks and springs.
A square chamber was revealed beyond.
Frank flashed his electric light into it. Then he entered.
The treasure chamber was about eight by ten feet square, but it was half filled with metal chests piled one upon the other.
These were all locked, and resisted the strongest efforts of the young inventor.
But they were extremely heavy, and he doubted not but that they contained gold or silver coin.
That this was the treasure chamber of the vessel he made sure by the discovery of a rude reckoning in Spanish scratched upon a brass tablet with a bodkin of steel.
Each chest had one of these plates affixed to it, and they announced the contents of each in pesos.
Frank counted the chests, and making an average, estimated the fortune at the enormous sum of two million dollars.