With all his powerful efforts the lid defied him, and, calling the bos'n to his aid, both of them bent to the stout lever. The wood creaked and groaned, yet neither did the chest move nor did the lid fly open.
"There's weight in it!" exclaimed the bos'n, wiping his heated brow. "If we are not careful the whole box of tricks will fall through into the hold."
"Yes, we must look out for that," replied my father; "already the floor seems to be giving."
"More than the lid does, I'm thinking," assented the bos'n. "We must try what a sledge-hammer and wedges will do." This meant sending back to the "Fortuna"; so, while the whaler was away, we continued our exploration of the cabin. There were three silver images, blackened by sea-water, several gold and silver-mounted sword-hilts, a drawer full of gold coins, bearing dates between 1590 and 1701, tankards and plates of precious metal, and several securely sealed bottles, containing, as we afterwards found, wine.
"Ah! now we can tackle the chests," exclaimed Uncle Herbert, as the men returned with a sledge-hammer and a regular armoury of cold chisels. "This one first."
A few heavy blows and the lid flew open; then, by the aid of the crowbar, the work was completed, and the lid went back with a loud creaking sound. The chest was filled to the brim with small bars of solid gold.
"Hurrah, my lads!" shouted my father in his excitement. "This alone will repay us. You can take it from me that once we get this safely home, every man of the crew will be able to live in comfort till the end of his days."
A rousing cheer greeted this announcement; then, closing the lid, my father directed the men to burst open the other chest.
This we found to contain mostly silk-stuffs, all, of course, utterly spoiled by age and sea-water; but at the bottom was a complete set of Church plate, made of gold and blazing with precious stones.
"Some cathedral in Spain is the poorer by this," remarked Uncle Herbert, holding up a massive chalice to the glassless stern window and allowing the light to play on the dazzling stones. "What do you propose to do, Howard? I don't think we can rest at ease till the whole of this stuff is safely aboard the 'Fortuna.'"