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Page 84
Barclay looked down at me; his big pitted face was illumined with
a cynical smile.
"Well, Sir Henry," he said, "'the trouble is with those last two
miles. They're water . . . straight down. The level plain is
the bed of the Atlantic ocean and that gold is in the hold of the
Titanic."
XI.-American Horses
The thing began in the colony room of the Empire Club in London.
The colony room is on the second floor and looks out over
Piccadilly Circus. It was at an hour when nobody is in an English
club. There was a drift of dirty fog outside. Such nights come
along in October.
Douglas Hargrave did not see the Baronet until he closed the door
behind him. Sir Henry was seated at a table, leaning over, his
face between his hand, and his elbows resting on the polished
mahogany board. There was a sheet of paper on the table between
the Baronet's elbows. There were a few lines written on the
paper and the man's faculties were concentrated on them. He did
not see the jewel dealer until that person was half across the
room, then he called to him.
"Hello, Hargrave," he said. "Do you know anything about
ciphers?"
"Only the trade one that our firm uses," replied the jewel
dealer. "And that's a modification of the A B C code."
"Well," he said, "take a look at this."
The jewel dealer sat down at the other side of the table and the
Baronet handed him the sheet of paper. The man expected to see a
lot of queer signs and figures; but instead he found a simple
trade's message, as it seemed to him.
P.L.A. shipped nine hundred horses on freight steamer Don Carlow
from N. Y.
Have the bill of lading handed over to our agent to check up.
"Well," said the jewel dealer, "somebody's going to ship nine
hundred horses. Where's the mystery?"
The Baronet shrugged his big shoulders.
"The mystery," he said, "is everywhere. It's before and after
and in the body of this message. There's hardly anything to it
but mystery."
"Who sent it?" said Hargrave.
"That's one of the mysteries," replied the Baronet.
"Ah!" said the jewel dealer. "Who received it?"
"That's another," he answered.
"At any rate," continued Hargrave, "you know where you got it."
"Right," replied the Baronet. "I know where I got it." He took
three newspapers out of the pocket of his big tweed coat. "There
it is," he said, "in the personal column of three newspapers -
today's Times printed in London; the Matin printed in Paris; and
a Dutch daily printed in Amsterdam."
And there was the message set up in English, in two sentences
precisely word for word, in three newspapers printed on the same
day in London, Paris and Amsterdam.
"It seems to be a message all right," said Hargrave: "But why do
you imagine it's a cipher?"
The Baronet looked closely at the American jewel dealer for a
moment.
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