"Well, let's go back and see how many of the fifteen combinations of the first three letters will fit on to the fourth. It's quite clear that you can't make a word by putting c or y after any of them; there's only n left, and all we can make is coun and noun. Don Fernan wouldn't go in for grammar, would he? If we drop noun we've only coun, and that looks most unlikely."
"Be quick with the next letter, Jack. Why do you talk so much? I could jump with excitement."
"Don't be in a hurry; perhaps the whole thing will come to grief again. The next letter is F; that stands for i or t; i won't do, but t will, and we get count; that's a word at any rate. I wonder what we're to count. Now for L; that's g or r; and S again; that's c, n, or y. And unless I'm a Dutchman, that makes the word country."
Juanita clapped her hands and laughed.
"You are getting clever!" she said.
The irony escaped Jack, who was busy working out the next word. In a few minutes he had made out house.
"Country house!" exclaimed Juanita. "Oh, you are slow, Jack; do be quick! What about the country house?"
But the same process had to be gone through with every letter, and it was quite half an hour before the whole message was deciphered. The excitement of Juanita and himself increased with every fresh discovery, and when the task was finished, and the simple English words were written down, each gave a gasp of relief. The message consisted of but six words:—
Country house old well twelve feet.
"I see it! I see it all!" exclaimed Juanita. "Oh, Jack, we shall get it after all! I don't care for the treasure itself one bit really, not one bit; but I could dance with joy at defeating that wretch Miguel, and I should like to have some money to give to the poor people ruined in Saragossa. You must go, Jack. The well is in the garden behind the house, near the wall. It has not been used for many years; we got water from a new well by the kitchen. Only to think that all is coming right after all!"