can," was Hales' outspoken reply, "for I recognise thatthere's some very ingenious conspiracy afoot somewhere." Then, after along pause, during which he had re-filled his long clay, and his eyesfixed thoughtfully upon mine, the old man added, "You told me a littlewhile ago that Blair had left you his secret, but you didn't explain tome the exact terms of his will. Was anything said about it?"
"In the clause which bequeaths it to me is a strange rhyme which runs--
"`King Henry the Eighth was a knave to his queens. He'd one short of seven--and nine or ten scenes!'
"and he also urged me to preserve the secret from every man as he haddone. But," I added bitterly, "the secret being in cipher I cannotobtain knowledge of it."
"And have you no key?" smiled the hard-faced old seafarer in the thickreefer.
"None--unless," and at that moment a strange thought flashed for thefirst time upon me, "unless the key is actually concealed within thatrhyme!" I repeated the couplet aloud. Yes, all the cards of thatpiquet pack were mentioned in it--king, eight, knave, queen, seven,nine, ten!
My heart leapt within me. Could it be possible that by arranging thecards in the following order the record could be read?
If so, then Burton Blair's strange secret was mine at last!
I mentioned my sudden and startling theory, when the tall old fellow'sgrey face broadened into a triumphant grin and he said--
"Arrange the cards and try it."
CHAPTER TWENTY.
THE READING OF THE RECORD.
The envelope containing the thirty-two cards reposed in my pocket,together with the linen-mounted photograph, therefore, clearing thesquare old oak table, I opened them out eagerly, while Reggie and theold man watched me breathlessly.
"The first mentioned in the rhyme is king," I said. "Let us have allfour kings together."
Having arranged them, I placed the four eights, the four knaves, thequeens, aces, sevens, nines and tens, in the order given by thedoggerel.
Reggie was quicker than I was in reading down the first column anddeclared it to be a hopeless jumble entirely unintelligible. I read formyself, and, deeply disappointed, was compelled to admit that the keywas not, after all, to be found there.
Yet I recollected what my friend in Leicester had explained, how therecord would be found in the first letter on each card being readconsecutively from one to another through the whole pack, and tried overand over again to arrange them in intelligible order, but without anysuccess. The cipher was just as tantalising and bewildering as it hadever been.
Whole nights I had spent with Reggie, trying in vain to make somethingof it, but failing always, unable to make out one single word.
I transcribed the letters backwards, but the result upon my piece ofpaper was the same.
"No," remarked old Hales, "you haven't got hold of it yet. I'm sure,however, you are near it. That rhyme gives the key--you mark me."
"I honestly believe it does if we could only discover the properarrangement," I declared in breathless excitement.
"That's just it," remarked Reggie, in dismay. "That's just where theingenuity of the cipher lies. It's so very simple, and yet soextraordinarily complicated that the possible combinations run intomillions. Think of it!"
"But we have the rhyme which distinctly shows their arrangement:--
"`King Henry the Eighth was a knave to his queen, He'd one short of seven and nine or ten--'
"That's plain enough, and we ought, of course, to have seen it from thefirst," I said.
"Well, try the king of one suit, the eight of another, the knave ofanother--and so on," Hales suggested, bending with keen interest overthe faces of the pigmy cards.
Without loss of time I took his advice, and carefully relaid the cardsin the manner he suggested. But again the result was an unintelligiblearray of letters, puzzling, baffling and disappointing.
I recollected what my expert friend had told me, and my heart sank.
"Don't you really know now the means by which the problem can besolved?" I asked of old Mr. Hales, being seized with suspicion that hewas well aware of it.
"I'm sure I can't tell you," was his quick response. "To me, however,it seems certain that the rhyme in some way forms the key. Try anotherassortment."
"Which? What other can I try?" I asked blankly, but he only shook hishead.
Reggie, with paper and pencil, was trying to make the lettersintelligible by the means I had several times tried--namely, bysubstituting A for B, C for D, and so on. Then he tried two lettersadded, three letters added, and more still, in order to discover somekey, but, like myself, he was utterly foiled.
Meanwhile, the old man who seemed to be fingering the cards withincreased interest was, I saw, trying to rearrange them himself byplacing his finger upon one and then another, and then a third, asthough he knew the proper arrangement, and was reading the record tohimself.
Was it possible that he actually held the key to what we had displayed,and was learning Burton Blair's secret while we remained in ignorance ofit!
Of a sudden, the wiry old seafarer straightened his back, and, lookingat me, exclaimed, with a triumphant smile--
"Now, look here, Mr. Greenwood, there are four suites, aren't there?Try them in alphabetical order--that would be clubs, diamonds, heartsand spades. First take all the clubs and arrange them king, eight,knave, queen, ace, seven, nine, ten, then the diamonds, and afterwardsthe other two suites. Then see what you make of it."
Assisted by Reggie, I proceeded to again resort the cards into suites,and to arrange them according to the rhyme in four columns of eight eachupon the table, the suites as he suggested, in alphabetical order.
"At last!" shouted Reggie, almost beside himself with joy. "At last!Why, we've got it, old chap! Look! Read the first letter on each cardstraight down, one after the other? What do you make it spell?"
All three of us were breathless--old Hales apparently the most excitedof all--or perhaps, he had been misleading us and pretending ignorance.
I had, as yet, only placed the first suite, the clubs, but they read asfollows:--
King. B O N T D R N N C R O A U I T Eight. E I T Y G O J T A E N N W N H Knave. T N H J E N T Y N D J O I D E Queen. W T E S J T H F D T O L L T C Ace. E W J I W H E O E H N D L H R Seven. E H L X H E F U F E E E F E O Nine. N E E P E F I R E R W O I O S Ten. T R F A R I F J N E I N N L S
"Why!" I cried, staring at the first intelligible word I haddiscovered. "The first column commences `Between.'"
"Yes, and I see other words in the other columns!" cried Reggie,excitedly snatching some of the cards from me in his excitement, andassisting me to rearrange the other suites.
Those moments were among the most breathless and exciting of my life.The great secret which had brought Burton Blair all his fabulous wealthwas about to be revealed to us.
It might render me a millionaire as it had already done its deadpossessor!
At last the cards being all arranged in their proper order, the eightdiamonds, eight hearts and eight spades beneath the eight clubs, I tooka pencil and wrote down the first letter on each card.
"Yes!" I cried, almost beside myself with excitement, "the arrangementis perfect. Blair's secret is revealed!"
"Why, it's some kind of record!" exclaimed Reggie. "And it begins withthe words `Between the Ponte del Diavolo!' That's Italian for theDevil's Bridge, I suppose!"
"The Ponte del Diavolo is an old mediaeval bridge near Lucca," Iexplained quickly, and then I recollected the grave-faced Capuchin, wholived in that silent monastery close by. But at that moment all myattention was given to the transcript of the cipher, and I had no timefor reflection. The letter "J" was inserted sometimes in place of aspace, apparently in order to throw the lettering out, and so conceal itfrom any chance solution.
At length, after nearly a quarter of an hour, for certain of the fadedletters on the cards were almost obliterated, I discovered that thedecipher I had scribbled was a strange record as follows:-
-"Between thePonte del Diavolo and the point where the Serchio joins the Lima on theleft bank, four hundred and fifty-six paces from the foot of the bridge,where the sun shines only one hour on the fifth of April and two hourson the fifth of May, at noon, descend twenty-four foot-holes behindwhere a man can defend himself against four hundred. There two bigrocks one on each side. On one will be found cut the figure of an old`E.' On the right hand go down and you will find what you seek. Butfirst find the old man who lives at the crossways."
"I wonder what it all means!" remarked Reggie, who, turning to old Mr.Hales, added, "The latter indicates you," whereat the old fellow laughedknowingly, and we saw that he knew more of Blair's affairs