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26. long ago dismissed.
He held the firm opinion—perhaps formed on account of
that crumpled paper found at the Bodleian—that the cipher
was a numerical one, and based upon some variation of the
numerical value of the “wāw” sign, or the number six.
He now fully recognised how very cleverly old Erich Haupt
had endeavoured to put him off the scent. The German was
a very crafty old fellow, whose several discoveries, though
not altogether new, had evoked considerable interest in
academic circles in Europe. He was author of several
learned studies in the Hebrew text, as well as the renowned
work upon the Messianic Prophecies, and without a doubt
now that he had possessed himself of the dead professor’s
discovery he intended to take all the credit to himself.
Indeed it was his intention to pose as the actual discoverer.
Continuing his work in silence and without interruption
Griffin had been making a long and elaborate calculation
when, very soon after the little Sheraton clock upon the
mantelshelf had chimed noon, he started up with a cry of
surprise and stared across at the long old-fashioned
bookcase opposite.
Next moment his head was bent to the paper before him, as
he rapidly traced numerals and Hebrew characters, for he
wrote the ancient language as swiftly as he wrote English.
“Yes!” he whispered, as though in fear of his own voice. “It
actually bears the test—the only one that has borne it
through a whole sentence! Can it be possible that I have
here the actual key?” For another half-hour he remained
busy with his calculations, gradually evolving a Hebrew
character after each calculation until he had written a line.
27. Then aloud he read the Hebrew to himself, afterwards
translating it into English thus:
“...the house of Togarmah, of the north quarters...”
The old man rose from his chair, pale and rigid, staring
straight through the window at the yellow sky.
“At last!” he gasped to himself. “Success at last! Holmboe’s
secret is mine—mine!”
He was naturally a quiet man whom nothing could disturb,
but now so excited had he become that his hand shook and
trembled and he was unable to trace the Hebrew characters
with any degree of accuracy.
He walked to the window, and looked out into the foggy
road below.
He, Arminger Griffin, though Regius Professor, had, in the
course of that brief hour, become the greatest Hebrew
scholar in Europe, the man who would announce to the
world the most interesting discovery of the age!
He gazed around that silent restful room, like a man in a
dream. His success hardly seemed true. Where was Haupt,
he wondered? Would his ingenuity and patience lead him to
that same goal whereby he could read the hidden record?
Pausing at his table he recalculated the sum upon the sheet
of paper. No. He had made no mistake. There was the
decipher in black and white, quite clear and quite
intelligible!
He stretched his arms above his head, and standing upon
the hearthrug before the blaring fire, reflected deeply.
28. The declaration of the dead professor was true, after all.
The cipher did exist in Ezekiel, therefore there was little
doubt that the treasure of Israel would be discovered
through his instrumentality.
Haupt fortunately did not possess any of that manuscript
which was evidently a written explanation of the mode of
deciphering the message. Hence he would not be aware
that the “wāw” sign formed the basis of calculation
necessary. But he, Arminger Griffin, had elucidated a
problem of which bygone generations of scholars had never
dreamed, and Israel would, if the secret were duly kept,
recover the sacred relics of her wonderful temple.
His face was blanched with suppressed excitement. How
should he act?
After some pondering he resolved to make no
announcement to Diamond or to Farquhar, both of whom he
knew were away in the country, until he had made a
complete decipher of the whole of the secret record.
He intended to launch the good news upon them as a
thunderclap.
“They both regard me as a ‘dry-as-dust’ old fossil,” he
laughed to himself. “But they will soon realise that Arminger
Griffin has patience and ability to solve one of the most
intricate problems ever presented to any scholar. We can
now openly defy our enemies—whoever they are. Before
midnight I shall be in possession of the whole of the secret
record contained in the book of the Prophet, and if I do not
turn it to advantage it will not be my fault. That man Mullet
evidently fears to call upon me. Ah! his friends little dream
that I have solved the problem—that success now lies in my
hands alone.”
29. Crossing again to the table he slowly turned over the folios
of the text of Ezekiel which he had been using, glancing at it
here and there.
Then he touched the electric bell, and Laura, the tall, dark-
haired parlour-maid, answered.
“Is Miss Gwen in?” he inquired.
“No, sir. She’s not yet returned.”
“When she comes, please say I wish to see her at once.”
“Very well, sir,” was the quiet response of the well-trained
maid who, by the expression upon her master’s face,
instantly recognised that something unusual had occurred.
She glanced at him with a quick interest, and then retired,
closing the door softly after her.
The Professor, reseating himself at his table, pushed his
scanty grey hair off his brow, and again readjusting his big
round spectacles settled down to continue his intensely
interesting work of discovery.
“Holmboe says that the cipher exists in nine chapters,” he
remarked aloud to himself. “I wonder which of the forty-
eight chapters he alludes to! Now let’s see,” he went on,
slowly turning over the leaves of the Hebrew text, “the book
of Ezekiel’s prophecy is divided into several parts. The first
contains chapters i-xxiv, which are prophecies relating to
Israel and Judah, in which he foretells and justifies the fall
of Jerusalem. The second is chapters xxv-xxxii, containing
denunciations of the neighbouring nations; the third is
chapters xxxiii-xxxix, which gives predictions of the
restitution and union of Judah and Israel, and the last,
chapter xl-xlviii, visions of the ideal theocracy and its
30. institutions. Now the question is in which of those parts is
hidden the record?”
The few words of the cipher which he had been able to read
were continued in chapter xxiv, beginning at verse 6;
“Wherefore thus saith the Lord God; Woe to the bloody city,
to the pot whose scum is therein, and whose scum not gone
out of it! bring it out piece by piece; let no lot fall upon it.
For her blood is in the midst of her; she set it upon the top
of a rock; she poured it not upon the ground, to cover it
with dust,” etc, down to the end of verse 27. If those
twenty-two verses only contained eight words of the hidden
record, then it was apparent that the Professor had a
greater task before him than he imagined.
Gwen, in emerging from Whiteley’s into Westbourne Grove,
had met a young naval officer she knew. He was home on
leave, therefore she had strolled leisurely with him down
Queen’s Road and along Bayswater Road, in preference to
taking a cab. A couple of years before, when she was still a
mere girl and he only an acting sub-lieutenant, they had
been rather attached to each other. He was, of course,
unaware of her engagement to Frank Farquhar, and she did
not enlighten him, but allowed him to chatter to her as they
walked westward. His people lived in Porchester Terrace,
and he had lately been at sea for a year with the
Mediterranean Fleet, he told her.
The yellow obscurity was now rapidly clearing as, at the
corner of Pembridge Gardens, he raised his hat and with
some reluctance left her.
Then she hurried in, just as the luncheon gong was
sounding, and had only time to take off her hat and coat to
be in her place at table. Her father was most punctual at his
31. meals. He believed in method at all times, and carried
method and the utmost punctuality into all his daily habits.
When he entered the dining-room the girl saw, from his
preoccupied expression, that something had occurred.
She, however, made no inquiry before the servant, while he
on his part, though bursting with the good news, resolved
to keep his information until they had had their meal and
retired into the study together.
Then he would explain to her, and show her the amazing
result.
Therefore she chatted merrily, telling him how sweet her
new gown looked, and gossiping in her own sweet engaging
way—with that girlish laughter and merriment which was
the sunshine of the old scholar’s otherwise dull and
colourless existence.
Little did she dream, he thought, as he sat at table, of the
staggering announcement which he was about to make to
her.
He had solved the problem!
32. Chapter Thirty.
Closed Doors.
“Will you come up with me into the study, dear?” asked the
Professor, in as quiet a voice as he could, when they had
finished luncheon.
“I have a letter to write, dad,” replied the girl in excuse. “I’ll
come in and sit with you before tea.”
“But I want to speak to you, dear,” he said. “I want to tell
you something. Come with me now.” Rather surprised at her
father’s somewhat strained and unusual demeanour, the girl
ascended the stairs to the book-lined room, and when the
door was closed the old man crossed to where she stood,
and said:
“Gwen, congratulate me, child.”
“Upon what, dad?” she said, looking into his face, surprised.
“I have discovered the key to the cipher!”
The girl started. Then with a wild cry she threw her arms
about her father’s neck, kissed him passionately, and with
tears of joy welling in her eyes, congratulated him.
“What will Frank say!” she exclaimed breathlessly. “How
delighted he’ll be! Why, dad, we shall discover the position
of the hiding-place of the sacred relics, after all!”
Her enthusiasm was unbounded. Her father who had
worked so hard by night and by day upon those puzzling
cryptic numericals, was at last successful.
33. “Can you really read the cipher?” she asked quickly.
“Yes, dear,” was her father’s response. “I have already
deciphered part of the extraordinary statement.”
“Then we must telegraph to Frank,” she said. “He is down at
Horsford, visiting his sister and seeing Doctor Diamond at
the same time.”
“No, not yet, my child,” he replied quietly. “Let me complete
the work before we announce the good news to our friends.
I have told you, because I knew you would be gratified.”
“Why, of course I am, dad,” replied the girl eagerly. “It will
greatly enhance your reputation, besides preserving the
sacred relics to the Jews. Our opponents had other
intentions. Their efforts are directed towards causing
annoyance and bringing ridicule upon the Hebrew race.
But,” she added, her arm still affectionately around his
neck, “how did you accomplish it, dad?”
“Sit down, dear, and I’ll explain to you,” he said, pointing to
the armchair near his writing-table, while he took his
writing-chair, and drew towards him the open Hebrew text
of Ezekiel.
“You see,” he commenced, “for some weeks I have been
applying all the known numerical ciphers to this text, but
without result. More than once I was able to read a couple
or three words, and believed that I had discovered the key.
But, alas! I found it to fail inevitably before I could establish
a complete sentence. I was about to relinquish the problem
as either impossible of solution, or as a theory without
basis, when this morning, almost as a last resource and
certainly without expecting any definite result, I applied a
variation of the Apocalyptic Number, which though
appearing in the Book of Revelation, (Revelations, xiii, 13)
34. was no doubt known at a much earlier period. In the text of
Ezekiel xvii, the first and second verses: ‘And the word of
the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, put forth a
riddle and speak a parable unto the house of Israel;’ I had
long recognised certain signs by which I had suspicion that
there was a hidden meaning, and again in verses 14, 16
and 16, ending with the words ‘even with him in the midst
of Babylon he shall die.’
“To my utter amazement I found, by applying the numbers
666—the Hebrew ‘wāw’ sign three times repeated, that I
could read an intelligible sentence which was nothing less
than a portion of the cipher exactly as quoted by Holmboe!
Since my discovery I have been hard at work, and have
deciphered many ominous sentences.”
“Then there is no doubt whatever now that the cipher
record exists in the writings of the prophet?”
“Not the slightest.”
“But I don’t quite understand how you arrived at the key,
dad?” she said. “Explain to me, for, as you know, I’m all
curiosity.”
“Well, as you don’t know Hebrew, dear, I’ll try and explain it
as clearly as I can,” he said. “Each Hebrew letter has its
own numerical value, as you know, A-leph representing 1,
Bêth 2, Gi-mel 3, and so on to Yodh 10, and the nine tens
to 100, or Qoph, to 400, represented by the last of the
twenty-two consonants, Tâw. The fact that Holmboe
mentioned ‘wāw,’ or the number 6, in his manuscript, first
caused me to believe that he did so as a blind, because this
also signified ‘hook’ and was the sign of evil. I applied it
diligently in nearly two hundred places in the Book of
Ezekiel, but without a single success. I used other numbers,
35. indeed most of the combinations of the twenty-two
consonants, especially the one of three and thirty-three
which was one of the earliest numerical ciphers. You know
well how diligently I worked, and how unsuccessful I have
been until to-day.”
“I know, dad,” exclaimed the pretty girl, “but I confess I can
hardly follow you, even now.”
“Well, listen,” he said. “The Apocalyptic Number is 666, and
its interpretation rests upon the fact that in Hebrew, as well
as in Greek, the letters of the alphabet did service for
numbers. Hence, a writer, while avoiding a direct mention of
some person or thing, could yet indicate the same by a
number which was the sum of the various values comprising
the name. First establishing the point where the actual
message commences, which I may as well explain is at
Ezekiel, x, 8; ‘And there appeared in the cherubim the form
of a man’s hand under their wings,’ I took the first ‘wāw’ or
6 sign, then the eleventh letter, being the sixth of sixty-six,
then the sixty-sixth letter, and afterwards the six hundred
and sixty-sixth letter. Following this, I made the additions
which are known to the Greeks and also to the Hebrews,
working it out thus: The fiftieth letter, the two-hundredth
letter, the sixth letter, the fiftieth letter, the hundredth letter,
the sixtieth letter and the two-hundredth letter—making in
all six hundred and sixty-six. The Hebrew signs of each I
wrote down in a line, and having divided them into words, I
found to my amazement, that I was reading the secret
record alleged by the dead professor!”
“But, surely, dad, that is a most ingenious cipher!”
remarked his daughter.
“Most intricate, I assure you. By sheer good fortune I
discovered the starting-point.”
36. “What led you to it?”
“A slight, almost unnoticeable deviation of the present
Hebrew text from the St. Petersburg codex. I had never
before noticed it, and it only arrested my attention because
I was studying the subject so very closely.”
“And after making the additions of 666, how did you
proceed?” urged the girl.
He paused for a few seconds as though in hesitation.
“By starting at the first ‘wāw’ sign and repeating my key.
Sometimes, in a whole chapter, there is not a word of
cipher, but following the numbers with regularity it
reappears in the next. It is a most marvellous and most
cunningly concealed record accounting, of course, for the
number of superfluous and rather incongruous words in the
writings of the prophet.”
“Was it written in the text—or placed there afterwards?” she
asked.
“Placed there afterwards, without a doubt,” was the
Professor’s quick reply. “Holy writ was inspired, of course,
but some temple priest, an exile in Babylon probably,
worked out the cipher and placed the record in the text in
order that it might be there preserved and the existence of
the treasure be known to coming generations of Jews who
would be then aware of the existence of their war-chest.”
“It really is a most amazing discovery, dad dear,” declared
the girl much excited. “When you publish it the whole world
will be startled!”
“Yes, my dear,” was the old fellow’s response, as he ran his
fingers through his scanty grey hair. “We have here before
37. us,” and he placed his hand upon the open Hebrew text, “a
secret explained which is surely the greatest and most
remarkable of any discovered in any age.”
The girl, rising from her chair, saw upon the manuscript
paper on her father’s blotting-pad, a number of lines of
hastily-written Hebrew words.
“Is that part of the deciphered record?” she inquired,
greatly interested.
“Yes, dear.”
“Oh, do read them to me, dad,” she cried, “I’m dying to
learn exactly the purport of this message hidden through so
many generations!”
“No, Gwen,” was the old man’s calm response, “not until I
have worked out the whole. Then you shall, my child, be the
first to have knowledge of the secret of Israel. And
remember it is my wish that you write nothing to Farquhar
regarding it. We must keep our knowledge to ourselves—
very closely to ourselves, remember. Erich Haupt must have
no suspicion of my success. Otherwise we may even yet be
forestalled.”
“I quite see the danger, dad,” remarked his daughter, “but
I’m so interested, do go on with your task and show me
how it is accomplished.”
“Very well,” he said, smiling and humouring her. “You see
here, at this mark,” and he showed her a pencilled line upon
the Hebrew text, “that is where I halted for luncheon. Now
we go on to the next sign of six. See, here it is—in the next
line. Now we count the eleventh letter,” and he wrote it
down in Hebrew. Then he counted the sixty-sixth, the six
hundredth and sixty-sixth, the fiftieth, the two-hundredth,
38. and so on until he had a number of Hebrew signs ranged
side by side. Presently he said, pointing to them:
“Here you are! The English translation to this is
‘...yourselves, and wonder, for unto thee, O children of
Israel...’”
“Really, dad!” exclaimed the girl, highly excited. “It’s most
remarkable!”
“Yes,” he admitted. “I confess that until now I held the
same idea that every Jewish Rabbi holds—namely that no
secret cipher can exist in our inspired writings.”
“But you have now proved it beyond question!” she
declared.
“Yes. But startling as it may be, we must preserve our
secret, dear. There are others endeavouring to learn the
trend of my investigations, recollect. We may have spies
upon us, for aught we know,” he added in a low tone,
glancing at her with a significant look.
“How long do you expect it will take before you are in full
possession of the whole of the secret statement?” she
asked.
“Many hours, my dear. Perhaps many days—how can I tell.
Holmboe says it runs through only nine chapters. Therefore
it should end with chapter xxvi. But as far as I can gather I
believe I shall find further cryptic statements in the later
chapters. There are certain evidences of these in chapter
xxxvii, 16, in chapter xxxix, 18, 19 and 20, and again in
chapter xliv, 5. Therefore, I anticipate that my task may be
a rather long one. The counting and recounting to ensure
accuracy occupies so much time. The miscounting of a
single letter would throw everything out and prevent the
39. record being recovered, as you will readily foresee. Hence,
it must be done with the greatest precision and patience.”
“But, dad—this is most joyful news!” declared the girl
excitedly, “I’m most anxious to telegraph to Frank.”
“Not until the secret is wholly ours, my dear. Remember we
must keep the key a most profound secret to ourselves.”
“Of course, dad,” the girl answered, “I quite see that this
information must not be allowed to pass to our enemies.”
Little did father or daughter imagine that, within their own
quiet household, was a spy—the maid Laura, suborned by
Jim Jannaway.
When the pair had entered the study she had crept silently
up to the door, and listened intently for the one fact which
Jannaway had instructed her to listen—the means by which
the cipher could be unravelled.
She was a shrewd, intelligent girl, and the inducement
which the good-looking adventurer had held out to her was
such that the Professor’s explanation to his daughter
impressed itself upon her memory.
She recollected every word, and still stood listening, able to
hear quite distinctly, until there seemed no further
information to be gathered. Then she descended the stairs,
and made certain memoranda of the text at which to
commence, and the mode by which the decipher could be
made.
Half an hour later she made an excuse to the cook that she
wished to go out to buy some hairpins, and then
despatched a telegram to the name and address which her
generous and good-looking “gentleman” had given her.
40. Meanwhile Gwen still sat with her father at his writing-table
watching him slowly taking from the text of the Book of
Ezekiel the full and complete record that had been hidden
from scholars through all the ages—the record which was to
deliver back to the house of Israel her most sacred
possessions.
The light of the short afternoon faded, the electric light was
switched on, tea was served by the faithless maid-servant,
and dinner had been announced.
But the Professor worked on, regardless and oblivious of
everything. He was far too occupied, and Gwen was also too
excited to dress and descend to dinner. Therefore, Laura
served the meal upon a tray.
All was silence save the Professor’s dry monotonous voice
as he counted aloud the letters of the Hebrew text,
recounted them to reassure himself, and then set down a
Hebrew character as result.
Thus from after luncheon until midnight—through the time
indeed that Diamond was so patiently watching the big
house in Berkeley Square—the work of solving the problem
went slowly on.
Gwen sat and watched her father’s Hebrew manuscript grow
apace, until it covered many quarto pages. Now and then
she assisted in counting the letters, verifying her father’s
addition.
Then at last, just after the old-fashioned clock upon the
mantelshelf had chimed twelve, the old scholar raised his
grey head with a sigh, and wiping his glasses, as was his
habit, said:
41. “Sit down, dear, and write the English translation at my
dictation. I think we now have it quite complete.”
42. Chapter Thirty One.
Exposes the Conspiracy.
While Professor Griffin had been so busily engaged
deciphering the concluding portion of the secret record, a
strange scene was in progress at Sir Felix Challas’s, in
Berkeley Square.
First, Jim Jannaway had arrived and had held a short
consultation in the library with the red-faced Baronet,
afterwards quickly leaving. Then, from the Waldorf Hotel,
summoned by telephone, came old Erich Haupt, bustling
and full of suppressed excitement.
Soon afterwards, the well-dressed Jim had returned, and
had waited in momentary expectancy, ready to dart out into
the hall on hearing the sound of cab wheels.
At last they were heard and the man-servant opened the
door to Laura, tall, dark-haired and rather good-looking
parlour-maid at Pembridge Gardens.
In the well-carpeted hall she recognised the man who had
taken her out to dinner and the theatre on several
occasions, and advanced excitedly to meet him.
“Oh! Laura!” he cried. “I’m so glad you’ve come. I had your
‘wire,’ and you got my message in reply, of course? You
must see the gov’nor. This is his house, and I want you to
tell him how the Professor is solving that puzzle.” Then,
lowering his voice, he added. “There’s a pot of money in it
for both of us, dear, if you keep your wits about you. You
recollect what I promised you last Tuesday, don’t you?”
43. The girl sniggered and nodded. She was a giddy young
person, whose head had been turned by the admiration of
that good-looking man who called himself “Miller,” and who
said he was a lawyer’s clerk. He had promised to become
engaged to her and to marry her, provided they could get
only a good round sum from “the gov’nor” for the
information she could, with such ease, supply.
This had placed the girl upon the constant alert, with the
present result.
Her nonchalant admirer led the way across the hall to the
library, pushed upon the door, and introduced her to the two
men therein—Challas, fat and prosperous, and Haupt,
white-bearded and bespectacled.
Then, when the door was closed and she had seated herself,
Challas—or “Mr Murray,” as he had been introduced—asked:
“I believe you’re Laura, and you are parlour-maid at
Professor Griffin’s, aren’t you?”
“Yes, sir,” replied the girl, timidly, picking at her neat black
skirt.
“Well, sir,” explained Jim, bearing out his part of lawyer’s
clerk, “some time ago I explained to my young lady here,
what we particularly wanted to know, and she’s kept both
eyes and ears open. To-day she’s learned something, it
seems.”
“What is it?” inquired old Erich, in a deep tone, with his
strong German accent.
“Let the young lady explain herself,” urged the man
introduced as “Murray,” and they all sat silent.
44. “Well, sir,” the girl faltered, a moment later. “You see it was
like this. After luncheon to-day the Professor, who’d been
very hard at work as usual all the morning, took Miss Gwen
up to the study to speak to her privately; I listened, and I
heard all their conversation. He told her how he’d solved the
problem of the cipher.”
“Solved it!” ejaculated the old German, staring at her
through his spectacles.
“Yes, sir,” the girl went on. “He told Miss Gwen that he’d
tried and tried, but always failed. But he had taken the—
well, sir, I think he called it the apoplectic number.”
The German laughed heartily.
“I know,” he said. “You mean the Apocalyptic Number,
fräulein—the number 666.”
“That’s it, sir,” she said, a little flurried, while Jim exchanged
significant glances with Challas. “He commences at the
tenth chapter of Ezekiel, eighth verse, and—and—” Then
she fumbled in her pocket, producing a piece of crumpled
paper to which she referred. “He takes the first sign of 6,”
she went on, “then the eleventh letter, the sixty-sixth letter,
and the six hundred and sixty-sixth letter. After this, the
fiftieth letter, the two-hundredth letter, the sixth letter, the
fiftieth letter, the hundredth letter, the sixtieth letter, and
the two-hundredth letter—making six hundred and sixty-six
in all. He writes down each of the Hebrew letters, and then
reads them off like a book.”
“Wait—ah! wait!” urged the old German. “Let us have that
again, fräulein,” and crossing to Sir Felix’s big mahogany
writing-table, he opened the Hebrew text of Ezekiel upon it.
“Where do you say the Professor commences—at the tenth
45. chapter, eighth verse—eh? Good!” and he hastily found the
reference. “Now?”
“Just tell this gentleman,” urged Jim, “tell him exactly what
you heard.”
“Well, starting with the eighth verse, he commences with
what he termed the first ‘wāw’ sign.”
“Zo! that’s the equivalent of the number 6,” Haupt
remarked.
“Then the eleventh letter.”
The old professor counted and wrote down the letter in
question in Hebrew characters.
“The sixty-sixth,” said the girl.
The old man counted sixty-six, while Sir Felix and Jannaway
watched with intense, almost breathless interest. Here was
the secret, snatched from their dreaded opponent, Arminger
Griffin!
“And now the six hundred and sixty-sixth,” the girl went on,
apparently thoroughly at home with the strangely assorted
trio.
This took some time to count, but presently it was
accomplished, and the girl time after time gave the old
professor directions—the fiftieth letter, the two-hundredth
letter, and so on.
“Well?” asked Challas, a few moments later, unable to
repress his excitement any longer. “Do you make anything
out of it?”
46. The old man was silent. He was carefully studying the
Hebrew characters he had written down.
“Yes!” he gasped. “It is the secret—the great secret!” And
he started up, exclaiming, “At last! at last—thanks to
fräulein here—we have the key!”
“And we can actually read the cipher?” cried Challas.
“Most certainly,” responded the old scholar. “The secret is
ours! Marvellous, how Griffin discovered it.”
“Confound Griffin!” exclaimed Jim Jannaway. “We have to
thank Laura, here, for our success! She ought to be well
rewarded.”
“And so she shall,” declared the man, whom the girl knew
as “Mr Murray.”
“It’s late to-night, and we want Erich to get on at once with
the decipher. Besides, the young lady, no doubt, wishes to
get back home. Bring her to me to-morrow, or next day—
and she shall be well rewarded.”
“Thank you very much, sir,” was the silly girl’s gratified
reply, as she looked triumphant into the face of the cunning
man who had declared his love for her.
The truth was that, having obtained that most valuable
information, the trio wanted to get rid of her as soon as
possible. Therefore, with excuses that the household at
Pembridge Gardens would be suspicious if she returned too
late, they bundled her almost unceremoniously outside, Jim
hailing a hansom for her, paying the man, and telling him to
drive to Notting Hill Gate Station.
47. Then, when he re-entered, he exclaimed with a laugh to the
Baronet, “That was a cheap ‘quid’s’ worth of information,
wasn’t it—eh?”
“Cheap, my dear boy? Why, it’s placed us absolutely on top.
The treasure, if it still remains there, is ours!”
“Ah! not too hasty! Not too hasty!” exclaimed the old
German in his deep guttural voice, and raising his head
from the table. “Up to a certain point, it is all right, but—”
“But what?” the others gasped, in the same breath.
“Well, there’s something wanting, alas! Or else the girl has
made a great mistake. After the addition of the numbers to
666, all goes entirely wrong!”
“Goes wrong!” they echoed breathlessly, with one accord.
“Yes. The further reading is quite unintelligible,” he
declared, speaking with his strong Teutonic accent.
“The girl seemed quite certain about it!” exclaimed Jim,
exchanging glances with Challas.
“Quite,” the other remarked, blandly.
“Well, my dear sirs!” exclaimed Haupt, pointing to his lines
of hastily-written Hebrew. “The commencement of the
record is here, plain enough. It commences, ‘Remember
and forget not, O Israel. Not for thy righteousness—’ But
after taking the two-hundredth letter I can discover
nothing. Commencing again at six only results in nothing,
while a repetition of the fiftieth and the consequent addition
is equally futile. No! The confounded girl has made some
mistake—and we are once more at a standstill. You see that
48. one false number throws out the whole. The cipher is one of
the most ingenious ever conceived.”
“But, my dear Haupt, you know the basis, and where it
commences! You will surely succeed!” Challas cried,
frantically.
The old man shook his head very dubiously.
“As I have already told you,” he responded in his deep
voice, “a single misplaced number throws it all out. We are
again at an absolute deadlock—and must remain as
ignorant as we were before.”
“But have you made every possible effort?” asked Jim
Jannaway, with eager face, as he bent over the old man’s
shoulders.
“I have tried all the combinations of the Apocalyptic
Number, but they are futile!” replied the old German, laying
down his pen, and blinking through his glasses.
“Then the girl has failed us after all,” remarked Challas in a
low, hard voice. “Griffin has deciphered the record and
we’re absolutely ‘in the cart.’”
“I won’t give up!” declared Jannaway. “I’m hanged if I will!
This may be one of Charlie’s tricks, remember! He may
have learnt the truth and got hold of Laura to put us on the
wrong scent.”
“He may—curse him!” muttered Sir Felix. “Why didn’t he
take my warning and get away abroad?”
“Because he’s quite as cute as we are. He knows full well
that while he remains in England circumstances will
49. continue to be propitious. So he lives quietly down in Kent,
with both eyes very much open.”
Already Jim Jannaway’s ingenious mind was active; already
he was devising a way out of the awkward cul-de-sac in
which they now found themselves.
“What are we to do?” inquired Sir Felix, with his dark brows
knitted at this sudden failure of all his elaborate plans.
“Leave it to me,” replied the good-looking scoundrel, with
the utmost confidence. “Let Erich remain quietly within
reach—not, however, at the Waldorf—and allow me to carry
out the scheme in my own way.”
“I cannot think why the girl made such a mistake,” Challas
remarked very disappointedly. “I admit the solution was
complicated, but you saw that she was clever enough to
write it down.”
“She listened behind a closed door. She may have
misunderstood,” Jim remarked.
“Or, what is much more likely,” remarked the German,
“Griffin, who has the reputation of being a very shrewd
man, does not trust his daughter, and purposely misled her
in explaining his secret.”
“No, I don’t think that,” said Jannaway. “Griffin trusts the
girl, even though she’s quite young, absolutely and
implicitly.”
And thus the three desperate schemers agreed to leave
matters in the hands of the most daring and unscrupulous
of men, Jim Jannaway, unconscious that the exterior of the
mansion was being watched independently by two persons,
Doctor Diamond, and a thin-faced, ill-clad woman, who,
50. noticing the Doctor’s keen interest in the place, glanced at
him full of surprise and wonder.
51. Chapter Thirty Two.
Reveals the Cipher Record.
In the study at Pembridge Gardens, the silence only broken
by the solemn ticking of the little Sheraton clock, Professor
Griffin’s calm, even voice was slowly dictating to Gwen the
translation from the Hebrew of the cipher record into
English.
The girl, as her father’s amanuensis, had long ago become
quite an expert with the typewriter, and in order to make a
clear copy she had seated herself at the machine, her slim,
white fingers deftly touching the keys.
“If you are ready dear, we’ll begin,” said the old man,
drawing his folios of scribbled Hebrew towards him.
“I’m quite ready, dad,” she assured him, pulling her skirt
around her at the little table by his side upon which the
typewriter was fixed.
“Very well, then. I’ll translate slowly. Forgive me if I
hesitate, child, for some of it may perhaps be difficult to put
into intelligible or Biblical English. It is really a most
astounding statement by a scribe of the Temple.”
Then, after a brief pause, he began to dictate to her the
hidden record, which was as follows:
“Remember and forget not, O Israel. Not for thy
righteousness, or for the uprightness of thine heart, dost
thou go to possess thy land, but for the wickedness of these
nations the Lord thy God shall drive them out before thee.
52. “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God and keep His charge, His
statutes and His commandments.
“And know ye this day why this secret record is written,
that it may be preserved unto the just... The lapse of years
are nearing its filling. The relief of the Doom will come, in
spite of all. The people’s right is nearing. The period of the
Blood-debts, and that of the Suppression will lose its power,
and Israel shall be restored (here follow seven words
undecipherable).
“...As the Lord God was against Gog, the land of Magog, the
chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, Gomer and all his bands,
the house of Togarmah, of the north quarters, so shall He
be against all the enemies of Israel that spread over the
land. For He will make His Holy name known in the midst of
His people Israel, and will not let them pollute His Holy
name any more; and the heathen shall know that He is the
Lord, the Holy One in Israel...
“And the desolate places of the Land shall become
populated, Jerusalem the city shall be restored, the
sanctuary shall be set up, and the children of Israel shall be
gathered there from the four corners of the earth where
they will be found scattered.
“Be thou prepared, and prepare thyself, for the Lord God
will make a covenant of peace with His chosen people; it
shall be a peace everlasting and His tabernacle shall be set
in the midst of them for evermore, even upon Mount
Moriah.
“Stay yourselves, and wonder, for unto thee, O children of
Israel, are the greater treasures of Solomon’s Temple still
preserved. And thus it is therein written in a book that is
sealed, so that the wicked of Babylon and the enemies of
53. Israel shall not know. Verily I say unto you the Ark of the
Covenant, and the tablets, and the rod of Aaron, and the
other sacred objects which Solomon placed in the house of
the Lord are still with thee, O Israel, until the wastes be
builded, the cities inhabited and the Lord God cometh again
unto the mountains of Jerusalem... for your own ways— and
the Lord will build up the ruined places—
“Know ye the truth concerning the sacred treasures of
Israel, the vessels out of the house of the Lord. In the third
year of Jehoiakim, King of Judah, cameth one night into
Jerusalem one Hashbbiah, a secret messenger from
Antioch, who seeking Zeruiah, the high priest, told him in
private that Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, had advanced
upon the hosts of Pharaoh-Necho at Carchemish and
defeated him, and that the King of Babylon had taken from
the river of Egypt unto the river Euphrates all that pertained
unto the King of Egypt.
“Now Zeruiah, a man full of learning, remembered the
prayer of Solomon, and saw that the prophecy of the fall of
Jerusalem was to be fulfilled, and that Judah was to be led
into captivity by the Babylonians... And he went out upon
the mountain alone and prayed unto the Lord. And the Lord
directed him to take counsel of six priests, of whom one
was the prophet Ezekiel, to decide how the sacred things of
the house of the Lord should be held from the hands of the
despoiler.
“And to one of the priests, Uzziah, son of Haziah who came
from Gaza, was revealed a hiding-place outside the gates of
Jerusalem, beyond the valley of Jehoshaphat, where the
treasures could be concealed beneath the earth in a dry-
room, in connection with a series of water-tunnels, which
could be emptied only by those who knew the secret gate of
the waters.
54. “And the ears of Zeruiah the high priest, heard a voice
behind him saying: ‘This is the way, walk ye in it. Place the
treasures of the house of Jehovah therein, and seal them
with the waters, so that no man shall know.’
“So at night he went with Uzziah onto the place that was
revealed, which is on the side of the mount.
“And he saw that it had been used by thieves in the days
when Rehoboam was king, and that its entrance had since
been unknown to any man.
“And returning to the inner court of the Temple in darkness
of night he went into the Holy Place and called unto him
Baruch, the son of Neriah, Sherebbiah, the scribe, Ezekiel
the priest, and the five other priests. And together both that
night and the next and through many nights did they carry
forth the most treasured objects of the Temple down into
the valley, letting no man know that they were being taken
from the house of the Lord.
“For since the beginning of the world men have not seen
such great treasure as was in the darkness removed from
the house of Jehovah, from the defenceless city upon which
the judgment of God was set. Woe unto Jerusalem for
Nebuchadnezzar was hastening upon the City of Judah, and
the hour of her destruction was approaching.
“And they took from the Holy of Holies the Ark of the
Covenant, together with the stone tablets which Moses put
there at Horeb, the pot of manna and the staff of Aaron and
the two cherubims of fine gold, the Urim and Thummim
with two rubies of great size and a multitude of other gems
set around them... And of the other treasures of the house
of the Lord did they bring forth; of basons of pure gold
made by Solomon which Shishak, King of Egypt had
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