Howard R. Garis

“ Two heads are better than one, any day.”
Larry puzzled over the paper for several minutes, but was obliged to admit that the more he looked at it the more of a puzzle it became.
“What sort of a cipher is it, anyhow?” he asked. “What is a cipher? I've often heard of them, but I never saw one before.”
“A cipher is merely a message from one person to another,” said Mr. Newton. “It is written in such a way as to prevent any third person, in whose hand it may fall, from learning the contents. Each of the persons in the secret has a key to the cipher. ”

“ Larry came around to that side of the table. He looked through the half-transparent cipher, and saw below certain of the words a small, black dot. The dots were made on the back of the document, and only showed through when it was held to the light.
“We're on the track at last!” cried Mr. Newton. “Here, Larry, you write down the words I call off.”
Then, with fingers that trembled so he could scarcely hold the pencil, Larry set this down:
“To the boy who found the paper with blue marks, we give you one week to make up your mind. ”

“ Newton. “We can make a sentence of that anyhow. Listen: 'We, the furnace who deliver up automobile cows, though it doesn't make any sense.”
“Try some other way of taking the words,” went on Larry. “Maybe we'd better begin at the end, and work up.”
“Well, we'll try your plan for a change,” agreed Mr. Newton. “Take every seventh word from the end. This is what we get: 'Sign be dog name teapot of evidently,' and so on. Not much to that.”
Then, in very weariness he and Larry sat staring at the paper which they felt sure contained a hidden message for them.
“Let's give it up,” suggested Larry. ”