The Mystery of the Downs

by John R. Watson and Arthur J. Rees

  CHAPTER XXII

  CREWE and Marsland sat at a table in Sir George Granville's librarywith the cryptogram before them. The detective was absorbed inexamining it through a magnifying glass, but Marsland kept glancingfrom the paper to his companion's face, as though he expected to seethere some indication of an immediate solution. Finally he remarkedin a tone which suggested he was unable to control his impatience anylonger:

  "Well, what do you make of it?"

  "Not very much as yet," replied Crewe, putting down the magnifyingglass, "but there are one or two points of interest. In the firstplace, the paper has been cut with a pair of scissors from the flyleaf or title page of an old book--an expensive book of its period, ofthe late fifties, I should say--but the writing is of much later date.These facts are obvious, and do not help us much towards a solution ofthe contents."

  "They may be obvious to you, but they are not so obvious to me,"said Marsland, taking the paper into his hands and looking at itthoughtfully. "I suppose you judge the sheet to have been taken froman old book, because it is yellow with age, but why an expensive oneof the fifties? And how do you know it was cut out with a pair ofscissors? Again, how do you know the writing is of a much later datethan the book? The ink is completely faded."

  "The smooth yellow, and glossy surface of the blank side of the paperindicates conclusively that it is the title-page or fly-leaf of a goodclass book of the fifties. You will not find that peculiar yellowcolour--which is not the effect of age--and velvety 'feel' in booksof a much later date. The unevenness of the cut proves that the sheetwas taken from the book with a pair of scissors; haven't you evernoticed that nobody--except, perhaps, a paperhanger--can cut straightwith a pair of scissors? If it had been cut with a knife it might haveslanted a little, but it would have been straighter: a knife cut isalways straighter than the wavering cut of a pair of scissors directedby the eye. The faded ink proves nothing: inferior ink such as is soldin small village shops--from where the ink at Cliff Farm was probablyprocured--will fade in a few days; it is only the best ink that retainsits original colour for any length of time. But the character of thiswriting indicates to me that it was written with a particular kind offine nib, which was not invented till after 1900."

  "Can you make anything of the figures and letters on the paper?" askedMarsland.

  "That is where our difficulties commence. We have to ascertain theconnection between the figures and the letters and the circle; tofind out whether the former explain the latter or whether the circleexplains the figures and the letters. If the figures and the lettersare a cryptogram we ought to be able to find the solution withoutmuch difficulty. The circle, however, is a remarkable device, andit is difficult to fathom its meaning without something to guideus. I thought at first it might have been capable of some masonicinterpretation, but now I doubt it. The most likely assumption is thatthe circle and the lines in some way indicate the hiding place of themoney."

  "By geometry?" suggested Marsland, closely examining the circle on thepaper.

  "I think not. It is hardly likely that the old farmer who concealedthe treasure would be versed in the science of geometry. He may havedrawn the circle to indicate a certain place where he had concealed themoney, and added the two lines to indicate the radius or point where itwas to be found."

  "Local gossip declares that the old man hid his money somewhere in thelanding-place or old boat-house, where it is covered at high tide, andthat his ghost watches over it at low tide to prevent anybody stealingit. There are stories of treasure-seekers having been chased along thesands almost to Ashlingsea by the old man's ghost. The villagers givethe landing place and that part of the coast road a wide berth at nightin consequence."

  "I do not think the old man hid his money in the boat-house orlanding-place," said Crewe. "He would have known that the action ofweather and tide would make such a hiding-place unsafe. He would lookfor a safer place. He has almost certainly hidden it somewhere aboutthe farm, and the circle and the letters and figures will tell uswhere, when we discover their meaning."

  Crewe opened his notebook and commenced to make some calculations infigures. Marsland meantime occupied himself by looking at the circlethrough the magnifying glass, and in counting the figures in itscircumference.

  "Perhaps these marks in the circle represent paces," he said, struckby a new thought. "Suppose, for instance, that the old man measuredoff a piece of ground with a tape measure fastened to some point whichwould represent the pivot or centre of his circle. He may have fastenedthe end of his tape measure to the well pump in the bricked yard, andwalked round in a circle holding the other end in his hand, stickingin pegs as he walked. The top figure inside the circle--150--may meanthat the circle is 150 yards in circumference. Within the radius of thecircle he buries his money, makes a drawing of the circle of figuresand the remaining figures to indicate its whereabouts, and then removesthe cord and pegs."

  "Ingenious, but unlikely," commented Crewe. "For one thing, such aplan would need compass points to enable the searchers to take theirbearings."

  "North or south may be indicated in the cryptogram--when we discoverit," said Marsland.

  "No, no," said Crewe, shaking his head. "Your idea is based ontreasure-hunt charts in novels. My experience is that in real lifepeople do not go to much trouble in hiding money or valuables; theyput them away in some chance place or odd receptacle which happens toappeal to them, and where I think they really have a better chance ofremaining undiscovered for years than in a more elaborately contrivedhiding-place. In the Farndon missing will case, involving one of thelargest estates in England, the will was found after the lapse of tenyears concealed in the back of a book, where the deceased Lord Farndonhad placed it in his latter days, when he imagined himself surroundedby thieves. If you open a large book about the middle it discloses anaperture at the back sufficiently large to conceal a paper, and whenthe book is closed there will be no sign. Lord Farndon concealed hiswill in one of the estate ledgers which was in constant use for sometime after his death, and yet the will would probably have never beendiscovered if a mouse had not eaten through the leather back longafterwards, disclosing the hidden parchment.

  "In the case of the stolen Trimarden diamond, the thief--a servant inthe house--escaped detection by hiding the jewel in a common woodenmatch-box in a candlestick in his bedroom. The police searched hisroom, but never thought of looking into the matchbox, and he got awaywith the diamond. If he had not bragged of the trick in a tavern hewould never have been caught. As regards hidden money, people ofmiserly proclivities who are frightened to put their money into banksprefer a hiding-place under cover to one in the open. A hiding-placein the house seems safer to them, and, moreover, it enables them tolook at their money whenever they feel inclined. I knew one miser whoused to hide sovereigns in a bar of yellow soap--thrusting them intill they were hidden from view. The treasure of Cliff Farm is hiddensomewhere in the farm, and the circle and the cryptogram are the keys.The explanation is hidden in the cryptogram, and I have no doubt thatthere is a very simple explanation of the circle--when we discover thecryptogram."

  "I remember as a boy at school that we used to have endless fun solvingcryptograms which appeared in a boys' magazine," said Marsland."Figures were substituted for letters, and the interpretation of thecryptogram depended largely on hitting on the book from which thefigures had been taken. The system was to put down the number of thepage, then the number of the line, then the number of letters in theline which would form a word. The key book happened to be a boundvolume of the magazine in question: I guessed that, and won a prize.Another form of cryptogram for competition in the same journal wasa transposition of the letters of the alphabet. But that was easilyguessed, from the repeated occurrence of certain letters used torepresent the vowels."

  "I remember those boyish devices," said Crewe, with a smile. "But truecryptography is more scientifically based than that. Systems of secretwriting are practically unlimited in number and variety--and so aresolu
tions. Human nature hates being baffled, and the human brain hasperformed some really wonderful achievements--at the expense of mucheffort and patience--in solving systems of cryptography which theinventors deemed to be insoluble. I have a weakness for cryptogramsmyself, and at one time collected quite a small library on secretwriting, from the earlier works by Bacon and Trithemius, to themore modern works by German cryptographists, who have devised someremarkably complicated systems which, no doubt, were largely used bythe Germans before and during the war for secret service work. It isastonishing the number of books which have been written on the subjectby men who believed they had discovered insoluble systems of secretwriting, and by men who have set out to prove that no system ofsecret writing is insoluble. Even the ancient Hebraic prophets usedcryptography at times to veil their attacks on the wicked kings ofIsrael."

  "How long do cryptograms--the more scientific, I mean--usually take tosolve?"

  "Some cryptograms can be solved in an hour; others may take months."

  "Do you think that this one will prove very difficult?" asked Marsland,pointing to the Cliff Farm plan as he spoke.

  "I cannot say until I have studied it more closely. The solution ofany cryptogram depends first on whether you have any knowledge ofthe particular system used, and then on finding the key. It is quitepossible, and frequently happens, that one is able to reconstructthe particular system of secret writing from which a cryptogram hasbeen constructed, and then fail to find the key. A really scientificcryptogram never leaves the key to guesswork, but gives a carefullyhidden clue for the finder to work upon; because most cryptogramsare intended to be solved, and if the composer of the message leftits discovery to guesswork he would be defeating his own ends. Thisparticular cryptogram looks to me to be scientifically constructed; Icannot say yet whether it is possible to reconstruct it and solve it."

  Crewe resumed his scrutiny of the plan, making occasional entries inhis notebook as he did so.

  Marsland leaned back in an easy chair, lit a cigar, and watched him insilence. The detective's remark convinced him that there was a widedifference between serious cryptography and the puzzle diversionsof his schoolboy days, and he felt that he would be more of ahindrance than a help if he attempted to assist Crewe in his task ofunravelling the secret of the hidden wealth whose hiding-place hadbeen indicated by its deceased owner in the symbols and hieroglyphicson the faded sheet of paper. He reclined comfortably in his chair,watching languidly through half-closed eyes and a mist of cigar smokethe detective's intellectual face bent over the plan in intenseconcentration. After a while Crewe's face seemed to grow shadowy andindistinct, and finally it disappeared behind the tobacco smoke.Marsland had fallen fast asleep in his chair.

  He was awakened by a hand on his shoulder, and struggled back toconsciousness to find Crewe standing beside him, his dark eyes smilingdown at him.

  "I am afraid I fell into a doze," Marsland murmured apologetically, asthe room and its surroundings came back to him.

  "You've been sleeping soundly for nearly two hours," said Crewe, with asmile.

  "Impossible!" exclaimed Marsland. He took out his watch and looked atit in astonishment. "By Jove, it's actually six o'clock. Why didn't youwake me?"

  "What for? I became so absorbed in the old man's secret that I had noidea of the flight of time till I looked at my watch a few minutes ago.He has evolved a very neat cryptogram--very neat and work-manlike. Itwas quite a pleasure to try and decipher it."

  "Have you found out anything about it?"

  "I believe I have solved it."

  "And what is the solution?" asked Marsland, now thoroughly awake."Where is the money hidden?"

  "Now you are going too fast," said Crewe. "I said I believed I havesolved the secret. In other words, I believe I have hit on the oldman's cryptogram, and the key which solves it, but I have deferredapplying the key till I awakened you, as I thought you would like toshare in it."