refer, for example, to the last instance but one, in which the combination ;48 occurs—not far from the end of the cipher. We know that the ; immediately ensuing is the commencement of a word, and, of the six characters succeeding this “the,” we are cognisant of no less than five. Let us set these characters down, thus, by the letters we know them to represent, leaving a space for the unknown—
t eeth.
‘Here we are enabled at once, to discard the “th,” as forming no portion of the word commencing with the first t; since, by experiment of the entire alphabet for a letter adapted to the vacancy, we perceive that no word can be formed of which this th can be part. We are thus narrowed into
t ee,
and, going through the alphabet, if necessary, as before, we arrive at the word “tree,” as the sole possible reading. We thus gain another letter, r, represented by (, with the words “the tree” in juxtaposition.
‘Looking beyond these words, for a short distance, we again see the combination ;48, and employ it by way of termination to what immediately precedes. We have thus this arrangement—
the tree ;4(‡?34 the,
or, substituting the natural letters, where known, it reads thus:—
the tree thr‡?3h the
‘Now if, in place of the unknown characters, we leave blank spaces, or substitute dots, we read thus:
the tree thr … h the,
when the word “through” makes itself evident at once. But this discovery gives us three new letters, o, u, and g, represented by ‡ ? and 3.
‘Looking now, narrowly, through the cipher for combinations of known characters, we find, not very far from the beginning, this arrangement—
83(88, or egree,
which, plainly, is the conclusion of the word “degree,” and gives us another letter, d, represented by †.
‘Four letters beyond the word “degree,” we perceive the combination
;46(;88.
‘Translating the known characters, and representing the unknown by dots, as before, we read thus—
th .rtee,
an arrangement immediately suggestive of the word “thirteen,” and again furnishing us with two new characters, i and n represented by 6 and *.
‘Referring now, to the beginning of the cryptograph, we find the combination,—
53‡‡†.
‘Translating as before, we obtain
.good,
which assures us that the first letter is A, and that the first two words are “A good.”
‘It is now time that we arrange our key, as far as discovered, in a tabular form, to avoid confusion. It will stand thus—
| 5 | represents | a |
| † | ” | d |
| 8 | ” | e |
| 3 | ” | g |
| 4 | ” | h |
| 6 | ” | i |
| * | ” | n |
| ‡ | ” | 0 |
| ( | ” | r |
| ; | ” | t |
| ? | ” | u |
‘We have, therefore, no less than eleven of the most important letters represented, and it will be unnecessary to proceed with the details of the solution. I have said enough to convince you that ciphers of this nature are readily soluble, and to give you some insight into the rationale of their development. But be assured the specimen before us appertains to the very simplest species of cryptograph. It now only remains to give you the full translation of the characters upon the parchment, as unriddled. Here it is:—
‘“A good glass in the bishop’s hostel in the devil’s seat forty-one degrees and thirteen minutes north-east and by north main branch seventh limb east side shoot from the left eye of the death’s-head a bee-line from the tree through the shot fifty feet out.”’
‘But,’ said I, ‘the enigma seems still in as bad a condition as ever. How is it possible to extort a meaning from all this jargon about “devil’s seats,” “death’s-heads,” and “bishop’s hotels?”’
‘I confess,’ replied Legrand, ‘that the matter still wears a serious aspect, when regarded with a casual glance. My first endeavour was to divide the sentence into the natural division intended by the cryptographist.’
‘You mean, to punctuate it?’
‘Something of that kind.’
‘But how was it possible to effect this?’
‘I reflected that it had been a point with the writer to run his words together without division, so as to increase the difficulty of solution. Now, a not over-acute man, in pursuing such an object, would be nearly certain to overdo the matter. When, in the course of his composition, he arrived at a break in his subject which would naturally require a pause, or a point, he would be exceedingly apt to run his characters, at this place, more than usually close together. If you will observe the MS., in the present instance, you will easily detect five such cases of unusual crowding. Acting upon this hint, I made the division thus—
‘“A good glass in the bishop’s hostel in the devil’s seat—forty-one degrees and thirteen minutes—north-east and by north—main branch seventh limb east side—shoot from the left eye of the death’s-head—a bee-line from the tree through the shot fifty feet out.”‘
‘Even this division,’ said I, ‘leaves me still in the dark.’
‘It left me also in the dark,’ replied Legrand, ‘for a few days; during which I made diligent inquiry, in the neighbourhood of Sullivan’s Island, for any building which went by the name of the “Bishop’s Hotel”; for, of course, I dropped the obsolete word “hostel.” Gaining no information on the subject, I was on the point of extending my sphere of search, and proceeding in a more systematic manner, when, one morning, it entered into my head, quite suddenly, that this “Bishop’s Hostel” might have some reference to an old family, of the name of Bessop, which, time
