CREWE and Marsland sat at a table in Sir George Granville's library
with the cryptogram before them. The detective was absorbed in
examining it through a magnifying glass, but Marsland kept glancing
from the paper to his companion's face, as though he expected to see
there some indication of an immediate solution. Finally he remarked
in a tone which suggested he was unable to control his impatience any
longer:
"Well, what do you make of it?"
"Not very much as yet," replied Crewe, putting down the magnifying
glass, "but there are one or two points of interest. In the first
place, the paper has been cut with a pair of scissors from the fly
leaf or title page of an old book--an expensive book of its period, of
the late fifties, I should say--but the writing is of much later date.
These facts are obvious, and do not help us much towards a solution of
the contents."
"They may be obvious to you, but they are not so obvious to me,"
said Marsland, taking the paper into his hands and looking at it
thoughtfully. "I suppose you judge the sheet to have been taken from
an old book, because it is yellow with age, but why an expensive one
of the fifties? And how do you know it was cut out with a pair of
scissors? Again, how do you know the writing is of a much later date
than the book? The ink is completely faded."
"The smooth yellow, and glossy surface of the blank side of the paper
indicates conclusively that it is the title-page or fly-leaf of a good
class book of the fifties. You will not find that peculiar yellow
colour--which is not the effect of age--and velvety 'feel' in books
of a much later date. The unevenness of the cut proves that the sheet
was taken from the book with a pair of scissors; haven't you ever
noticed that nobody--except, perhaps, a paperhanger--can cut straight
with a pair of scissors? If it had been cut with a knife it might have
slanted a little, but it would have been straighter: a knife cut is
always straighter than the wavering cut of a pair of scissors directed
by the eye. The faded ink proves nothing: inferior ink such as is sold
in small village shops--from where the ink at Cliff Farm was probably
procured--will fade in a few days; it is only the best ink that retains
its original colour for any length of time. But the character of this
writing indicates to me that it was written with a particular kind of
fine nib, which was not invented till after 1900."
"Can you make anything of the figures and letters on the paper?" asked
Marsland.
"That is where our difficulties commence. We have to ascertain the
connection between the figures and the letters and the circle; to
find out whether the former explain the latter or whether the circle
explains the figures and the letters. If the figures and the letters
are a cryptogram we ought to be able to find the solution without
much difficulty. The circle, however, is a remarkable device, and
it is difficult to fathom its meaning without something to guide
us. I thought at first it might have been capable of some masonic
interpretation, but now I doubt it. The most likely assumption is that
the circle and the lines in some way indicate the hiding place of the
money."
"By geometry?" suggested Marsland, closely examining the circle on the
paper.
"I think not. It is hardly likely that the old farmer who concealed
the treasure would be versed in the science of geometry. He may have
drawn the circle to indicate a certain place where he had concealed the
money, and added the two lines to indicate the radius or point where it
was to be found."
"Local gossip declares that the old man hid his money somewhere in the
landing-place or old boat-house, where it is covered at high tide, and
that his ghost watches over it at low tide to prevent anybody stealing
it. There are stories of treasure-seekers having been chased along the
sands almost to Ashlingsea by the old man's ghost. The villagers give
the landing place and that part of the coast road a wide berth at night
in consequence."
"I do not think the old man hid his money in the boat-house or
landing-place," said Crewe. "He would have known that the action of
weather and tide would make such a hiding-place unsafe. He would look
for a safer place. He has almost certainly hidden it somewhere about
the farm, and the circle and the letters and figures will tell us
where, when we discover their meaning."
Crewe opened his notebook and commenced to make some calculations in
figures. Marsland meantime occupied himself by looking at the circle
through the magnifying glass, and in counting the figures in its
circumference.
"Perhaps these marks in the circle represent paces," he said, struck
by a new thought. "Suppose, for instance, that the old man measured
off a piece of ground with a tape measure fastened to some point which
would represent the pivot or centre of his circle. He may have fastened
the end of his tape measure to the well pump in the bricked yard, and
walked round in a circle holding the other end in his hand, sticking
in pegs as he walked. The top figure inside the circle--150--may mean
that the circle is 150 yards in circumference. Within the radius of the
circle he buries his money, makes a drawing of the circle of figures
and the remaining figures to indicate its whereabouts, and then removes
the cord and pegs."
"Ingenious, but unlikely," commented Crewe. "For one thing, such a
plan would need compass points to enable the searchers to take their
bearings."
"North or south may be indicated in the cryptogram--when we discover
it," said Marsland.
"No, no," said Crewe, shaking his head. "Your idea is based on
treasure-hunt charts in novels. My experience is that in real life
people do not go to much trouble in hiding money or valuables; they
put them away in some chance place or odd receptacle which happens to
appeal to them, and where I think they really have a better chance of
remaining undiscovered for years than in a more elaborately contrived
hiding-place. In the Farndon missing will case, involving one of the
largest estates in England, the will was found after the lapse of ten
years concealed in the back of a book, where the deceased Lord Farndon
had placed it in his latter days, when he imagined himself surrounded
by thieves. If you open a large book about the middle it discloses an
aperture at the back sufficiently large to conceal a paper, and when
the book is closed there will be no sign. Lord Farndon concealed his
will in one of the estate ledgers which was in constant use for some
time after his death, and yet the will would probably have never been
discovered if a mouse had not eaten through the leather back long
afterwards, disclosing the hidden parchment.
"In the case of the stolen Trimarden diamond, the thief--a servant in
the house--escaped detection by hiding the jewel in a common wooden
match-box in a candlestick in his bedroom. The police searched his
room, but never thought of looking into the matchbox, and he got away
with the diamond. If he had not bragged of the trick in a tavern he
would never have been caught. As regards hidden money, people of
miserly proclivities who are frightened to put their money into banks
prefer a hiding-place under cover to one in the open. A hiding-place
in the house seems safer to them, and, moreover, it enables them to
look at their money whenever they feel inclined. I knew one miser who
used to hide sovereigns in a bar of yellow soap--thrusting them in
till they were hidden from view. The treasure of Cliff Farm is hidden
somewhere in the farm, and the circle and the cryptogram are the keys.
The explanation is hidden in the cryptogram, and I have no doubt that
there is a very simple explanation of the circle--when we discover the
cryptogram."
"I remember as a boy at school that we used to have endless fun solving
cryptograms which appeared in a boys' magazine," said Marsland.
"Figures were substituted for letters, and the interpretation of the
cryptogram depended largely on hitting on the book from which the
figures had been taken. The system was to put down the number of the
page, then the number of the line, then the number of letters in the
line which would form a word. The key book happened to be a bound
volume of the magazine in question: I guessed that, and won a prize.
Another form of cryptogram for competition in the same journal was
a transposition of the letters of the alphabet. But that was easily
guessed, from the repeated occurrence of certain letters used to
represent the vowels."
"I remember those boyish devices," said Crewe, with a smile. "But true
cryptography is more scientifically based than that. Systems of secret
writing are practically unlimited in number and variety--and so are
solutions. Human nature hates being baffled, and the human brain has
performed some really wonderful achievements--at the expense of much
effort and patience--in solving systems of cryptography which the
inventors deemed to be insoluble. I have a weakness for cryptograms
myself, and at one time collected quite a small library on secret
writing, from the earlier works by Bacon and Trithemius, to the
more modern works by German cryptographists, who have devised some
remarkably complicated systems which, no doubt, were largely used by
the Germans before and during the war for secret service work. It is
astonishing the number of books which have been written on the subject
by men who believed they had discovered insoluble systems of secret
writing, and by men who have set out to prove that no system of
secret writing is insoluble. Even the ancient Hebraic prophets used
cryptography at times to veil their attacks on the wicked kings of
Israel."
"How long do cryptograms--the more scientific, I mean--usually take to
solve?"
"Some cryptograms can be solved in an hour; others may take months."
"Do you think that this one will prove very difficult?" asked Marsland,
pointing to the Cliff Farm plan as he spoke.
"I cannot say until I have studied it more closely. The solution of
any cryptogram depends first on whether you have any knowledge of
the particular system used, and then on finding the key. It is quite
possible, and frequently happens, that one is able to reconstruct
the particular system of secret writing from which a cryptogram has
been constructed, and then fail to find the key. A really scientific
cryptogram never leaves the key to guesswork, but gives a carefully
hidden clue for the finder to work upon; because most cryptograms
are intended to be solved, and if the composer of the message left
its discovery to guesswork he would be defeating his own ends. This
particular cryptogram looks to me to be scientifically constructed; I
cannot say yet whether it is possible to reconstruct it and solve it."
Crewe resumed his scrutiny of the plan, making occasional entries in
his notebook as he did so.
Marsland leaned back in an easy chair, lit a cigar, and watched him in
silence. The detective's remark convinced him that there was a wide
difference between serious cryptography and the puzzle diversions
of his schoolboy days, and he felt that he would be more of a
hindrance than a help if he attempted to assist Crewe in his task of
unravelling the secret of the hidden wealth whose hiding-place had
been indicated by its deceased owner in the symbols and hieroglyphics
on the faded sheet of paper. He reclined comfortably in his chair,
watching languidly through half-closed eyes and a mist of cigar smoke
the detective's intellectual face bent over the plan in intense
concentration. After a while Crewe's face seemed to grow shadowy and
indistinct, and finally it disappeared behind the tobacco smoke.
Marsland had fallen fast asleep in his chair.
He was awakened by a hand on his shoulder, and struggled back to
consciousness to find Crewe standing beside him, his dark eyes smiling
down at him.
"I am afraid I fell into a doze," Marsland murmured apologetically, as
the room and its surroundings came back to him.
"You've been sleeping soundly for nearly two hours," said Crewe, with a
smile.
"Impossible!" exclaimed Marsland. He took out his watch and looked at
it in astonishment. "By Jove, it's actually six o'clock. Why didn't you
wake me?"
"What for? I became so absorbed in the old man's secret that I had no
idea of the flight of time till I looked at my watch a few minutes ago.
He has evolved a very neat cryptogram--very neat and work-manlike. It
was quite a pleasure to try and decipher it."
"Have you found out anything about it?"
"I believe I have solved it."
"And what is the solution?" asked Marsland, now thoroughly awake.
"Where is the money hidden?"
"Now you are going too fast," said Crewe. "I said I believed I have
solved the secret. In other words, I believe I have hit on the old
man's cryptogram, and the key which solves it, but I have deferred
applying the key till I awakened you, as I thought you would like to
share in it."