The Tomahawk., 1916-05-04

well-littered desk, whereon he had just
tossed a sheet of paper.
ga fake" he reiterated. 1--WE spent
a night of northumberland riot and
ruin over it,
"You would have it," returned Aver
age Jones with smile. And l seem
to recall a lofty intimation on your
part that there never was cipher so
tough but you could rope and tie in
record time"
Cipher, yes" returned the other
bitterly. THAT thing isn't a cipher.
It's an alphabetical riot. Maybe" he
added hopefully, there was some mis-
take in my copy"
Look for yourself" said Average
Jones, handing him the original.
It was O. singular document, this
problem in letters which had come TO
light up the gloom Of November day
for Average Jones; stiffish sheet or
paper, ornamented on one side with
color prints of alluring "spinners,' and
on the other inscribed with an appeal,
in print. It's original vehicle was an
CHVelODS, UcStl luE q OAAS SSAAS SsN~~~R -
and addressed in typewriting:
Mr.. William n. Robinson,
The Caronia,
Broadway and Evenside Ave.,
New York City.
The advertisement on the reverse
of the sheet ran as follows:
ANGr,ERs-WHEN YOU ARE LOOK
ing for 'Baits That Catch Fish" do
you see these spinners in the store where
twelve bats, every one of which has q
record and has literally caught tons Of
fish We call them '"rhe l. Surety Bats ,
We want you to try them FOR cast;ns o ana
all varieties Of bass are particularly say
age in striking these bats late In the
DEALERs-YoU WANT YOUR Gus
toners TO have these II Shoemaker
Surety Bats that catch fish. This case
will sell itself empty and over again for
every bait Is a record breaker and they
catch fish We want you to put in one
Of these cases so that the anglers VIII
not be disappointed and have to walt for
bats to be ordered. 1t viii! be furnished
FREE charges postpaid, with your order
for the dozen bats 1t contains.
The peculiar feature Of the COM
mun1cation was that it was profusely
be-pimpled with tiny projections, evil
IDENTIFY made by thrusting pin
through. from the side which bore the
illustrations. These perforations were
literally scattered.
Eyes, the copy's all right" growled
Bertram. Tell me again how you
came by it."
Robinson came here twice and
missed me Yesterday I got the note
from him which you've seen, with the
Enclosure which has so threatened
your reason. You know the rest. Per-
haps you'd have done we'll to study
the note for clues to the other docu-
ments"
Something in his friends tone made
Bertram glance up suspiciously. Let
me see the note," he demanded.
Average Jones handed it to him.
Bertram read the message. "Of
course the man is ratified. That's OBJ
vious in his handwriting. Also, he has
inverted one sentence in his haste
and said read through it, instead of
read it through Otherwise, it's or
binary enough"
1T must be vanity that keeps you
from eyeglasses, Bert" Average Jones
observed with sigh We'll. I'm
afraid 1 set you on the wrong track,
myself"
Bertram lifted an eyebrow with an
effort Meaning, l suppose, that
you're on the right one and have
solved the cipher
Cipher be fingered. There isn't
any cipher. If you'd had the advan-
tage of working on the original of the
bait advertisement rs l have, you'd
undoubtedly have noticed at once
Thank you," murmured Bertram.
that fully one-third of the pin
pricks don't touch any letters at all
Then we should have taken the let
tiers which lie between the holes?"
mo. The letters don't count. It's
the punctures. Force your eyes to
consider those alone, and you will see
that the holes themselves form let
ters and words. Read through it care
fully, as Robinson directed"
He held the paper up to the light.
Bertram made out in struggling char
acters, formed in skeleton by the per-
forations, this legend:
ALL POINTS TO YOU TAKE THE
SHORT CUT. DEATH IS EASIER
THAN SOME THINGS.
"Whew! That's a CHEEKY little
greeting" remarked Bertram. But
why didn't friend Robinson point It
out definitely in his letter."
Wanted to test my capacity per-
haps. Or, it may have been simply
that he was too frightened and ratified
to know just what he was writing"
Know anything of him?"