“That’s all very well,” he said, “but how about this hieroglyphic? Do you think anybody on earth is capable of reading such a thing?”
“Why not?”
“Can you?”
“All such ciphers are solved by the same method.... Yes, Colonel, I can read it very easily.”
“Well, would you mind doing so?”
“Not in the slightest, sir. The key is extremely simple. I will show you.” And she picked up pencil and paper and wrote:
One
Two
Three
Four
Five
Six
Seven
Eight
Nine
Ten
Eleven
Twelve
Thirteen
Fourteen
Fifteen
Sixteen
Seventeen
Eighteen
Nineteen
Twenty
“Now,” she said, “taking the second letter in each word, we can parallel that column thus:
N equals the letter A
W equals the letter B
H equals the letter C
O equals the letter D
I equals the letter E
“Then, in the word six we have the letter I again as the second letter, so we call it I2. And, continuing, we have: