“Of course, if one were full up to the back-teeth with port, it might look less obvious than it does. I shan’t try the experiment, though. It’s quite on the cards that he was completely dazed and didn’t see the mate in one move. Let’s leave it at that just now, and try the rest of the thing.”
He transferred his attention to the inscription above the diagram.
“Nox nocti indicat scientiam. Night unto night sheweth knowledge, it’s translated in the Bible, I remember. That’s mysterious enough. I wonder why he chose the Latin instead of the English version. Perhaps he read the Vulgate and liked the sound of the Latin. Now what about these two texts: Matthew Sixth and Twenty-first; Luke Twelfth and Thirty-fourth. There ought to be a Bible somewhere on the shelves.”
He hunted for a time and at last discovered the volume.
“Let’s see. ‘For where thy treasure is, there will thy heart be also.’ And the other one: ‘For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.’ ”
He pondered over the texts for a time, but no enlightenment came to him.
“All the same,” he assured himself at last, “these two texts seem more to the point than the rest of the stuff. I can’t help feeling I’m on the right track. Suppose we put it all together and see if there’s any traceable connection between the three links.”
He began at the top of the paper.
“Nox. Darkness. Black. Does that mean, by any chance, that it’s Black’s turn to play and not White’s?”
He mentally tried over the possible moves; but they led to nothing.