“         u

      “We have, therefore, no less than eleven of the most important
      letters represented, and it will be unnecessary to proceed with
      the details of the solution. I have said enough to convince you
      that ciphers of this nature are readily soluble, and to give you
      some insight into the rationale of their development. But be
      assured that the specimen before us appertains to the very
      simplest species of cryptograph. It now only remains to give you
      the full translation of the characters upon the parchment, as
      unriddled. Here it is:

      “‘_A good glass in the bishop’s hostel in the devil’s seat
      forty-one degrees and thirteen minutes northeast and by north
      main branch seventh limb east side shoot from the left eye of the
      death’s-head a bee line from the tree through the shot fifty feet
      out_.’”

      “But,” said I, “the enigma seems still in as bad a condition as
      ever. How is it possible to extort a meaning from all this jargon
      about ‘devil’s seats,’ ‘death’s heads,’ and ‘bishop’s hotels?’”

      “I confess,” replied Legrand, “that the matter still wears a
      serious aspect, when regarded with a casual glance. My first
      endeavor was to divide the sentence into the natural division
      intended by the cryptographist.”

      “You mean, to punctuate it?”

      “Something of that kind.”

      “But how was it possible to effect this?”

      “I reflected that it had been a point with the writer to run his
      words together without division, so as to increase the difficulty
      of solution. Now, a not over-acute man, in pursuing such an
      object, would be nearly certain to overdo the matter. When, in
      the course of his composition, he arrived at a break in his
      subject which would naturally require a pause, or a point, he
      would be exceedingly apt to run his characters, at this place,
      more than usually close together. If you will observe the MS., in
      the present instance, you will easily detect five such cases of
      unusual crowding. Acting upon this hint, I made the division
      thus: ‘A good glass in the Bishop’s hostel in the Devil’s
      seat—forty-one degrees and thirteen minutes—northeast and by
      north—main branch seventh limb east side—shoot from the left eye
      of the death’s-head—a bee-line from the tree through the shot
      fifty feet out.’”

      “Even this division,” said I, “leaves me still in the dark.”

      “It left me also in the dark,” replied Legrand, “for a few days;
      during which I made diligent inquiry, in the neighborhood of
      Sullivan’s Island, for any building which went by the name of the
      ‘Bishop’s Hotel;’ for, of course, I dropped the obsolete word
      ‘hostel.’ Gaining no information on the subject, I was on the
      point of extending my sphere of search, and proceeding in a more
      systematic manner, when, one morning, it entered into my head,
      quite suddenly, that this ‘Bishop’s Hostel’ might have some
      reference to an old family, of the name of Bessop, which, time
      out of mind, had held possession of an ancient manor-house, about
      four miles to the northward of the island. I accordingly went
      over to the plantation, and re-instituted my inquiries among the
      older negroes of the place. At length one of the most aged of the
      women said that she had heard of such a place as Bessop’s Castle,
      and thought that she could guide me to it, but that it was not a
      castle nor a tavern, but a high rock. “I offered to pay her well for her trouble, and, after some
      demur, she consented to accompany me to the spot. We found it
      without much difficulty, when, dismissing her, I proceeded to
      examine the place. The ‘castle’ consisted of an irregular
      assemblage of cliffs and rocks—one of the latter being quite
      remarkable for its height as well as for its insulated and
      artificial appearance. I clambered to its apex, and then felt
      much at a loss as to what should be next done. “While I was busied in reflection, my eyes fell upon a narrow
      ledge in the eastern face of the rock, perhaps a yard below the
      summit upon which I stood. This ledge projected about eighteen
      inches, and was not more than a foot wide, while a niche in the
      cliff just above it gave it a rude resemblance to one of the
      hollow-backed chairs used by our ancestors. I made no doubt that
      here was the ‘devil’s seat’ alluded to in the MS., and now I
      seemed to grasp the full secret of the riddle. “The ‘good glass,’ I knew, could have reference to nothing but a
      telescope; for the word ‘glass’ is rarely employed in any other
      sense by seamen. Now here, I at once saw, was a telescope to be
      used, and a definite point of view, admitting no variation, from
      which to use it. Nor did I hesitate to believe that the phrases,
      ‘forty-one degrees and thirteen minutes,’ and ‘northeast and by
      north,’ were intended as directions for the levelling of the
      glass. Greatly excited by these discoveries, I hurried home,
      procured a telescope, and returned to the rock. “I let myself down to the ledge, and found that it was impossible
      to retain a seat upon it except in one particular position. This
      fact confirmed my preconceived idea. I proceeded to use the
      glass. Of course, the ‘forty-one degrees and thirteen minutes’
      could allude to nothing but elevation above the visible horizon,
      since the horizontal direction was clearly indicated by the
      words, ‘northeast and by north.’ This latter direction I at once
      established by means of a pocket-compass; then, pointing the
      glass as nearly at an angle of forty-one degrees of elevation as
      I could do it by guess, I moved it cautiously up or down, until
      my attention was arrested by a circular rift or opening in the
      foliage of a large tree that overtopped its fellows in the
      distance. In the centre of this rift I perceived a white spot,
      but could not, at first, distinguish what it was. Adjusting the
      focus of the telescope, I again looked, and now made it out to be
      a human skull. “Upon this discovery I was so sanguine as to consider the enigma
      solved; for the phrase ‘main branch, seventh limb, east side,’
      could refer only to the position of the skull upon the tree,
      while ‘shoot from the left eye of the death’s head’ admitted,
      also, of but one interpretation, in regard to a search for buried
      treasure.