go and knock at the door of a cave, a figure armed to the
teeth presents itself, you whisper in his ear 'Masulipatam,' he replies
'Madras,' or 'Calcutta,' or something of that sort, you take out the
coin and show it to him, he takes out from some hidden repository a
similar one, compares the two, and then leads you to an inner cave piled
up with jewels."

Mark laughed.

"Well, it is no laughing matter, Mark," the Squire went on seriously.
"The little comedy may not be played just as I have sketched it, but I
expect that it is something of the kind. That coin has to be shown, and
the word 'Masulipatam' spoken to the guardian, whoever he may be, of
your uncle's treasure. But who that guardian may be or how he is to be
found is a mystery. I myself have never tried to solve it. There was
nothing whatever to go upon. The things may be in England or, it may be,
anywhere in India. To me it looked an absolutely hopeless business to
set about. I did not see how even a first step was to be taken, and as I
had this estate and you and Millicent to look after, and was no longer
a young man, I put the matter aside altogether. You are young, you have
plenty of energy, and you have your life before you, and it is a matter
of the greatest interest to you.

"Possibly--very improbably, mind, still possibly--when Millicent comes
of age and learns who she is, Mrs. Cunningham may be able to help you.
I have no idea whether it is so. I have never spoken to her about this
treasure of George's, but it is just possible that while he was in
town before he came down to me he may have given her some instructions
concerning it. Of course he intended to give me full particulars, but he
could hardly have avoided seeing that, in the event of my death, perhaps
suddenly before the time came for seeking the treasure, the secret
would be lost altogether. Whether he has told her or his lawyer or not
I cannot say, but I have all along clung to the hope that he took some
such natural precaution. Unless that treasure is discovered, the only
thing that will come to you is the half of the accumulated rents of
this estate during the ten years between my father's death and George's;
these rents were paid to our solicitors, and by them invested.

"The rentals amount to about 2500 pounds a year, and of course there is
interest to be added, so that I suppose there is now some 25,000 pounds,
for I had out 2000 pounds when I came here, to set matters straight. I
ha