“What does the poke mean?” asked Patty.
“Oh, a poke is a pocket; or a hiding-place of any sort. Of course, this information sent father to digging around every fir tree and oak tree on the place. As you know, there are hundreds of both kinds of trees, so the directions can’t be called explicit.”
“But,” said Patty, wrinkling her brow, “it says ‘between the fir trees and the oak,’ as if it meant a clump of firs and only one big oak.”
“Yes; that’s what has been surmised. And many a separate oak tree that stands near a group of firs has been thoroughly investigated. But wait; there’s another clue. On a separate paper these words are written:
| “‘Above the stair, across the hall, Between the bedhead and the wall, A careful searching will reveal The noble fortune I conceal.’ |
“There, could anything be plainer than that?”
“Then the money is in the house!” exclaimed Patty.
“Take your choice. There are the two declarations. It may be he concealed the money in one place, and then transferred it to another. Or it may be he put part in the ground, and part in the house.”
“But, ‘between the bedhead and the wall,’ is so definite. There are not so very many bedrooms, you know.”
“True enough. And of course, when my father found that paper, he went directly upstairs, crossed the hall, and so reached Uncle Marmaduke’s own bedroom. The furniture had been moved about, but Grandy remembered where the head of the bed stood in Uncle’s time. They searched thoroughly, took up flooring, took down wainscoting, and all that, to no avail.”