"What is it, Dad?" clamored Betty.
"But it can't be," he said, shaking his head. "Quite extraordinary! Dear me, I never saw this formula before."
"For Pat's sake, tell us!" I implored.
"It says nothing about the treasure, my dear boys," he answered sadly. "My surprise was called forth by the unusual form of expression. These inscriptions always follow a certain set phraseology, but this one is strikingly different."
"By gum," groaned Betty inelegantly. "Isn't this the limit?"
"Read it anyway," I urged.
Hugh was beyond words.
"It says," began King, "and mind you, I am translating roughly—your statement that it differs from the classical Greek, standardized according to German theories, Hugh, such as is taught in the classroom, is quite correct—'In the year after Christ 1185 and of the Indiction 2, Andronicus, the Scepter Wielder, Christ-loving Emperor of the Romans, built this drain new from the tide level.'"
He broke off.
"So far it is no different from thousands of other inscriptions we might find on the city walls, aqueducts, cisterns, churches or other public works. But now comes the part I cannot understand: 'If there were tongues, many might praise him."