Los Angeles herald., 1906-09-30
Gbe Ureasure Seekers

tied many knots at irregular intervals. This
was coied up neatly, and placed with the
parchment, on which was printed, in oddly
shaped letters, the following apparently mean
ingless lines:
"Lxtr nkfi tl ccc
Xtwp hhhh hhhh mi plde
Icypgeg rhhc dpmk uuuu
Ldc rw cqn axis RIB trlsna
pbhrerq lwgu zneoyr gbc
zopwz aghrl Rita ops cou
losiy ioaoik bozn ntYk
rw wnnm cqic wx ldabn
esq kxesbf nhgf masm
dpqkp dha cushdncssf ohquml-'
"What is it t?'' oueried Dudley, impatient
ly as Percy and Bob stood gazing at the let
ters. What Language is it? and how are we
yoing to find out what it means!"
II don't think it is a foreign Language;
said the captain of the Jaquita, speaking in
tone that plainly showed he was perplexed.
L believe 1t Is a cryptogram, and we've got
to read it before we can find the treasure"
What would pirates know about cryptic. nGsp,,t.
gramsv asked Dudley, scornfully. tolks
didn't have such things when that keg was
buried"
"Ah, you think so?n rejoined Percy.
Then that shows how much you know. Why,
they were used before the Christian era. I've
got book that tells how the Lacedemohians
had secret writings, and Aeneas was great at
it. Tactus had more than twenty kinds, and
what the ancients did not know about cryptog-
raphy and ciphers of all kinds isn't worth
knowing"
Dudley was fairly overwhelmed by this food
OF information upon a subject OF which he
was wholly ignorant, and he lapsed into 81
lence, amusing himself by searching over the
litter which had been placed in the keg with
the package, in the hope of finding stray
diamond or two, while Bob and Percy were
poring over the mysterious message. -,
Its cryptogram, sure said Percy, and
now we know what is meant in the writing the
sailor gave you, by must be read together, Tor
one explains the other But where is the
other"
Bob turned the paper over and over, ex-
amined the document that had first caused
them to start in search Of treasure; but no
ccabalistic writing could be seen. The direc-
written in cramped hand, but nothing could
be found to throw any light on the cipher.
There is something to go with it, said
Percy, as he stood passing the knotted rope
idly, through his fingers. 1t must have been
in the keg with the cryptogram"
Bob looked perpexed for moment, but
his face lighted up as his gaze fell on the rope.
Perhaps that is it! !" he cried.
Percy uncoiled the rope, looked at it at
tentively, as if he half expected to see some
upon it, and turned it over and
over until Dudley said, with an air of supe-
rior wisdom
'Why,. don't you see how far the knots are
apart! Perhaps they tell which way we've got
to dig"
Bob hadn't the slightest thought that it
would be possible to learn where to look for
the treasure. by such course he recognized
the value of the first portion of the sugges-
tion, and in an instant he was at work with
his rule, measuring the distances with praise
worthy exactness.
The rope was thirteen feet and six inches
long, with one end fringed as if through much
use, and the other formed into loop On it
were twenty-three knots disposed as follows
measuring first from the loop, and then from
each successive knot:
1st Col. I'd Col. Sd Col.
Read down. Read down. Read down
1B 2a