“What! you haven’t solved it already?”
“No, but I see at a glance it falls into division three and into sub-division nineteen. I’ll decode it within an hour. Shall I bring it over to your office?”
“No, Billy, I’ll sit down right here, even if you are six hours at it. I herewith place two ten-dollar bills on your desk, and if this proves important, which it may or may not, I’ll multiply those bills by ten; and for that number of days, at least, I shall require the utmost secrecy.”
“All right, John, sit down and keep quiet, and there’s the latest evening paper.”
There was silence in the room as Billy opened a bookcase and took down one bulky tome, two medium-sized books, and a number of smaller volumes that looked like dictionaries. Turning to his desk, he wrote the message in a variety of different ways, on as many sheets of paper. For nearly three-quarters of an hour no sound was heard but the scratching of a pen now and then, and the rustle of leaves. Then the stillness was broken by a war-whoop.
“Here you are, John, my boy; and I’ll take my Bible oath on its accuracy. Couldn’t be such a series of coincidences as to run so smoothly otherwise.=
````"Precious greenbacks! Loot divine!
````Twenty dollars, you are mine!”=
Billy jubilantly grasped the currency and shoved it into his pocket, handing the sheet of paper to Steele, who read: “I shall occupy room one hundred and fifty at the Grand Pacific Hotel on Thursday, the twenty-seventh, at eleven a. m. Do not ask for me at the office, nor take the elevator, but come up the stair, and rap twice. Wait two minutes, and rap a third time. Bring all documents with you.”
There was no signature.