"What is it?" he said. "Why, it's silver?"

We each in turn handled the little bar, and expressed our opinion
regarding what Hercus supposed it to be. It was heavy enough,
certainly, to be silver; but the improbability of such a piece of
the precious metal being left there presented itself, and none of
us was quite satisfied until Hercus, taking out his knife, cut and
scraped the surface of the ingot and revealed the shining white
metal underlying the grit and tarnish that had gathered upon it
during the years--perhaps the centuries--it had lain there
undisturbed.

By our united efforts we enlarged the hole that Willie and the dog
had made, digging with the harpoon and removing with our hands the
loosened stones. We found a quantity of antique coins of various
sizes, which, by reason of their lightness, I suppose, were much
scattered about. Then deeper down below these we came upon a number
of large rings, or bracelets, in the form of horseshoes, and
several ingots of silver, similar to the one Hercus had first
found.

We grew excited in our search; and as the quantity of treasure we
unearthed increased, so did we increase our exertions, until there
was quite a heap of silver gathered upon the slab of flagstone
where we placed it.

At a spot near where Hercus had discovered the skull we found a
curious garment, formed of a fine network of rings and chains. It
was much broken and torn--though the shoulder bands were preserved,