with a thick coating of broken coral, and they would have 

 to use the metal detector all over again to ascertain where 

 to dig for the objects which it had previously indicated. 

 He and Ed donned the air equipment and went back to 

 work. 



They emerged some time later with some broken 

 hunks of coral which showed indications of containing 

 metal, a badly deteriorated section of a gun barrel, and 

 some small pieces of metal which looked as if they might 

 be the oxidized remains of silver coins. 



Now we knew that we were indeed on the site of a 

 wreck! Whether it was the remains of the Spanish galleon 

 or some other unfortunate ship would remain to be seen. 

 Although none of us came right out and said so, I am sure 

 we all felt that now, after nearly three hundred years, we 

 were on the brink of unravehng the long-lost secret of the 

 Silver shoals. 



That evening we examined the objects which Barney 

 and Ed had retrieved from the sea. We beat the large 

 chunks of coral apart with an iron mallet, only to find 

 that the metal within was so badly corroded that there 

 was nothing left but a black, crumbhng powder. The 

 wreck must be very old indeed. The gun barrel was so 

 deteriorated it was impossible to identify it. 



Next Barney picked up the section from the odd- 

 shaped piece which I had pointed out to him that after- 

 noon. It responded to the metal detector, which indicates 

 either iron or silver, but would not respond to a magnet, 

 which affects only iron. My heart leaped! Could this be a 

 very-much-corroded piece of silver? Because of the size 

 and shape of the original piece, I could only guess that 

 it might have been part of the silver stand of some orna- 

 mental altarpiece which had gone down with the Spanish 

 galleon. The others were excited, too. 



There was one more test, which would tell the tale. 



The Silver Shoals 275 



