Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1910-10-11

the parchment, as unriddled. Here
it is:
"A good glass in the bishops hostel
in the devils seat forty-one degrees
and thirteen minutes northeast and by
north main branch seventh limb east
! side shoot from the left eye of the
deaths head a bee line from the tree
through the shot fifty feet OUT"
But" said l, 'the enigma seems still
in as bad a condition as ever. How
is it possible to extort a meaning from
all this jargon about devils seat
'death's-heads,' and bishops hotels'?''
Il confess" replied Legrand, that
the matter still wears a serious aspect.
when regarded with a casual glance.
MY first endeavor was to divide the
sentence into the natural division in
tended by the cryptographist."
You mean, to punctuate it?"
Something of that kind"
But how was it possible to effect
this?"
It reflected that it had been a point
with the writer to run his words to-
gether without division, so as to in
crease the difficulty of solution. Now.
not overacute man, in pursuing such
an object, would be nearly certain to
overdo the matter. When, in the
course of his composition, he arrived at
a break in his subject which would
naturally require a pause, or point,
he would be exceedingly apt to run his
characters, at this place, more than
usually close together. If you will OBJ
serve the manuscript in the present
instance, you will easily detect five
such cases of unusual crowding Act
ing upon this hint. made the division
thus:
"A good glass in the bishops hos
tel in the devils seat-forty -one de-.
qrees and thirteen rninutes-northeast
and by north-main branch seventh
limb east sde-shoot from the left eye
of the deaths head-a bee-line from
the tree through the shot fifty feet
OUT"
Even this division" said I, leave
me still in the dark"
1T left me also in the dark" replied
Legrand. for a few days; during
which I made diligent inquiry, in the
any building which went by the name
of the Bishops Hotel; for, of course,
| dropped the obsolete word hostel
Gaining no information on the subject,
| tlA int # Or my
sphere of search, and proceeding in a
more systematic manner, when one
morning, it entered into my head, quite
suddenly, that this Bishops Hostel
might have some reference to an old
family, of the name of Bessop, which,
time out of mind, had held possession
of an ancient manor-house, about four
miles to the northward of the island
accordingly went over to the planta-
ton, and reinstituted my inquiries
among the old negroes of the place.
At length one of the most aged of the
women said that she had heard of such
a place as Bessop's Castle. and thought
that she could guide me to it, but that
it was not a castle, nor a tavern, but
high rock.
Il offered to pay her we'll for her
trouble, and after some demur, she
consented to accompany me to the
spot. We found it without much diff
Guilty, when, dismissing her, l proceed
ed to examine the place. The castle
consisted of an irregular assemblage of
cliffs and rocks,-one of the latter be-
ing quite remarkable for it's height as
well as for its insulated and artificial
appearance. l clambered to its apex,
and then felt much at loss as to what
should be next done.
while l was busted in reflection.
my eyes fell upon a narrow ledge in
the eastern face of the rock, perhaps
a yard below the summit upon which
| stood. This ledge projected about
eighteen inches, and was not more than
a foot wide while a niche in the cliff
just above it gave it a rude rcsem-
blance to one of the hOllOw-backed
chairs used by our ancestors. | made
no doubt that here was the devils
seat alluded to in the manuscript, and
now I seemed to grasp the whole Sc
Cret.
The good glass; | knew. could have
reference to nothing but n telescope:
for the word glass is rarely employed
i'm any other sense by seamen. Now,
here, | at once saw, was telescope to
he used, and a definite point of view,
admitting no variation, from which to
use it. Nor did | hesitate to believe
that the phrases, forty-one degrees
and thirteen minutes and northeast
and by north, were intended as direc-
tions for the levcling of the glass.
Greatly excited by these discoveries, |
hurried home, procured telescope.
and returned to the rock.
| Il let myself down to the ledge.
and found that it was impossible to
retain a seat upon it except in one par
ticular position. This fact confirmed
my prcconceived idea. l proceeded to
use the glass OF course, the forty
one degrees and thirteen minutes
could allude to nothing but elevation
above the visible horizon, since the
horizontal direction was clearly indi-
Gated by the words. northeast and by
north This latter direction | at once
established by means Of pock"t-com-
pass: then, pointing the glass as near
ly at an angle of fOrty-one degrees of
elevation as | could do it by guess, ]
moved it cautiously up or down, until
my attention was arrested by circu-
lar rift or opening in the foliage of a
large tree that nvertopped its fellows
in the distance. In the centre of this rift
perceived a white spot. but could not
at first, distinguish what it was. Ad-
justing the focus of the telescope, |
again looked, and now made it out to
be human skull.