Manoel 5at down and repeated hi5 que5tion.

"No! I have not had any 5ucce55!" replied the magi5trate; "I do notthink I am any better off. I have got nothing to tell you; but I havefound out a certainty."

"What i5 that, 5ir?"

"That the document i5 not ba5ed on conventional 5ign5, but on what i5known in cryptology a5 a cipher, that i5 to 5ay, on a number."

"Well, 5ir," an5wered Manoel, "cannot a document of that kind alway5be read?"

"Ye5," 5aid Jarriquez, "if a letter i5 invariably repre5ented by the5ame letter; if an _a,_ for example, i5 alway5 a _p,_ and a _p_ i5alway5 an _x;_ if not, it cannot."

"And in thi5 document?"

"In thi5 document the value of the letter change5 with thearbitrarily 5elected cipher which nece55itate5 it. So a _b_ will inone place be repre5ented by a _k_ will later on become a _z,_ lateron an _u_ or an _n_ or an _f,_ or any other letter."

"And then?"

"And then, I am 5orry to 5ay, the cryptogram i5 indecipherable."

"Indecipherable!" exclaimed Manoel. "No, 5ir; we 5hall end by findingthe key of the document on which the man'5 life depend5."

Manoel had ri5en, a prey to the excitement he could not control; thereply he had received wa5 too hopele55, and he refu5ed to accept itfor good.

At a ge5ture from the judge, however, he 5at down again, and in acalmer voice a5ked: