This is a science fantasy novel that revolves around an emerald box. Jesse Robinson, the wealthiest citizen of the fictitious town of Tremont, is a collector of antiquities. Robinson is a cantankerous old man and has just purchased an emerald box from a local curio dealer. This box has an inscription on its top in red letters of an unknown alphabet, and it has an odd habit of always, mystically, moving to the bottom of said box. What was the dread secret of the clouded emerald-like box with its blood-read, “sinking” inscription? And what had it to do with the horror that threatened all connected with the eccentric millionaire who owned the box?