"Yes, dear," was her father"s response. "I have already deciphered part of the extraordinary statement."
"Then we must telegraph to Frank," she said. "He is down at Horsford, visiting his sister and seeing Doctor Diamond at the same time."
"No, not yet, my child," he replied quietly. "Let me complete the work before we announce the good news to our friends. I have told you, because I knew you would be gratified."
"Why, of course I am, dad," replied the girl eagerly. "It will greatly enhance your reputation, besides preserving the sacred relics to the Jews. Our opponents had other intentions. Their efforts are directed towards causing annoyance and bringing ridicule upon the Hebrew race.
But," she added, her arm still affectionately around his neck, "how did you accomplish it, dad?"
"Sit down, dear, and I"ll explain to you," he said, pointing to the armchair near his writing-table, while he took his writing-chair, and drew towards him the open Hebrew text of Ezekiel.
"You see," he commenced, "for some weeks I have been applying all the known numerical ciphers to this text, but without result. More than once I was able to read a couple or three words, and believed that I had discovered the key. But, alas! I found it to fail inevitably before I could establish a complete sentence. I was about to relinquish the problem as either impossible of solution, or as a theory without basis, when this morning, almost as a last resource and certainly without expecting any definite result, I applied a variation of the Apocalyptic Number, which though appearing in the Book of Revelation, [Revelations, xiii, 13] was no doubt known at a much earlier period. In the text of Ezekiel xvii, the first and second verses: `And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, put forth a riddle and speak a parable unto the house of Israel;" I had long recognised certain signs by which I had suspicion that there was a hidden meaning, and again in verses 14, 16 and 16, ending with the words `even with him in the midst of Babylon he shall die."
"To my utter amazement I found, by applying the numbers 666--the Hebrew `waw" sign three times repeated, that I could read an intelligible sentence which was nothing less than a portion of the cipher exactly as quoted by Holmboe! Since my discovery I have been hard at work, and have deciphered many ominous sentences."
"Then there is no doubt whatever now that the cipher record exists in the writings of the prophet?"
"Not the slightest."
"But I don"t quite understand how you arrived at the key, dad?" she said. "Explain to me, for, as you know, I"m all curiosity."
"Well, as you don"t know Hebrew, dear, I"ll try and explain it as clearly as I can," he said. "Each Hebrew letter has its own numerical value, as you know, _A-leph_ representing 1, _Beth_ 2, _Gi-mel_ 3, and so on to _Yodh_ 10, and the nine tens to 100, or _Qoph_, to 400, represented by the last of the twenty-two consonants, _Taw_. The fact that Holmboe mentioned `_waw_," or the number 6, in his ma.n.u.script, first caused me to believe that he did so as a blind, because this also signified `hook" and was the sign of evil. I applied it diligently in nearly two hundred places in the Book of Ezekiel, but without a single success. I used other numbers, indeed most of the combinations of the twenty-two consonants, especially the one of three and thirty-three which was one of the earliest numerical ciphers. You know well how diligently I worked, and how unsuccessful I have been until to-day."
"I know, dad," exclaimed the pretty girl, "but I confess I can hardly follow you, even now."
"Well, listen," he said. "The Apocalyptic Number is 666, and its interpretation rests upon the fact that in Hebrew, as well as in Greek, the letters of the alphabet did service for numbers. Hence, a writer, while avoiding a direct mention of some person or thing, could yet indicate the same by a number which was the sum of the various values comprising the name. First establishing the point where the actual message commences, which I may as well explain is at Ezekiel, x, 8; `And there appeared in the cherubim the form of a man"s hand under their wings," I took the first `waw" or 6 sign, then the eleventh letter, being the sixth of sixty-six, then the sixty-sixth letter, and afterwards the six hundred and sixty-sixth letter. Following this, I made the additions which are known to the Greeks and also to the Hebrews, working it out thus: The fiftieth letter, the two-hundredth letter, the sixth letter, the fiftieth letter, the hundredth letter, the sixtieth letter and the two-hundredth letter--making in all six hundred and sixty-six. The Hebrew signs of each I wrote down in a line, and having divided them into words, I found to my amazement, that I was reading the secret record alleged by the dead professor!"
"But, surely, dad, that is a most ingenious cipher!" remarked his daughter.
"Most intricate, I a.s.sure you. By sheer good fortune I discovered the starting-point."
"What led you to it?"
"A slight, almost unnoticeable deviation of the present Hebrew text from the St Petersburg codex. I had never before noticed it, and it only arrested my attention because I was studying the subject so very closely."
"And after making the additions of 666, how did you proceed?" urged the girl.
He paused for a few seconds as though in hesitation.
"By starting at the first `waw" sign and repeating my key. Sometimes, in a whole chapter, there is not a word of cipher, but following the numbers with regularity it reappears in the next. It is a most marvellous and most cunningly concealed record accounting, of course, for the number of superfluous and rather incongruous words in the writings of the prophet."
"Was it written in the text--or placed there afterwards?" she asked.
"Placed there afterwards, without a doubt," was the Professor"s quick reply. "Holy writ was inspired, of course, but some temple priest, an exile in Babylon probably, worked out the cipher and placed the record in the text in order that it might be there preserved and the existence of the treasure be known to coming generations of Jews who would be then aware of the existence of their war-chest."
"It really is a most amazing discovery, dad dear," declared the girl much excited. "When you publish it the whole world will be startled!"
"Yes, my dear," was the old fellow"s response, as he ran his fingers through his scanty grey hair. "We have here before us," and he placed his hand upon the open Hebrew text, "a secret explained which is surely the greatest and most remarkable of any discovered in any age."
The girl, rising from her chair, saw upon the ma.n.u.script paper on her father"s blotting-pad, a number of lines of hastily-written Hebrew words.
"Is that part of the deciphered record?" she inquired, greatly interested.
"Yes, dear."
"Oh, do read them to me, dad," she cried, "I"m dying to learn exactly the purport of this message hidden through so many generations!"
"No, Gwen," was the old man"s calm response, "not until I have worked out the whole. Then you shall, my child, be the first to have knowledge of the secret of Israel. And remember it is my wish that you write nothing to Farquhar regarding it. We must keep our knowledge to ourselves--very closely to ourselves, remember. Erich Haupt must have no suspicion of my success. Otherwise we may even yet be forestalled."
"I quite see the danger, dad," remarked his daughter, "but I"m so interested, do go on with your task and show me how it is accomplished."
"Very well," he said, smiling and humouring her. "You see here, at this mark," and he showed her a pencilled line upon the Hebrew text, "that is where I halted for luncheon. Now we go on to the next sign of six.
See, here it is--in the next line. Now we count the eleventh letter,"
and he wrote it down in Hebrew. Then he counted the sixty-sixth, the six hundredth and sixty-sixth, the fiftieth, the two-hundredth, and so on until he had a number of Hebrew signs ranged side by side. Presently he said, pointing to them:
"Here you are! The English translation to this is `...yourselves, and wonder, for unto thee, O children of Israel...""
"Really, dad!" exclaimed the girl, highly excited. "It"s most remarkable!"
"Yes," he admitted. "I confess that until now I held the same idea that every Jewish Rabbi holds--namely that no secret cipher can exist in our inspired writings."
"But you have now proved it beyond question!" she declared.
"Yes. But startling as it may be, we must preserve our secret, dear.
There are others endeavouring to learn the trend of my investigations, recollect. We may have spies upon us, for aught we know," he added in a low tone, glancing at her with a significant look.
"How long do you expect it will take before you are in full possession of the whole of the secret statement?" she asked.
"Many hours, my dear. Perhaps many days--how can I tell. Holmboe says it runs through only nine chapters. Therefore it should end with chapter xxvi. But as far as I can gather I believe I shall find further cryptic statements in the later chapters. There are certain evidences of these in chapter x.x.xvii, 16, in chapter x.x.xix, 18, 19 and 20, and again in chapter xliv, 5. Therefore, I antic.i.p.ate that my task may be a rather long one. The counting and recounting to ensure accuracy occupies so much time. The miscounting of a single letter would throw everything out and prevent the record being recovered, as you will readily foresee. Hence, it must be done with the greatest precision and patience."
"But, dad--this is most joyful news!" declared the girl excitedly, "I"m most anxious to telegraph to Frank."
"Not until the secret is wholly ours, my dear. Remember we must keep the key a most profound secret to ourselves."
"Of course, dad," the girl answered, "I quite see that this information must not be allowed to pa.s.s to our enemies."
Little did father or daughter imagine that, within their own quiet household, was a spy--the maid Laura, suborned by Jim Jannaway.
When the pair had entered the study she had crept silently up to the door, and listened intently for the one fact which Jannaway had instructed her to listen--the means by which the cipher could be unravelled.
She was a shrewd, intelligent girl, and the inducement which the good-looking adventurer had held out to her was such that the Professor"s explanation to his daughter impressed itself upon her memory.
She recollected every word, and still stood listening, able to hear quite distinctly, until there seemed no further information to be gathered. Then she descended the stairs, and made certain memoranda of the text at which to commence, and the mode by which the decipher could be made.
Half an hour later she made an excuse to the cook that she wished to go out to buy some hairpins, and then despatched a telegram to the name and address which her generous and good-looking "gentleman" had given her.
Meanwhile Gwen still sat with her father at his writing-table watching him slowly taking from the text of the Book of Ezekiel the full and complete record that had been hidden from scholars through all the ages--the record which was to deliver back to the house of Israel her most sacred possessions.
The light of the short afternoon faded, the electric light was switched on, tea was served by the faithless maid-servant, and dinner had been announced.