The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-05-31


 plateau, and he made me free of his own room, which was stacked with cheap editions of his favorite authors. never saw the grandmother, so I guessed she was bedridden.
 An old woman called. Margit brought me my meals, and the innkeeper was around me at all hours.
 wanted some time to myself, so invented a job for him. He had mo- torcycle, and I sent him off next morn ing for the daily paper, which usually arrived with the post in the late after noon. told him to keep his eyes skinned and make note of any strange figure he saw, keeping special, sharp lookout for motors and aeroplanes.
 Then I sat down in real earnest to Scudder's notebook.
 He came back at midday with the Scotsman. There was nothing in it ex- cept some further evidence of Paddock and the milkman and repetition of yesterdays statement that the mur- derer had gone north. But there was long article, reprinted from the Times, about Karoides and the state of af- fairs in the Balkans, though there was no mention of any visit to England. I got rid of the innkeeper for the after noon, for was getting very warm in my search for the cipher.
 As I told you, it was a numerical cipher, and by an elaborate system of experiments I had pretty well discov- cred what were the nul1s and stops. The trouble was the keyword, and when I thought of the odd million words he might have used I felt pretty hopeless. But about 8 o'clock I had a sudden Inspiration.
 The name Julia Czechenyi flashed acBoss my memory. Scudder had said it was the key to the Karolides busi- ness, and it occurred to me to try it on his cipher.
 It worked. The five letters of Julia gave me the position of the vowels. A was J, the tenth letter of the alpha bet, and so represented by x in the cipher. "Czechenyi'' gave me the nu- merals for the principal consonants.
 In half an hour was reading with a whit1sh face and fingers that drum med on the table. I glanced out of the window and saw big touring car coming up the glen toward the inn. It drew up at the door and there was the sound of people alighting There seem ed to be two Of them. men in acquas- cutums and tweed caps.
 Ten minutes later the innkeeper slipped into the room, his eyes bright with excitement.
 There's two chaps below looking for you" he whispered. They're in the dining room having whistles and so- Sdas. They asked about you and said they had hoped to meet you here. Oh! And they described you jolly well, down to yot1r boots and shirt I told them you had been here last night and had gone off on a motorcycle this morning, and one of the chaps swore like a nayvy.'' I made him tell me what they looked like.
 One was a dark eyed, thin fellow with bushy eyebrows, the other was I always smiling and hsped in his talk Neither was any kind of foreigner.
 I took bit of paper and wrote these words in German as if they were part 1 of letter:
 i Black Stone. Scudder had got on to this, 1 but he could not act for a fortnight l doubt if I can do any good now especially 1 as Karolides is uncertain about his plans. 1 But if MT T. advises will do the best T. I manufactured it rather neatly, so i that it looked like a loose page of a pri- Il Vate letter
 stTake this down and say it was found in my bedroom. and ask them to return it to me if they overtake me- l Three minutes later heard the car begin to move and, peeping from be- hind the curtain caught sight of the two figures One was slim, the other 1 was sleek. That was the most could l make of my reconnaissance. The innkeeper appeared in great ex- cftement "Your paper woke them up," | he said gleefully. @The dark fellow T went as white as death and cursed like blazes, and the fat one whistled and looked ugly. They paid for their drinks with half a sovereign and would not wait for change"
 s.Now I'll tell you what I want you to do,:' I said. tsGet on your bicycle and run of to Newton Stewart to the chief constable Describe the two men, and say you suspect them of having had something to do with the London murder. You can invent req ] sons. The two will come back, never fear Not tonight, for they'll follow me forty miles along the road, but first thing tomorrow morning. Tell the po- lice to be here bright and early"
 CHAPTER v.
 The Radical Candidates Adventure. ~ WE set eff like a docile child,
 while I worked at Scudder' s
 notes. When he came back
 we dined, and in common de cency I had to let him pump me. gave him lot of stuff about lion hunts and the Matabele war, thinking all the | while what tame businesses these were compared to this I was now engaged in. When he went to bed l sat up and | finished Scudder.