The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1906-03-04

MARCH 4, 1905
in your article" said Baxter, grinning.
IT was writing for grown folk" re
Joined Graham. ''This is child's play
It's a mere shift of the alphabet. The
figures divide of the words and also
show the extent of the shift, which is
different for each word. How simple
g FL is the third letter after /; 2 Z
VI is the second letter after d, q Is
the second after o. The whole reads
this way: L don't dare to make move
yet. Keep quiet. Our time will come
''That doesn't give us much light
said Baxter, "but we have the Qthei
letters, and there's no doubt they we're
intended for Aliens pal If the sszne
cipher is used we've bcF+
de paused as if stricken with paI3iy
ais. One of Miss T'aver ports ts~ters
was open in bis haid. The coHHHats
we're blank paper!
1t was the same with all Of them; not
a scrap Of writing; no sembiance OF
any communication whatever.
"Well, this knocks my eye Out?' said
Baxter. And then, with sudden ener-
gy: These envelopes have been open
ed / see the whole game Stuart
FamswOrth is the man. These letters
were not kept under lock anu key: they
were scarcely out Of plain .ght-in a
drawer of a writing desk in the Daven-
ports sitting room. FarnsY Ith could
get at them without the girls knowl-
edge"
Now. this looked reasonable enough,
except that a partnership in burglary
between two bitter rivals in love would
be somewhat of a novelty, especially
with the W oman an unconscious
assistant in tie nefarious schemes. Ny
credulity was hardly equal to the de-
mand upon it, and when 1 thought Of
what knew about young FarnsWorth's
character 1 rebelled utterly
There is one point" Graham was
saying "Allen wrote this letter and
lost it. OF course he would write an
other. Has it been received?"
''NOt yet" said Baxter.
Graham glanced at the clock.
There's one more delivery today" he
said. It'll be due in few minutes at
Miss Davenport's house. Suppose we
go up there"
Baxter accepted the suggestion, and
we set out at once, reaching the house
precisely in the nick of time. Billy
Stern was in the very act Of delivering
a letter to Miss Davenport at the gate.
Baxter, out of breath with walking,
merely extended his hand for the letter,
and Miss Davenport gave it to him.
The detective tore open the envelope
and drew forth a sheet Of blank paper.
''This is too much for me-" said he.
I'll be hanged If 1 understand
He was interrupted by a sudden and
surprising occurrence. Without the
slightest warning Graham sprang up
on Stern, the carrier, and the two men
came heavily to the ground. Graham
was much the stronger. He seized
Stern's right wrist and wrenched his
hand open. A crumpled paper was dis
closed. Baxter stopped and seized it.,
and saw as he held it up that it bore
a letter written in Aliens cipher.
Graham rose, pulled Stern up after
him; then he faced Baxter.
why, man." he cried, ''how could We
doubt who was at the bottom Of this
business? Did ye really believe that
these letters were opened after Miss
Davenport received them?
do you mean that this fellow Stern
has opened them" demanded Baxter,
that they were intended for his eyes,
that the whole plot was between Stern
and Allenp'
Beyond doubt" answered Graham.
"Stern's description Of the second rob-
Der was an obvious lie intended to
throw dust in your eyes and cast sus-
piciop upon an innocent man-young
Farnsworth Stern saw no robber but
Allen until he came to a looking glass
and saw himself He's a trusted man
in the Office. He'd have a far better
~ANANS AAdh NhC pOblALdDlCA . bOA "
know Of the large sum in the safe. Did
We not think Of thatT"
Baxter slowly shook his head.
81 guess you're right" he said. "I
remember trying to find Stern on the
evening of the fourth day after the
robbery, and on that same evening AL
len got away from my watchers for a
couple Of hours. But l never thought
that there was any connection between
the two occurrences. They must have
met"
"And on the next day Miss Daven-
port got the note from Allen asking her
to receive the letters" said Graham.
"It was a clever trick. Allen knew
that he was watched. He dared not
mail letters to Stern or even to a bogus
name, for he knew you would trace
them-in short, they had to be deliv-
cred to somebody. If they had been
destroyed or held in the postoffice you'd
have known that the other thief must