property belonging to Colonel Thorndyke, and your
people wrote to say they hadn't."

"Yes, I remember I wrote to him myself. Of course that was before you
did me that great service, and I did not know your name, and we had not
the name on our books. What is in the box?"

"Jewels worth something like fifty thousand pounds."

"By Jove, I congratulate you, old fellow; that is to say, if you have
the handling of it. Well, this is what happened. The box was sent to
us by a firm in Calcutta, together with bills for 50,000 pounds. The
instructions were that the money was to be invested in stock, and that
we were to manage it and to take 100 pounds a year for so doing. The
rest of the interest of the money was to be invested. The box was a very
massive one, and was marked with the letters XYZ. It was very carefully
sealed. Our instructions were that the owner of the box and the money
might present himself at any time."

"And that the proof of his ownership was to be that he was to use the
word 'Masulipatam,'" Mark broke in, "and produce a gold coin that would,
probably--though of this I am not certain--correspond with the seals."

He got up and went to the cabinet which he had brought up with him from
Crowswood, unlocked it, and produced the piece of paper and the coin.

"Yes, that looks like the seal, Thorndyke. At any rate, it is the same
sort of thing. Why on earth didn't you come with it before, and take the
things away?"

"Simply because I did not know where to go to. My uncle was dying
when he came home, and told my father about the treasure, but he died
suddenly, and my father did not know whether it was sent to England or
committed to someone's charge in India, or buried there. We did the only
thing we could, namely, inquired at all the banks and agents here and
at all the principal firms in Madras and Calcutta to ask if they had in
their possession any property belonging to the late Colonel Thorndyke."

"You see, we did not know," Cotter went on, "any more than Adam, to whom
the box belonged. Fortunately, the agent sent in his communication a
sealed letter, on the outside of which was written, 'This is to remain
unopened, but if no one before that date presents himself with the token
and password, it is to be read on the 18th of August, 1789.' That was
yesterday, you know."

"Yes, that was my cousin's eighteenth birthday. We thought if my uncle
had left the box in anyone's charge he would probably have given