Page:The Mystery of the Sea.djvu/486

472 "2" and "4"—one mark standing for "two" and two marks for "four"; marks at the bottom would represent the odd numbers "3" and "5"—one mark standing for "three" and two marks for "five."

Thus "a a a a a" would be represented by "" or any other letter with two dots below: "a a a a b" by ä b, or any other letters similarly treated. As any letter left plain would represent "a" and any letter dotted in the body would represent "b" the cipher is complete for application to any printed or written matter. As in the number cipher, the repetition of a letter could be represented by a symbol which in this variant would be the same as the symbol for ten or "0." It would be any letter with one dot in the body and two under it, thus—.

For the purpose of adding to the difficulty of discovery, where two marks were given either above or below the letter, the body mark (representing the letter as "b" in the Biliteral) might be placed at the opposite end. This would create no confusion in the mind of an advised de-cipherer, but would puzzle the curious.

On the above basis I completed my key and set to my work of deciphering with a jubilant heart; for I felt that so soon as I should have adjusted any variations between the systems of the old writer and my own, work only was required to ultimately master the secret.