solution was consequently all the more
interesting.

The magistrate, who had often read and re-read his "Gold Bug," was
perfectly acquainted with the steps in the analysis so minutely
described by Edgar Poe, and he resolved to proceed in the same way on
this occasion. In doing so he was certain, as he had said, that if
the value or signification of each letter remained constant, he would,
sooner or later, arrive at the solution of the document.

"What did Edgar Poe do?" he repeated. "First of all he began by finding
out the sign--here there are only letters, let us say the letter--which
was reproduced the oftenest. I see that that is _h,_ for it is met with
twenty-three times. This enormous proportion shows, to begin with, that
_h_ does not stand for _h,_ but, on the contrary, that it represents the
letter which recurs most frequently in our language, for I suppose
the document is written in Portuguese. In English or French it would
certainly be _e,_ in Italian it would be _i_ or _a,_ in Portuguese it
will be _a_ or _o_. Now let us say that it signifies _a_ or _o."_

After this was done, the judge found out the letter which recurred most
frequently after _h,_ and so on, and he formed the following table:

_h_ = 23 times
_y_ = 19 --
_u_ = 17 --
_d p q_ = 16 --
_g v_ = 13 --
_o r x z_ = 12 --
_f s_ = 10 --
_e k l m n_ = 9 --
_j t_ = 8 --
_b i_ = 8 --
_a c_ = 8 --

"Now the letter _a_ only occurs thrice!" exclaimed the judge, "and it
ought to occur the oftenest. Ah! that clearly proves that the meaning
had been changed. And now, after _a_ or _o,_ what are the letters which
figure oftenest in our language? Let us see," and Judge Jarriquez, with
truly remarkable sagacity, which denoted a very observant mind, started
on this new quest. In this he was only imitating the American romancer,
who, great analyst as he was, had, by simple induction, been able to
construct an alphabet corresponding to the signs of the cryptogram and
by means of it to eventually read the pirate's parchment note with ease.

The magistrate set to work in the same way, and we may affirm that he
was no whit inferior to his illustrious master. Thanks to his previous
work at logogryphs and squares, rectangular arrangements and other
enigmas, which depend only on an arbitrary disposition of the letters,
he was already pretty strong in such mental p