The clerk accepted the form without demur. He had no idea of its meaning, nor had he any way of finding out. Not that he wanted to. Messages in code were the rule rather than the exception.
The message as received and ultimately sent off by the shore operator was as follows:
"SW. TLB. FEW. CNI. TLXQ. VP AELB TNI PU. AEMQ".
Ludwig Schoeffer paid the eighteen shillings demanded and obtained a receipt. Then, having got an assurance that the message would be dispatched within an hour, he wished the clerk good afternoon and walked briskly to the waiting rickshaw.
The bogus message read, when decoded:
"I have received telegraphic instructions from your owners for you to proceed straight to Rangoon, where you will unload steelwork, proceeding thence to Port Sudan".
CHAPTER XVIII
The Difference of a Dot
"Hello, Sparks; you look a bit off colour?"