Over the first letter, “t,” stands “1,” therefore write “t” in the column marked first; over “h” is “2,” therefore write “h” in the second column; over “e” is “3,” then put “e” in the third column, and so on; but when four letters are written abreast you must begin a new line.
After doing the above, you must take the letters in each column separately (beginning with the first), and form them into imaginary words, putting a dot under the last letter of each column to show your correspondent that the column ends there; thus—
Tycnb efse ree ermc w pee lmrt hrem yhistmx wk mar eot wi ciheaoi gtrtae ntfoei ah hyl oegg.
Tycnb efse ree ermc w pee lmr• hrem yhistmx wk mar eot wi ci•eaoi gtrtae ntfoei ah hyl oeg•
The person receiving the message knows the width of the column (four letters), the arrangement of the figures 1, 2, 3, and the use of the dots, and reconstructs his table directly; he then puts the letters in order by a backward process to the one we have gone through, and reads the message.
The next is a cipher of a different kind:—
The dots stand for the last letter in each square: thus O would be , and P the same with a dot put in the middle, thus • . A and B •
The sentence, “Routledge’s Magazine for Boys,” would be
