05-30-2020, 03:16 PM
Perrine grinned, the awe of what she'd found wearing off into rational excitement. "Oh, it is," she promised, overhearing Anthony's muttering, and led him down the steep wooden steps into the cargo hold. She could feel the cold of the seawater through her boots, but not the actual water, so she didn't much mind. She waded over to the barrel and opened it again with Anthony at her side. "Regardez!Look!" At first glance, all one could see was black ashes and chunks of coal, but as Perrine moved her lantern to fully illuminate the barrel's contents, she brushed away the top layer of soot with a gloved hand. Blackened by the surrounding ash and coal, four pistols laid on a surprisingly shallow surface. "These are worth at least 100 pounds each- look at them!" Indeed, despite their slight tarnish, the guns were in surprisingly good shape, and one could see the patent Colt logo.
Perrine, knowing full well that the inside of this barrel was much too shallow for its exterior shape, pushed around in the soot after handing Anthony the guns to put down on the top of another nearby barrel, warning him to make sure they didn't get wet. As she'd suspected, where the pistols had laid was a false bottom, and she found a crease in the corner of the wooden circle to pull it up. What laid beneath brought back another wave of awe to Perrine's mind and she gestured frantically for Anthony to look with her. "Par la volonté de Dieu...[i]" Indeed, 'by God's will' was a proper reaction, for underneath the false bottom laid a pile of glimmering silver coins. How the crew of this ship had come upon this treasure, Perrine didn't know nor did she much care- it was just so much. She picked one up, silent in her astonishment, and studied it- it wasn't a very old coin, minted in 1876 with something in Spanish on the side, as Perrine gathered. "[i]Pièces de huit," she murmured, then repeated it in English, "Pieces of eight, from Spain. Each one is worth about five pounds-" She'd done a lot of research on currency exchange rates when she'd treasure-hunted with Renaud. "-but with so many- look around, see if there's any more."
Perrine, knowing full well that the inside of this barrel was much too shallow for its exterior shape, pushed around in the soot after handing Anthony the guns to put down on the top of another nearby barrel, warning him to make sure they didn't get wet. As she'd suspected, where the pistols had laid was a false bottom, and she found a crease in the corner of the wooden circle to pull it up. What laid beneath brought back another wave of awe to Perrine's mind and she gestured frantically for Anthony to look with her. "Par la volonté de Dieu...[i]" Indeed, 'by God's will' was a proper reaction, for underneath the false bottom laid a pile of glimmering silver coins. How the crew of this ship had come upon this treasure, Perrine didn't know nor did she much care- it was just so much. She picked one up, silent in her astonishment, and studied it- it wasn't a very old coin, minted in 1876 with something in Spanish on the side, as Perrine gathered. "[i]Pièces de huit," she murmured, then repeated it in English, "Pieces of eight, from Spain. Each one is worth about five pounds-" She'd done a lot of research on currency exchange rates when she'd treasure-hunted with Renaud. "-but with so many- look around, see if there's any more."
