The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1885-07-23

of the characters upon the parchment, as un-
ridded. Here it is:
"'A aood glass IN the bishops hostel IN the decrs
seat fortyone degrees and thirteen minutes northeast
and By north main branch seue' limb east side shoot
from the left eye of the deaths bee-Hne from
the tree through the shot fifty feet out"
"But," said /, the enigma seems still in as
bad condition as ever. How is it possible to
extort meaning from ali this jargon about
| devils seats, death s-heads,' and bishop S
hotels?'"
81 confess" replied Legrand "that the mat
ter still wears serious aspect, when regarded
with causual glance Ny first endeavor was
to divide the sentence in the natural division
intended by the cryptographist:.'
| You mean, to punctuate it?"
Something of that kind"
"But how was it possible to effect this?"
81 reflected that it had been a point with the
writer to run his words together without diyi-
sion, so as to increase the difficulty of solution
| Now. a not over-acate man, in pursuing such
an object, would be nearly certain to overdo
the matter. When, in the course of his COM
position, he arrived at break in his subject
| which would naturally require 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
40 good glass iR the Bishops hostel an the Degirs
seat-fory-ope degrees and thirteen minutes
northeast and by north-n,ain branch serenth limb
east side-shoot from the left eye Of the Deaths
head-a bee-line from the tree through the shot
fifty feet out" a,
still in the dark
at left me also in the dark" replied Le-
grand, for few days; during which / made
diligent inquiry, in the neighborhood of Sui
livan's Island, for any building which went by
the name of the Bishops HOTEL for of course,
/ dropped the obsolete word hostel Gaining
no information on the subject was on the
point of extending my sphere of search, and
proceeding in more systematic manner, when,
one morning, it entered into my head, quite
suddenly, that this Bishops Hostel might
have some reference to an old family, of the
name of Bessop, which, time out of mind, had
| held possession of an ancient manor-house,
about four miles to the nortward of the Island.
l accordingly went over to the plantation, and
| Reconstructed my inquiries among the older
negroes of the place. At length one of the most
aged of the women said that she had heard of
such place as Bessop's Castle. and thought that
| she could guide me to it, but that it was not a
CASTLE nor tavern, but high rock.
81 offered to pay her we'll for her trouble, and,
| after some demur, she consented to accompany
me to the spot. We found it without much
difficulty, when, dismissing her, / proceeded to
| examine the place. The castle consisted of
an irregular assemblage of cliffs and rocks-one
of the latter being quite remarkable for its
hight as well as for its insulated and artificial
appearance l clambered to its apex, and then
| felt much at loss as to what should be next
DONE
| while I was busted in reflection, my eyes
fell upon narrow ledge in the eastern face of
| the rock, perhaps a yard below the summit
upon which l stood. This ledge projected
about Is inches and was not more than a foot
| wide while niche in the cliff above it, gave
| it rude resemblance to one of the hollow
backed chairs used by our ancestors. / made
no doubt that here wasthe devils seat alluded
| to in the MS, and now seemed to grasp the
full secret of the riddle.
-"The good glass; knew could have refer
ence to nothing but telescope; for the word
glass is rarely employed in any other sense
| by seamen. Now here, l at once saw, was q
telescope to be used, and point Of view, admit
ting no pariation, from which to use it. Nor did
l hesitate to believe that the phrases, forty
one degrees and thirteen minutes and north
east and by north were intended as directions
for the leveling Of the glass. Greatly excited
| by these discoveries, / hurried home, procured
a telescope, and returned to the rock.
al let myself down to the ledge, and found
that it was impossible to retain a seat upon it
except in one particular position. This fact con-
| firmed my preconceived idea. proceeded to
use the glass. Of course, the 'forty-one de-
| grees and thirteen minutes could alude to
| nothing but elevation above the visible hori-
zon, since the horizontal direction was clearly
indicated by the words, northeast by north
| This latter direction ! at once established by
| means of a pocket-compass; then, pointing the
| glass as nearly at an angle Of Al degrees Of
elevation as could do it by guess, / moved it
cautiously up or down, until my attention was
arrested by a circular rift or opening in the
| faliaga 0f large tree that OvertOnned its fell
lows in the distance. In the center of this rift
| perceived white spot, but could not, at first,
distinguish what is was. Adjusting the focus
of the telescope, l again looked, and now made
| it out to be human skull.
"Upon this discovery was so sanguine as to
| consider the enigma solved; for the phrase
| main branch, seventh limb, east side,' could
refer only to the position of the skull upon the
| tree, while Shoot from the left eye of the
death's-head admitted, also, of but one inter-
probation, in regard to a search for buried
| treasure. / perceived that the design was to
drop bullet from the left eye of the skull,
and that bee-line, or, in other words, a straight
| line, drawn from the nearest point of the trunk
| through the shot, Tor the spot where the bull
| let fell, and thence extended to distance of
so feet would indicate definite point-and
beneath this point thought it at least possible
| that deposit of value lay concealed"
"All this" said, I" is exceedingly clear and,
although ingenious, still simple and explicit.
| When you left the Bishops Hotel what then ?"
"Why, having carefully taken the bearings
of the tree, turned homewards The instant
| that left the DEVILS seat however. the cir
cular rift vanished; nor could get glimpse
of it afterwards turn as would. What seems
to me the chief ingenuity in this whole busi-
ness, is the fact (fOr repeated experiment has
convinced me it Is fact) that the circular
opening in question is visible from no other
attairable point of view than that afforded by
| the narrow ledge upon the face of the rock.
ain this expedition to the Bishops Hotel
/ had been attended by Jupiter, who had, no
doubt, observed, for some weeks past, the
abstraction of my demeanor, and took especial
care not 10 leave me alone. But on the next
day, getting up very early, / contrived to give
him the slip, and went into the hills in search
of the tree. After much toll ! found it. When
/ came home at night my valet proposed to
give me a fogging. With the rest of the ad-
venture l believe you are as well acquainted as
| myself"
II suppose" said I. "you missed the spot, in
the first attempt at digging, through Jupiter's
stupidity in letting the bug fall through the
right instead of through the left eye of the
skull" -
Precisely. This mistake made differerc ce
of about two inches and half in the Shot -
that is to say, in the position of the peg nearest
the tree; and had the treasure been beneath the
shot, the error would have been of little
moment; but the shot, together with the
nearest point of the tree, were merely two
| e. Al. l.,l,.