What did it mean?

He tried to clear his befogged mind and think clearly on the subject, but the result was that he was always more perplexed.

He pounded on the hatch, and would have shouted to Barney and Clifford had he been sure that they would hear him.

If they were still outside, they certainly must be aware that the hatch was closed.

Why, then, did they not lift it? Why should they for so long allow it to remain closed?

Then a chilling thought came to Frank.

He gasped and sank down upon the cabin stairs.

36“My soul! Can it be possible?” he muttered. “Am I buried alive?”

He remembered the explosion or shock which had flung him upon his face!

What did it mean?

Had something happened above to seal the fate of his friends as well as his own? Yet he could not imagine what that happening could be.

“I will not believe it,” he muttered. “I will wait. They will yet come to my rescue.”

Time passed slowly enough.

Yet the rescue did not come.

However, Frank did not give up hope, and fresh interest was aroused in his mind in the galleon’s gold.

“Why waste my time,” he thought, “if anything has happened they will dig me out in good time. I am not afraid of that.”

With which consoling reflection he set out to find the galleon’s gold.

Once more he started across the cabin floor.

He gained a door on the opposite side and pushed against it. It opened and he walked in.

Again the hideous corpses attacked him. But he heeded them not.

Into a second cabin he passed.

One happy state of affairs he noticed. There were no dead bodies in the place.

It was evidently the captain’s cabin; everything was in a remarkable state of preservation.

He passed along to the captain’s table. The sextant, quadrant box, compass and globe were yet there; but the charts and maps and all papers had dissolved.

This was to be regretted, as the true history of the Donna Veneta might never be known.

But Frank was looking for the galleon’s gold.

He opened the doors of the desk; they were filled with miscellaneous articles. There were a few gold and silver coins and a number of jewels.

Frank passed on from the captain’s cabin into the forward cabin. This was also deserted. But everything in the place seemed in a perfect state of preservation.

The young inventor did not waste much time here.

He looked curiously at some articles of bric-a-brac which had withstood the rack of time. Some of them were of value, and he decided to have them removed to the Dolphin.

So interested did he become in his research that he became quite oblivious of the fact that he was imprisoned alive in a sunken ship.

Beyond this cabin there was the forecastle. This contained 37no material of value, but the seamen’s chests were in some cases open and the contents thrown carelessly about, just as their owners had left them.

Frank spent but little time in the forecastle.

Then he went below into the hold. Here were the stores which the Spaniards had placed aboard the Veneta for her long cruise.

There were casks of wine, rich old Madeira, of priceless value now, could it be brought to the light of day. Great barrels of pork and ship biscuits, and other matters too numerous for specific mention.

Through the hold Frank went to the magazine. Here was a goodly store of powder and ball. Next was the gun-room, with many stands of small arms of the ancient firelock pattern.

“Well,” muttered the young inventor, after all this, “where is the princely fortune of gold which is supposed to be contained in this vessel? Surely it must be hid away in some secret part of the ship, if it exists at all.”

And yet he saw no reasons for doubting its existence. He remembered that the treasure rooms aboard these old galleons were generally secret chambers.

In that case he must look for such; with which recollection he began examining the partitions and bulkheads.

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