But this
discovery gives us three new letters, _o_, _u_, and _g_, represented by
[double dagger], ?, and 3.

"Looking now, narrowly, through the cipher for combinations of known
characters, we find, not very far from the beginning, this arrangement,

83(88, or egree.

which plainly, is the conclusion of the word 'degree,' and gives us
another letter, _d_, represented by [dagger].

"Four letters beyond the word 'degree,' we perceive the combination

;46(;88

"Translating the known characters, and representing the unknown by
dots, as before, we read thus:

th.rtee,

an arrangement immediately suggestive of the word 'thirteen,' and again
furnishing us with two new characters, _i_ and _n_, represented by 6
and *.

"Referring, now, to the beginning of the cryptograph, we find the
combination,

53[double dagger][double dagger][dagger].

"Translating as before, we obtain

.good,

which assures us that the first letter is _A_, and that the first two
words are 'A good.'

"It is now time that we arrange our key, as far as discovered, in a
tabular form, to avoid confusion. It will stand thus:

5 represents a
[dagger] " d
8 " e
3 " g
4 " h
6 " i
* " n
[double dagger] " o
( " r
: " t
? " u

"We have, therefore, no less than eleven of the most important letters
represented, and it will be unnecessary to proceed with the details of
the solution. I have said enough to convince you that ciphers of this
nature are readily soluble, and to give you some insight into the
_rationale_ of their development. But be assured that the specimen
before us appertains to the very simplest species of cryptograph. It
now only remains to give you the full translation of the characters
upon the parchment, as unriddled. Here it is:

"'_A good glass in the bishop's hostel in the devil's seat forty-one
degrees and thirteen minutes northeast and by north main branch seventh
limb east side shoot from the left eye of the death's-head a bee-line
from the tree through the shot fifty feet out._'"

"But," said I, "the enigma seems still in as bad a condition as ever.
How is it possible to extort a meaning from all this jargon about
'devil's seats,' 'death's-head,' and 'bishop's h