“But I thought you wished me to solve a cryptogram.”
“So I do; but a cryptogram can be other than in letters or figures.”
Fuller gazed at the peacock. “I can’t understand,” he said bewildered.
“Well, Alan,” rejoined Fuller with a shrug, “I can’t myself, and so have brought you into the business on the assumption that two heads are better than one. I have even opened the peacock to find its secret, but there is nothing inside. In my opinion the secret is hidden in the tail.”
Alan was still puzzled. “In the tail?” he echoed.
“In the jewels somehow,” explained Mr. Sorley meditatively. “You see there are three semicircles of gems on the tail, and between the second and the third appears a triangle of rubies. Now if we can read the meaning of the three rows of precious stones, they may explain the triangle, which is probably the key to the whole mystery.”
“I still can’t understand. Why should the mystery be concealed in the jewels of the tail? They may be merely for decorative purposes.”
“I don’t think so. Of course the gems may imitate the peacock’s tail from nature, but you never saw a bird with a triangle marked in this way.”
“No,” Alan nodded. “You are right so far. Have you any further ideas?”
“Not one. The riddle is to be read on the tail, and by means of the precious stones, but how, I can’t say. What’s your opinion, Alan?”