“Ah’ll cook yo’ boys as fine a meal as yo’ ebber sat down to,” he promised, as with a broad grin he surrendered the wheel and made aft to the galley, which was a small room forward of the cabin and between it and the engine-room.
It was an hour later that Tom appeared on deck with a knitted brow, and several sheets of paper covered closely with cabalistic figuring.
“Well?” said Jack.
“Well, I’ve worked it out, and——”
“You know who X. Y. Z. is, I hope?”
“Why, no,” was the response in a puzzled tone, “I don’t know who he is, but I’ve learned considerable of what he is,—and I don’t much like it.”
CHAPTER IV—A MARINE GAME OF BLIND-MAN’S BUFF
Jupe’s summons to supper ended the talk for the time being, and the two lads went below to eat a hearty meal while the colored man took a spell at the wheel. After supper they emerged on deck again, and as Jack took the helm Tom drew up a camp stool beside him, and seating himself, spread the figure-covered sheet of paper out on the chart case. He then switched on the shaded light, which caused a soft glow to reveal the cabalistic scribbling clearly.
“Now then,” he began, “in figuring out a cipher of this sort the first thing to do is to note what figure appears most frequently. Having ascertained this, it is safe to assume that such a figure stands for the most frequently occurring letter in the language,—always provided, of course, the message is in English.”
“Well?” interrogated Jack.