h e p q x u f I v v r p l p h o n t h v d d q f h q s n t z h h h n f
e p m q k y u u e x k t o g z g k y u u m f v I j d q d p z j q s y k
r p l x h x q r y m v k l o h h h o t o z v d k s p p s u v j h d.”_
At the outset, Judge Jarrizuez noticed that the lines of the document
were not divided either into words or phrases, and that there was a
complete absence of punctuation. This fact could but render the
reading of the document more difficult.
“Let us see, however,” he said, “if there is not some assemblage of
letters which appears to form a word–I mean a pronounceable word,
whose number of consonants is in proportion to its vowels. And at the
beginning I see the word _phy;_ further on the word _gas_. Halloo!
_ujugi_. Does that mean the African town on the banks of Tanganyika?
What has that got to do with all this? Further on here is the word
_ypo_. Is it Greek, then? Close by here is _rym_ and _puy,_ and
_jox,_ and _phetoz,_ and _jyggay,_ and _mv,_ and _qruz_. And before
that we have got _red_ and _let_. That is good! those are two English
words. Then _ohe–syk;_ then _rym_ once more, and then the word
_oto.”_
Judge Jarriquez let the paper drop, and thought for a few minutes.
“All the words I see in this thing seem queer!” he said. “In fact,
there is nothing to give a clue to their origin. Some look like
Greek, some like Dutch; some have an English twist, and some look
like nothing at all! To say nothing of these series of consonants
which are not wanted in any human pronunciation. Most assuredly it
will not be very easy to find the key to this cryptogram.”
The magistrate’s fingers commenced to beat a tattoo on his desk–a
kind of reveille to arouse his dormant faculties.
“Let us see,” he said, “how many letters there are in the paragraph.”
He counted them, pen in hand.
“Two hundred and seventy-six!” he said. “Well, now let us try what
proportion these different letters bear to each other.”
This occupied him for some time. The judge took up the document, and,
with his pen in his hand, he noted each letter in alphabetical order.
In a quarter of an hour he had obtained the following table:
_a_ = 3 times
_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 —
_s_ = 10 —
_t_ = 8 —
_u_ = 17 —
_v_ = 13 —
_x_ = 12 —
_y_ = 19 —
_z_ = 12 —
—————-
Total . . . 276 times.
“Ah, ah!” he exclaimed. “One thing strikes me at once, and that is
that in this paragraph all the letters of the alphabet are not used.
That is very strange. If we take up a book and open it by chance it
will be very seldom that we shall hit upon two hundred and
seventy-six letters without all the signs of the alphabet figuring
among them. After all, it may be chance,” and then he passed to a
different train of thought. “One important point is to see if the
vowels and consonants are in their normal proportion.”
And so he seized his pen, counted up the vowels, and obtained the
following result:
_a_ = 3 times
_e_ = 9 —
_i_ = 4 —
_o_ = 12 —
_u_ = 17 —
_y_ = 19 —
—————-
Total . . . 276 times.