The Beaver herald. [volume] (Beaver, O.T. [Okla.]) 1895-1923, 1919-10-16

M-PNKN
The thing IL fake declared
Bersram. He slumped heavily into a
chair. and scowied at Average Jones'
weIl-littered desk. whereon he had Just
tossed a sheet OF paper.
"A fake" be reiterated. I've spent
Enight OF pseudolntellectual riot and
ruin over a."
you would have H." returned Aver
age Jones with a smile. And seem
to recall lofty intimation on your
part that there never was a cipher 80
tough but you could roSs AND tjs in
record time"
Cipher, yes" returned the osner
bitterly. That tdng 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 a singular document. this
problem in letters which had come TO
light up the gloom OF November day
for Average Jones; a stinish sheet Of
paper. ornamentcd on one side with
color prints Of alluring ''spinners." and
ON the other inscribed with an appeal.
In print. Its original vehicle was an
envelope. bearing q one-cent stamp.
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 az follows:
ANoLERs--wHEN you ARE LOOK
ing for "Baits That Catch FISH" do
you see these spInners In the store where
you buy tackle7 You will find here
Twelve baits, every one OF which has n
record and has literally caught tons OF
nsh. We call them THE II Surety Bats" "
trolling these next two months. because
all varieties OF bass are particularly saw
age In striking these baits late In the
DEALERs-YoU WANT YOUR cUc-
toners 10 have these II Shoemaker
Surety Baits' that eaten FISH. This case
wiii s~t itself empty and over again; a for
catch nsh We want you TO put In one
uf these cases so that the anglers will
not be disappointed and have 20 wait for
bats TO be ordered. IL viii be furnished
FREE. charges postpaid. with your order
for the dozen balts II contains.
The peculiar feature OF the COM
municatlon was that Il was profusely
be-pimpled with tiny projections, evil
IDENTIFY made by thrusting n pin
through. from the side which bore the
illustrations. These perforations were
literally scattered.
yes. the copy's all right" growled
Bertram. Tell me again how you
came by It,"
Robinson came here twice and
missed me Yesterday | got the note
from him which you've seen, with the
Enclosure which has 80 threatened
your reason. You know the rest. Per.
haps you'd have done well 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 II 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
dinary enough"
1T must be vanity that keeps you
from eyeglasses. Bert" Average Jones
observed with q sigh We'll, I'm
afraid I set you on the wrong track.
myself"
Bertram lifted an eyebrow with an
effort Meaning. suppose, that
you're on the right one and have
solved the cipher
Cipher be 1iggered. There isn't
any cipher. II you'd had the advan-
tage Of working on the original OF the
bait advertisement as | have. you'd
undoubtedly have noticed at once"
I Thank you" murmured Bertram.
that fully ono-third OF the pin
pricks don't touch any letters at all"
'"Thcn we should have taken the let
ters which lie between the holes?"
mo. The letters don't count. It's
tho puRctures. Force your eyes 10
consider those alone. and you will see
that the holes themselves form let
ters and words. Read through II care.
fully. as Robinson directed"
He held the paper up to the light.
Bertram made out in struggling char
actsrs. formed in skeleton by the per-
forations. this legend:
ALL POINTS TO YOU TAKE THE
SNORT CUT. DEATH is EASIER
THAN SOME THINGS.
"Whew! That's a CHEEKY little
greeting" remarked Bertram. But
why didn't friend Robinson point 1t
out definitely In his letter."
Wanted to test my capacity per-
haps. Or. II may have been simply
that he was too frightened and ratified
20 know just what he was writing"
'6aow anything OF himr