Suppose it is desired to put into this cipher the words CABLE CODE. Dividing the letters into couples CA, BL, E. CO, DE are obtained. Finding the combination CA it is simple to ascertain that the index letters are TM, which is therefore the cipher. BL is EL, whilst the remaining letter E from the top alphabet is found to be SO. Treating the word CODE in the same way the ciphers prove to be HM, XN, and therefore the message is transmitted thus: TMELSO HMXN.
So far an idea has been given of the systems of cipher from the simplest methods to the most complicated of political cryptograms. Although the actual details are necessarily hidden, it may be assumed as a positive fact that the most secret political ciphers now in use by civilized Governments are but adaptations of one or other of the methods described.
CHAPTER LXIV
SECRET SIGNS
Friend from Foe
In a condition of affairs where every man’s hand was against his neighbor’s, the necessity of being able to tell friend from foe was more urgent than in these peaceable times.
When plotting was rife upon every hand, and one man possibly held the lives of many confederates in his power, knowing that an incautious word of his might doom them all to punishment and probably death, it became of paramount importance to have some means of discerning allies from enemies.
Obviously the means of finding out such important information must be such as to awaken no suspicion in the event of a mistake, whilst on the other hand there should be no possibility of a stranger inadvertently obtaining possession of the secret.
From earliest times the formation of Secret Societies has necessitated the invention of Secret Signs, and in nine cases out of ten, it may be said, the extinction of the societies from one cause or another has resulted in the loss of their secret signs of recognition.
There are, however, even now, several Societies or Fraternities whose members are possessed of certain signs whereby they can know each other, and in several cases they claim lineal descent from some of the old fraternities whose origins are lost in antiquity.