Saturday news. (Watertown, S.D.) 19??-19??, 1914-04-09
AN N
LOST
By DOROTFlEA HALE

10 sag that the elder Forsythc had not
the capital to put the novelties he pro
dnted on the market, At any rate, he
died. leaving his widow and her only
child. Ned. in poverty, as they had al
ways been.
But Ned understood that just before
his death his father had invented an
explosive that would prove far more
produced, being especially available IL
gunliery. He had offered his inVen-
ton to the government, had given al
exhibition of It's working and had re
ceived an order for IA large supply. to
be followed by other orders at a price
that would make bin rich. Further
more. n company with an established
plnnt capable Of manufacturing the
stuff had the contract TO produce tn"
goods. Nothing remained but to pass
over the recipe for the explosive wien
the inventor fell on the floor Of his
laboratory and died without speaking
Il word.
After his fathers death Ned hunted
high and low for the formula. He
first went through the laboratory.
searching every nook and Granny, eA
anlining every scrap Of paper, hul
without success, Then he looked
through the house IN which the family
lived, q little frame dwelling on the
outskirts OF n city, with NJ better SUI
ess There was no other place to look.
and Ned and his mother. from a pros
pect OF stepping from poverty into If,
finence. found themselves worse OF
than they had ever been before.
But Ned did not give the matter up.
He had heard his father tell his moth.
er that be was puzzled how to keep his
secret till he had made all his con
tracts and must give it to the manu-
%facturer.
Furs3 the knew that should he be
suddenly taken away his wife and
child would be cut Off from the benefits
Of his invention. He had once parted
with the secret of an invention and
thereby made another person rich
without reaping any benefit himself.
He had then vowed that he would new
er part with another such secret until
the last moment. He told his wife
shortly before his death that he had
decided to put the recipe for the
manufacture of his explosive into ci-
pher. But as to what he was to do
with the cipher or the key he said
nothing.
A month passed after the inventors
death when Mrs. Forsythe received a
letter addressed to her In the well
known hand Of her late husband. On
the envelope was written 'Via San
Francisco, Hongkong, Alden, Naples,
New York" The letter bore the post
marks Of these cities and had evidently
been around the world. The recipient
tore of the envelope, and there, on the
paper inclosei, was written a tumble OF
words. Below WAS written:
Before You receive this / shall have told
you where the key Is to be found.
The poor woman had received an
other disappointment. Her husband
had, under fear OF losing his secret.
deprived his wife of that which he
desired her to possess. What was
there In these incoherent words of ii
value without the key? The letter,
however, had a different effect upon
her son. He vowed that he would de-
cipher the recipe If he spent his
whole life in doing so,
Several months passed, and it seem
ed that the receipt of the letter had
been for worse Instead of better. Ned
made no Roadway in deciphering the
word puzzle. Having his fathers fear
OF giving away the secret, he would
not intrnst any one else with 1t and
spent SO much of his time on 1t that he
WAS useless at anything else. He and
his mother were near the point of
starvation when a brother of the late
inventor was summoned and asked for
the wherewithal to purchase something
to eat.
He was told about the invention and
the cipher recipe. Having asked to
3 the Inter, It was shown to him.
As soon MS he looked at it his Y e
lighted with interest.
Your father he said to Ned, .was
during the war for the Union a mem.
her Of the STAFF Of a general officer,
This YOU know as well as i. but you
may not know what your father told
une--that when kilograms were sent by
his commander 1t was his duty to pui
them into cipher and when they were
received to decipher them, He kept
! Of these dispatches for awhile
after the war and showed them to me
and the principle on which they wert
hriit. I think he has used that prin,
ciple In this case. The recipe has. ]
belieye. been written I'll a certain nun.
her Of columns, down one. up another,
proceeding till every column is filed
Here are check words having no mean
Ing thrown In doubtless 70 make th,
matter nor complicated
Sitting d0wn-Nad's nncie wrote on
4 message III coluinns and gave ges
the plan What had been d iumbIe 8
words becnme d perfectly coheren
message Ned graspess the Idea. an,
the Two went To work to decipher Id,
Hla GNnfnnA