s this
treasure must start at full moon. Why? Obviously because the spring
tides occur with a full moon, consequently the low ebb. We must
expect, then, to find our treasure buried in a spot which is only
uncovered at dead low water; and to this conclusion I am also helped
by the last sentence, which says, 'Low water 1.5 hours.' It is then,
I submit, Mr. Trenoweth, in some such place that we must look for our
treasure; the only question being, 'Where is that place?'"

I was waiting for this, and a great tide of joy swept over me as I
reflected that after all he had not solved the mystery. The clasp
told nothing, the key told nothing. The secret was safe as yet.

He must have read my thoughts, for he looked steadily at me out of
those dark eyes of his, and then said very slowly and deliberately--

"Mr. Trenoweth, it grieves me to taunt your miserable case; but do
you mind my saying that you are a fool?"

I simply stared in answer.

"Your father was a fool--a pitiful fool; and you are a fool.
Which would lead me, did I not know better, to believe that your
grandfather, Amos Trenoweth, was a fool also. I should wrong him if
I called him that. He was a villain, a black-hearted, murderous,
cold-blooded, damnable villain; but he was only a fool for once in
his life, and that was when he trusted in the sense of his
descendants."

His voice, as he spoke of my grandfather, grew suddenly shrill and
discordant, while his eyes blazed up in furious wrath. In a second
or two, however, he calmed himself again and went on quietly as
before.

"You wonder, perhaps, why I call you a fool. It is because you have
lived for fourteen years with your hand upon riches that would make a
king jealous, and have never had the sense to grasp them; it is
because you have shut your eyes when you might have seen, have been a
beggar when you might have ridden in a carriage. Upon my word, Mr.
Jasper Trenoweth, when I think of your folly I have half a mind to be
dog-sick with you myself."

What could the man mean? What was this clue which I had never found?

"And all the time it was written upon this key here, as large as
life; not only that, but, to leave you no excuse, Amos Trenoweth
actually told you that it was written here."

"What do you mean?" stammered I, forced into speech at last.

"Ah! so you have found your voice, have you? What do I mean? Do you
mean to say you do not guess even now? Upon my word, I am loth to
kil