The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1899-12-07

/ Il.
con lectures as to the perpetrator few
from lip to lip the while we waited the
arrival of the chief and the local de-
! tectives.
'.It's a gang for fver'" was the die
tum of the officer, as he rapidly CLEANED
the facts "Who was on duty last night
in this room?"
81 was so, oficer!" Sherman ex-
claimed, promptly.
"Hd YOU note anything suspic4ous?" ?"
'Nothing!" he r"'urned. emphat:c-
ally. Between four and six the place
was practically deserted. but / was
right here all the time, and, after the
late affair, tell you fy couldn't have
annexed spark of dust without me
spotting him. II beats me.'
"Umph!" exclaimed the officer, scan
ming the case closely through his lens.
''The flies have flown this time, any
how, in spite Of the spiders watchful
ness"
Sherman started at the implied :mpu-
tation-au action which was not lost on
the astute detective, who, having COM
pleted his examination, without an
otLer word accompanied the chief into
lis sanctum.
"Well, Sherman" I remarked banter
| ingly, when we were left alone-for the
temptation to have quiet fling at him
proved irresistible-"how Jared the
quest? Did the lady prove amenable to
your Establishments?
| - ,1o
his strong white teeth in an exasperat-
ing grin, you can congratulate me, /
reckon, right now!"
And with a short laugh he turned on
his heel and strode away, leaving me
absolutely dumtounded at his amazing
pudacity.
"Oh, by-the-bye," he remarked, stay
ing at the door, "here's your paper.
Guess we're still friends, anyhow. :. :.
Shake! No? Well, just as you please
As he drew the journal from his
breast-pocl<et, all unobserved by him
a small fragment Of paper fluttered to
| the floor.
"Well, for cool liar" / burst out,
hotly, you certainly take It'll" But he
only replied with mocking laugh. as
he swung through the door and disap-
peared.
Half-mechanically / stopped and
picked up the crumpled bit of paper
which had fallen from his pocket.
Smoothing it out | discovered upon IT
what at first sight appeared to be an
arithmetical calculation of some sort.
1t was scribbled in pencil, and read as
| follows:
543-4-a-409.2.
1.7.4s.3 = 10 22.2713-17.11.1+6-
S.10.5.37-21. .29.-29.17
Turning the paper over curiously in
my fingers / scrutinized the figures
again and again in a vain endeavor to
decipher their meaning, and then, sud-
denly. as l noted the indistinct impress
of the circular dating-stamp. which
proclaimed that it had passed through
the post office. it struck me that this
was no arithmetical calculation, but
cipher message of some kind
But what could it mean? $3.50
| Puzzled, l dropped into the window
seat, and, as / did so, my eyes lit upon
The folded cover of the journal beside
me. The top portion of the front cover,
bearing the familiar title and the date,
alone was visible '543-49!" repeat
cd, abstractedly. And then, all in mo-
ment, it occurred to me that ! also had
many times jotted down just such an
other batch of figures in certain futile
attempts to win an initial letter com
petition, which some time previously
had been announced weekly by this, nay
| fayorite journal. The idea was to form
the best sentence from the initial let
ters so taken, and as noted the num-
Der of that Issue and the date of the
| parer-April 9-the connection struck
me, and | OWNED that the key lay 10
lay fingers.
| Eagerly turning the leaves ] found
| the page indicated, 400" and scrutin-
| lied the second column for the clew TO
| the hidden message. Nor did look in
vain, for at glance | discovered that
the initial letters Of many OF the lines
| the page down were licked by very
| faint pencil-mark.
| This, then, was why the willy Sher-
man. who had never to my knowledge
manifested any interest in the period
| ical literature of the day, had borrowed
| nv journal He had had some ulterior
motive. This weekly paper was key
to a prearranged code of correspon-
| dence with some acquaintance. The
mystery was mystery no longer. The
enigma was solved!
Deducing that the figures given in
| dicated the number of the respective
| lines, set to work with my pencil, and
| in a few moments had evolved the fol-
| lowing message from the initial letters
of the lines corresponding to the num-
! bers:
mail-I1l- C - swag %.
! K.--Kit."
| For some seconds ! gazed at the words
! before me at loss to comprehend their
meaning. Then, their full significance
| dawned upon ne, and | sprang to my
feet with suppressed cry of triumph.