The Palatka news and advertiser. [volume] (Palatka, Fla.) 1902-1905, 1904-06-17
Where the
Finger Pointed
[Original.J

Sir Hugh Verne sat in the home OF
his forefathers looking about him hope
lessly. On the morrow the place was
to be sold to pay debts that had been
accommodating for century The pres
ent owner was to become Of age on
the very day Of the sale. TO add TO
his distress he loved younger daugh-
ter Of Lord Montague, q neighboring
landowner.
Verne was sitting In room th0t had
been occupied ever since the house
was built three centuries before for
library. The shelves were filled with
books made when the printing press
was u novelty. On one side of a large
bay window stood q revolving geo
graphical globe; opposite 1t statue OF
a Sir Hugh Verne who had been dead
$50 years. He had been misery, and
under his regime the estate had In
creased in value, but at his death the
funds he was supposed to have ac-
cumulated did not appear. lie had
during his later days erected the statue
of himself In his library, directing that
no other monument to his memory be
placed. The forehnger of the right
hand of the statue pointed directly to
the globe One Of his descendants,
thinking that the finger Indicated a
place where some of his missing wealth
was hidden, had had the globe taken
apart; but, finding nothing Of value, it
had been restored. The present Sir
Hugh's father, Sir Thomas Verne, had
opened the wall back Of the globe ut
a point In line with the finger, but he
too, had been disappointed He had
found the estate impoverished by his
predecessor and had brooded over the
misfortune he saw surely coming for
his son. From the sons boyhood be
had heard his father debating as to
the meaning of the pointing finger and
believed he had some reason for sur
missing that 1t referred to hidden
money.
Sir Hugh sat gloomily looking at the
statue, thinking Of the family tradi-
ton. 1t was an hour before noon, and
the day was the Dist of September.
Neither the hour nor the date made
any impression on the young baron,
except that the date was present in
his mind as the day previous to the
sale. Nevertheless an idea occurred to
him, an idea which came down through
thousands Of years. He had read that
when the great pyramid Of CheOps was
built to entomb king an inclined pas
sage was left, through which q star at
the vernal equinox would shine in
upon the mummy. Sir Hugh noticed
that the sun was shining in through
the bay window upon the statue. The
shadow of the index finger lay upon
the wall midway between the ceiling
and the floor. The young man noticed
the shadow and kept his eye upon it
as 1t slowly sank toward the floor
moving at the same time toward the
east. Why the pyramid of Cheops en-
tered his head and why he made Il
mental connection between it and the
shadow he could not tell He after
ward tried to trace the steps leading
him to his idea, but failed. Neverthe-
less it came to him that if it was not
now the yernal it was the autumnal
equinox. Then, suddenly, the bell on
the town clock struck the hour of
noon.
His idea had been born.
Rising, he seized n-antlQue dagger
hanging from mantel and hacked q
cross upon the point covered by the
shadow of the index finger
That afternoon he darkened the
room, locked the doors, and, with a set
of m0sOn's tools, began to make hole
In the wall where he had carved the
cross. The plaster was soon scraped
away, and behind it was q stone differ.
ing from its neighbOrs in its shape,
which was an octagon. On the stone
from each of the right angles had been
cut cross lines, and their intersection
lay exactly at the spot where the
shadow point had lain that day at
noon. The stone was imbedded in an
inch Of mortar, which was easily
Clipped away and the stone removed.
leaving an orl6ce into which the baron
could hold a candle and see what lay
beyond. What he did see was a vault
heaped with gold sovereigns. On the
back of the stone was cut in rude let
ters-dOubtless by the man who had
deposited It there-these words: