St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1885-08-02

cOnnded TO the post or telegraph. In short
every precaution had been taken, and the
conspirators had not as yet raised the least
breath of suspicion. Besides, as we know.
the correspondence was carried on i'm cipher.
and on such a plan that unless the secret
was known, absolute security was obtained.
Three days after the arrival of the ear
rier pigeon whose message had been inter-
cepted by Sarcany, on the 21st of May,
about o'clock in the evening, Zathmar
and BathOry were in the study, waiting the
return of Matthias Sandorf His private
affairs had recently compelled the count to
return into Pennsylvania and to Artenak;
but he had taken the opportunity of con-
sulting with his friends at Klansenburg, the
capital of the province and he was to get
back this very day, after sending them the
dispatch of which Sarcany had taken the
duplicate.
During the time Sandorf was away,
other correspondence had been exchanged
between Trieste and Buda, and many let
tiers in cipher had arrived by pigeOn-pOSt.
And Zathmar was even now busy in work
inc out the real meaning of one of these
cryptographic epiStles by means of a ''grat-
ing"
The dispatches were devised on Il very
simple plan-that of the transposition of
the letters. In this system every letter re-
tanned its alphabetical value, that is to say,
b meant b, o meant o, etc. But the letters
are successfully tranSpOSed in accordance
with the openings of grating. which, laid
on the message, only allowed such letters to
appear as were to be read, and hid all the
others.
These gratings are an old invention, but
having been greatly improved by Col.
FleiSSner, they seem now to offer the best
and sureSt means of obtaining an indeci-
pherable cryptOgram. In all the other sys-
TENS of inversion, be they systems with an
invariable base, or a simple key in which
each letter is always represented by the
same letter or sign; be they systems with q
variable base, or double key in which the
alphabet varies with each letter, the Sc
curity is incomplete. Experienced deci-
pherers are capable of performing perfect
prOdigieS in such investigations, either with
the aid of the calculation of probabilities. or
by merely trying, and trying, until they
succeed. All that has to be done is to find
out the letters in the order of their repeti-
ton in the cryptOgram-e being that most
frequently employed in English, German
and French, o in Spanish, i'll Russian, and
e and in Italian-and the meaning of the
text is soon made clear. And there are
very few cryptOgrams based ON these meth
DDS which defy investigation.
1t would appear. therefore, that the best
guarantee for indecipherability is afforded
by these gratingS, or by ciphered dictiona-
rieS-cOdeS, that is to say, or vOcabularieS
in which certain common words represent
fully-fOrmed sentences indicated by the
page number. But both these systems have
one grave drawback; they require absolute
secrecy on the part of those that use them,
and the greatest care that the books of APP
paratuS should never get into undesirable
hands. Without the grating, or the code,
the message will remain unread; but once
these are obtained, the mystery vanishes.
1t was then by means of q gTating-that
is 10 say. piece of card cut out in certain
places-that the correspondence between
Sandorf and his accOmplices was carried on;
but as an extra precautiOn, in case the
gratingS should be lost or stolen, every dis
patch after being deciphered was destroyed.
There thus remained no trace of this con-
spiracy in which the greatest nOblemen and
magnateS of Hungary We're risking their
lives, in conjunction with the representa-
tives of the middle class and the bulk of the
people.
Zathmar had just burnt his last dispatch,
door.
1t was Borik introducing Count Matthias
Sandorf, who had walked up from the
nearest railway station.
Zathmar Immediately rose to greet him.
''YOur journey, Mathias?" asked he with
the eagernesS of man who wished at the
outset to find that all was well.
1T was a success, Zathmar," answered
SandOrf. Il have no doubt of my Tran
sylvanian friends, and we are certain of
their assistance"
''YOu let them have the dispatch which
came from PeSth three days ago?" asked
BathOry.
Yes" said Sandorf. ''Yes. They have
all been cautioned, and they are all ready.
They will rise at the first signal. In two
hours we shall be masters of Buda and
PeSth, in half day we shall get the chief
cOmitatS on both sides of the Thesis, and
before the day is out we shall have Tran
sylyania and the rest. And then eight mill
ions of Hungarians will have regained their
independencer'
''And the Diet?" asked Bathory.
''Our supporters from the majority"
answered SandOrf. They will also form
the new government, to take the direction
of affairs. All will go regularly and easily,
for the comitats, as far as their administra-
ton goes, depend very little on the crown.
and their chiefs have the police with them"
But the council of the lieutenancy of
the kingdom that the palatfne presides over
at Buda?" continued Zathmar.
1.-The palatine and the council at Buda
will Immediately be so placed as to be I'M
able to do anything"
''And unable to correspond with the
chancery at Vienna?"
Yes, all our measures are taken for our
movements to be simultaneous, and thus
insure success"
Success said BathOry.
Eyes, succeSsw answered Count San
dorf In the army all of our blood, of
blood, are for US! Where is the
descendant of the ancient Magyars whose
heart will not beat at the sight of the ban
ner of Rodolph and CorvinuS?"
And Sandorf uttered the words in tone
of the puTest patriotism.
But" continued he. neglect nothing
that will prevent suSpicionl Be prudent,
we cannot be too strong! You have heard
of nothing suspicious at Trieste?''
mo" replied Zathmar. Nothing is
spoken of but the works at POla, for which
the greater part of the workmen have been
engaged"
III IacI lOf llIIeSD years Jne Austrian gov
with the view of a possible loss of
Venetia-a loss now realiZed-had been
of founding at Pola, at the south
ern extremity of the IStrian peninsula, an
immense arsenal and dockyard, so as to
command all that end of the Adriatic.
In spite of the protests of Trieste, whose
Importance would thereby be
lessened, the works were being pushed on
with feverish ardour. Saudorf and his
friends had thus some Justification for their
opinion that Trieste would join them in the
event of separatist movement being
started in the city.