of the vessel had been burst
open, and the contents of the cabin swept out.

On further inspection, however, the treasure-room was found to be
uninjured. Putting down the lamp on an adjacent beam, Edgar lifted a
heavy mass of wreck from the ground, and dashed the door in. The scene
that presented itself was interesting. On the floor lay a number of
little barrels, which the divers knew contained the gold they were in
search of. Most of these were so riddled by worms that they were
falling to pieces. Some, indeed, had partially given way, so that the
piles of coin could be seen through the staves, and two or three had
been so completely eaten away as to have fallen off, leaving the masses
of gold in unbroken piles. There were also bags as well as kegs of
coin, all more or less in a state of decay.

The divers gazed at this sight for a few moments quite motionless. Then
Edgar with one hand turned the lamp full on his companion's front-glass
so as to see his face, while with the other hand he pointed to the
treasure. Joe's eyes expressed surprise, and his mouth smiling
satisfaction. Turning the light full on his own face to show his
comrade that he was similarly impressed, Edgar motioned to Joe to sit
down on an iron chest that stood in a corner, and giving the requisite
signal with his life-line, went up to the surface. He did this very
slowly in order to accustom his frame to the change of pressure both of
air and water, for he was well aware of the danger of rapid ascent from
such a depth. Soon after, he redescended, bearing several canvas sacks,
some cord, and a couple of small crowbars. Placing the lamp in a
convenient position, and throwing the bags on the floor of the
treasure-room, Edgar and Baldwin set to work diligently with the
crowbars, broke open the kegs, and emptied their golden contents into
one of the bags, until it was quite full; tied up the mouth, fastened it
to a rope which communicated with the boat above, and gave the signal to
hoist away. The bag quickly rose and vanished.

Previous to redescending, our hero had arranged with Rooney to have
pieces of sail-cloth in readiness to wrap the bags in the instant of
their being got into the small boat, so that when being transferred to
the large boat's locker, their form and contents might be concealed from
the pilot, Dwarro. The precaution, however, did not seem to be
necessary, for Dwarro was afflicted with laziness, and devoted himself
e