“None: it was in mid-Atlantic.”
“But,” stammered Cheyne at last, “I don’t follow—”
“I don’t follow myself,” French returned briskly, “but when the cipher which leads to a maritime expedition begins with a wreck with two and a half millions aboard, well then, I say it is suggestive. Come along, let’s read the rest of the thing. We’ll know more then.”
With breathless eagerness the other towns were looked up, and at last French’s list read as follows:
| 1. | Salisbury |
| 2. | Immingham |
| 3. | Liverpool |
| 4. | Uttoxeter |
| 5. | Reading |
| 6. | Ipswich |
| 7. | Andover |
| 8. | Nottingham |
| 9. | Oxford |
| 10. | Northampton |
| 11. | Evesham |
| 12. | Doncaster |
| 13. | Exeter |
| 14. | Gloucester |
| 15. | Ripon |
| 16. | Ely |
| 17. | Eastbourne |
| 18. | Wigan |
| 19. | Exmouth |
| 20. | Swansea |
| 21. | Tonbridge |
| 22. | Nuneaton |
| 23. | Ilfracombe |
| 24. | Newport |
| 25. | Eaglescliff |
| 26. | Taunton |
| 27. | Eastleigh |
| 28. | Ebbw Vale |
| 29. | Northallerton |
| 30. | Folkestone |
| 31. | Appleby |
| 32. | Tamworth |
| 33. | Huntingdon |
| 34. | Oldham |
| 35. | Middlesborough |
| 36. | Southend |
Taking the initials in order read: Silurianonedegreewestnineteenfathoms, or dividing it into its obvious words—“Silurian one degree west nineteen fathoms.”
The three men stared at one another.
“Nineteen fathoms!” Price gasped at last. “But if she’s in nineteen fathoms that gold will be salvable!”
French nodded.
“And I guess Dangle and Company have gone to salve it. They wouldn’t want a salvage boat for gold. They’d get it with a diver’s outfit.”