The Lakeland evening telegram., 1917-07-06

turn up q century or TWO aItef Ills
death? And might not the statue have
something to do with its location?
Though he did not know it, he had
made a mental leap bridging a century
since his ancestors death. He deter
mined to make a study of the statue
and everything that pegtained to it.
Every morning he devoted an hour TO
sitting before the bronze, looking at II
and thinking about it. Perhaps he
fancied that by thus mentally dwelling
upon it through some spiritual process
the secret would be impaired to him
The inscription engaged his attention,
but he could make nothing OF 1t. And
vet there must have been an object In
putting it there alone, and especially
with the hour and minute of birth.
One morning Colonel Granville was
sitting, as usual, studying the statue.
The sun spot was crawling slowly over
the wall as it had been travelling year
in and year out for 100 years. The
colonel was watching it as he had Of
ten watched it before. A third new
idea came to him. Might not this sun
spot have some meaning?
There seem to be two kinds of ideas
in the human brain. those that are
original or parent ideas and those that
are offspring. The present case is an
illustration. The conception that the
sun spot might have some meaning
was in measure original Though ev-
erything. after all, is but a link in an
eternal chain), and it suggested anoth-
er idea-viz, Might not there be con-
nection between the sun spot and the
date Of birth on the statue?
Colonel Granville sprang from his
chair. He was confident that he had
made an important discovery. What
that discovery would lead to was an
other matter. He had little expecta-
ton that it would work out his first
conceptions which had come from the
letter he had read, but he hoped it
might solve the mystery of the statue
and the date, inscribed upon it. He
was not long In inferring that on the
day, hour and minute recorded on the
statue the sun spot would rest on a
part Of the wall which would give
some information or injunction intend
ed by the man who had erected the
! statue.
The inscription gave the year, which
! could be of no importance since the
! sun traverses the same apparent path
annually; the day, June II; the hour,
10 o'clock, and the minute, the twen-
ty-ffth. In other words, IL this were
the true explanation, on June II, at
twenty-five minutes after 10 o'clock,
the POSITION of the sun spot would
mean something. 1t could not refer to
10 o'clock at night for an obvious rea.
| son.
1t was early in April when Colonel
Granville hit upon this possible ex.
PLANTATION. Nearly two months of wait
ing would be necessary before the spot
would reach a position corresponding
with the date. The colonel, too impa
tient to defer investigation for what
seemed to him so long a period. was
eager to get computer to come anG
calculate where the spot would be or
the given day. But he knew Of no one
at hand who would be able to make
the calculation. Besides, he had ne
desire to suffer the obloquy such al
act would cast upon him, for when b,
stopped to think he was forced to ad
nit that no more chimerical idea coul(
enter the brain Of man.
So he was obliged to wait and Will,
waiting planned an excuse for wha
he proposed to do. He determined tt
make hole in the wall where the sur
spot rested on the 18th of June a.
twenty-five minutes past 10 in tn,
morning, and he proposed to tell tn,
household that he was looking for {
convenient location for chimney h,
was thinking of building Every da,
after that the colonel watched tn,
movement of the spot with keen inter
est and at the end of month h,
could calculate pretty nearly where i
would fall on the 18th of June. How
ever, he waited till the date cam,
round
Now. on the 18th of June the SUI
stands very high. practically at tn,
highest point during the year. Con
sequently the spot was at the loves
point. In fact. it rested on the floor
The colonel bored hole in the floor
Ing, inclining 1t from the sextant I,
the point of the spots contact, and. in
serting a tube, noted a place In tn
cellar where the line of vision pro
longed would strike. Then one nigh
when the household was asleep b
went into the cellar with a lantern.
pick and spade and began to dig.
i He had cut through the cement boi
tom of the cellar and dug down exact
, ly ten feet when he struck masonry
1t was not very well put together. an
he soon loosened the upper stones
coming to an open space. In this wa
an iron box or safe. such as was use
many years ago. A blow of the pic
, knocked off the cover, and there lay
| mass of gold coins On tho coips to.