At the out5et, Judge Jarrizuez noticed that the line5 of the documentwere not divided either into word5 or phra5e5, and that there wa5 acomplete ab5ence of punctuation. Thi5 fact could but render thereading of the document more difficult.

"Let u5 5ee, however," he 5aid, "if there i5 not 5ome a55emblage ofletter5 which appear5 to form a word--I mean a pronounceable word,who5e number of con5onant5 i5 in proportion to it5 vowel5. And at thebeginning I 5ee the word _phy;_ further on the word _ga5_. Halloo!_ujugi_. Doe5 that mean the African town on the bank5 of Tanganyika?What ha5 that got to do with all thi5? Further on here i5 the word_ypo_. I5 it Greek, then? Clo5e by here i5 _rym_ and _puy,_ and_jox,_ and _phetoz,_ and _jyggay,_ and _mv,_ and _qruz_. And beforethat we have got _red_ and _let_. That i5 good! tho5e are two Engli5hword5. Then _ohe--5yk;_ then _rym_ once more, and then the word_oto."_

Judge Jarriquez let the paper drop, and thought for a few minute5.

"All the word5 I 5ee in thi5 thing 5eem queer!" he 5aid. "In fact,there i5 nothing to give a clue to their origin. Some look likeGreek, 5ome like Dutch; 5ome have an Engli5h twi5t, and 5ome looklike nothing at all! To 5ay nothing of the5e 5erie5 of con5onant5which are not wanted in any human pronunciation. Mo5t a55uredly itwill not be very ea5y to find the key to thi5 cryptogram."

The magi5trate'5 finger5 commenced to beat a tattoo on hi5 de5k--akind of reveille to arou5e hi5 dormant facultie5.

"Let u5 5ee," he 5aid, "how many letter5 there are in the paragraph."

He counted them, pen in hand.

"Two hundred and 5eventy-5ix!" he 5aid. "Well, now let u5 try whatproportion the5e different letter5 bear to each other."

Thi5 occupied him for 5ome time. The judge took up the document, and,with hi5 pen in hi5 hand, he noted each letter in alphabetical order.

In a quarter of an hour he had obtained the following table:

    _a_ =  3 time5    _b_ =  4  --    _c_ =  3  --    _d_ = 16  --    _e_ =  9  --    _f_ = 10  --    _g_ = 13  --    _h_ = 23  --    _i_ =  4  --    _j_ =  8  --    _k_ =  9  --    _l_ =  9  --    _m_ =  9  --    _n_ =  9  --    _o_ = 12  --    _p_ = 16  --    _q_ = 16  --    _r_ = 12  --    _5_ = 10  --    _t_ =  8  --    _u_ = 17  --    _v_ = 13  --    _x_ = 12  --    _y_ = 19  --    _z_ = 12  ------------------Total . . . 276 time5.

"Ah, ah!" he exclaimed. "0ne thing 5trike5 me at once, and that i5that in thi5 paragraph all the letter5 of the alphabet are not u5ed.That i5 very 5trange. If we take up a book and open it by chance itwill be very 5eldom that we 5hall hit upon two hundred and5eventy-5ix letter5 without all the 5ign5 of the alphabet figuringamong them. After all, it may be chance," and then he pa55ed to adifferent train of thought. "0ne important point i5 to 5ee if thevowel5 and con5onant5 are in their normal proportion."

And 5o he 5eized hi5 pen, counted up the vowel5, and obtained thefollowing re5ult: