El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1910-11-05
THE STORY OF A
MYSTERIOUS MESSAGE
The Herald's
Daily Short Story

e jumped out to ask what she was
| dom. We'd a suspicion that a woman
was mixed up in the case from the
first"
II see," said L We'll, of course. the
whole thing is utterly absurd, as you'd
have known if you'd been a local man.
have no idea as TO why my wife went
into the lane-probably in search of
violets-"
In any case, there is no particular
harm done-and, If you're not tee
totaller-'
Bull-neck wasn't He drank two
glasses of whisky and soda without
flinching, accepted a cigaret and even
condescended to notice the yellow
vases on either side of the sideboard. L
was on the verge of offering them to
him when something else caught his
eye-a scattered row of cardboard
squares. From these his gaze wander
ed absently TO half-sheet of notepaper
behind it,
''Allo!' he said, "a cryptygram?
The moment was a crucial one.
Il found it," 1 said, wedged in the
roots of a tree in the lane
OH said bull-neck-his name, 1
subsequently discovered, was Phibbs.
ANY objection to my examinin' it,
sir?"
l gave him the paper,
You fellows are good at clues, 1 be-
Eeve. Take it away and see what you
can make of it"
Very good, sir" He bestowed it in
his pocket. Il must be goin'. Sorry If
I've upset your good lady"
That's all right. Let me know If
anything fresh transpires"
Bull-neck said that he would, and
departed. went upstairs to find Della.
She was inclined to be incoherent. and
rather difficult to comfort Eventual
~ telephoned for seats at the Frivol-
ity, and a few hours later, amid the
glitter and tinkle Of The Girls of
Gravesend,' the ignominies OF the af-
ternoon were forgotten.
We stayed to have supper in town.
drove from the station in a taxicab
and reached THE Dovecot" feeling ex-
tremely well satisfied with the enter
tainment and ourselves. light shone
in the dining room, in spite of the fact
that we had told Ellen that she needn't
trouble to sit up for US.
She opened the door before had time
to put my key in the latch.
Nothing wrong" 1 hope?"
N-no, sir. But the gentleman from
London's been here again"
L felt Delia's clasp tighten on. my
arm.
do you mean the detective?"
Ellen nodded
Els been waiting for over an
hover" she said.
Delia's breath came quickly as II
opened the door and went into the
dining room
Mr. Phibbs. who had apparently been
making himself comfortable in my easy
chair, rose from it's depths.
Evenin', sir. Sorry to ave to call
again so soon, but about that paper"
"Yes?"
We-we've examined it carefully. III
suppose you translated it yourseIf?"
Il haven't"
Then this is 'ow it runs, simply
readln' backwards and allowin' for bad
spellin, and the words bein' jammed
together: To find jools, look under
tree Shall expect you Friday night.
MY mate, what tackled the cipher. said
IL was the easiest ed ever come across"
Indeed Then"
The point is this"-our visitor nunc-
tured his sentence with a stubby fore
1lnger-"no burglars ave. come near
this 'ouse Your maid said so. But |
that paper is exactly the same as some
that's in a little writin' case in the
spare bedroom-she recognized if i'm |
med1ate-and the pencil as IT was writ |
ten with is the same as a blue one ND |
there, too And the letters was print
ed by woman-my mate, who's an ex-
perienced man, will swear to II. So it |
(COnfinrraA