The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-10-29

letter. then, might either come from Hud- son, the seaman, saying that he had be- trayed the guilty secret which appeared to exist, or 1t might come from Beddoes, warning an old confederate that such betrayal was imminent So far 1t seemed clear enough. But then how could this letter be trivial and grotesque, as de- scribed by the son? He must have mis- read it. If so. it must have been one of those Ingenious secret codes which mean one thing while they seem to mean an- other. I must sec this letter. If there were hidden meaning in it, I was con- | ldent that I could pluck 1t forth. For | an hour I sit wondering over 1t in the gloom, until at last weeping maid brought in a lamp, and close at her heels came my friend Trevor, pale, but com posed, with these very papers which lie 1 upon my knee held in his grasp. He sat 1 down opposite to me. drew the lamp to the edge of the table, and handed me a | short note soribbled, as you see, upon a single sheet of gray paper The supply of game for London Is going steadily up,' 1t ran. Head-keeper Hudson, we believe, | has been now told to receive all orders for | f1y-paper and for preservation of wour hen-pheasants life
 q dare say my face looked as bewilder- l ed yours did just now when first l | read this message. Then I reread 1t very | carefully. It was evidently as I had thought, and some secret meaning must | lie buried in this strange combination of | words Or could 1t be that there was prearranged significance to such phrases ! as 'ny-paper' and 'hen-pheasantg Such a meaning would be arbitrary and could not be deducted in any way. And yet I was loath to believe that this was tfl | case, and the presence of the word Hud- son seemed to show that the subject of ..4AR n I,1 Al that it was from Beddoes rather than the sailor. I tried it backwards, but the com | bination life pheasant's hen was not en- | couraging Then I tried alternate words, but neither the of for nor supply game London promised to throw any light l upon 1t.
 And then in an instant the key of the riddle was in my hands, and I saw that every third word beginning with the first, would give message which might well drive old Trevor to despair.
 Tt was short and terse, the warning, as I now read it to my companion:
 The game Is up. Hudson has told all Fly for your life
 "Victor Trevor sank his face Into his shaking hands. It must be that. I sup pose said he. This is worse than death, for it means disgrace as we'll. But what is the meaning of these "head-keepers" and hen -pheasants? ?"
 It means nothing to the message but | it might mean good deal to us if we had no other means of discovering the sender. You see that he has begun by writing "The - game : is," and so on. Afterwards he had, to fulfill the pre- arranged cipher. to fill in any two words ip each space. He would naturally use the first words which came to his mind, ! and if there were so many which re- ferred to sport among them, you may be tolerably sure that he Is either an ardent shot or interested in breeding. Do you know anything of this Beddoes?
 Why, now that you mention it, said l he, I remember that my poor father used to have an invitation from him to shoot over his preserves every autumn.
 " Then 1t Is undoubtedly from him that the note comes,' said l. It only remains
 for us to find out what this secret was which the sailor Hudson seems to have
 held over the heads of these two wealthy and respected men
 "'Alas, Holmes. I fear that 1t is one Of sin and shamel' cried my friend. But from you I shall have no secrets Here is the statement which was drawn up by my
 father when he knew that the danger from Hudson had become imminent. found 1t in the Japanese cabint, as he
 told the doctor. Take 1t and read 1t to me, for have neither the strength nol the courage to do 1t myself
 "There are the very papers, Watson
 which he handed to me, and l will read them to you, as I read them in the old study that night to him. They are en-