The two words composing it were carved in larger letters, and stood by themselves, as if specially important. ‘Capt’ of course meant caput, a head, and might hint at the approaching loss of Norfolk’s own; but the ‘T . . ck’ puzzled Mr Grope sorely, and was evidently another cognomen. It puzzled him so much that he resolved to finish the remainder of the inscription
r . . m 20 Br
first, and see if it threw any light on the subject.
The ‘20’ evidently indicated the day of the month; but to what month could ‘r . . m’ refer? Could it mean rosarum mensis—the month of roses? Might not a poetical conspirator thus paraphrase the month of June? Norfolk certainly was not beheaded till June 1572; but it was possible that a fellow-plotter might have decided on betraying him a full year before that date. ‘Br’ perhaps stood for brevi, by way of urging that the deed should be accomplished summarily; and 1571 spoke for itself. The ‘k’ which followed might be either a small or a capital ‘k,’ but Mr Grope concluded that it was the initial of another proper name; and he had soon persuaded himself that the sentence ‘K .. to ret’ ran: ‘K—— tollite retinete,’ and was intended as an injunction to take and retain K——. Who or what K—— was did not much signify, since there was no doubt about Norfolk.
It was the second line which continued to puzzle Mr Grope. He brooded over it when he went to bed, and could not sleep because of it; but in the small-hours of the morning, that season of daring inspirations, it flashed across him that ‘Capt T..ck’ meant neither more nor less than ‘Caput Turci,’ a Turk’s head. ‘The man may have written k for i by inadvertence. But why should a Turk’s head be written about in the cave near Q——?’ It struck Mr Grope that the battle of Lepanto had been fought in 1571, and that the conspirator might be alluding to an invasion of England which was to take place, when the Turk’s head should be figuratively cut off. On the following morning, a Dictionary of Dates accompanied the ham and toast on Mr Grope’s breakfast-table; and he ascertained that the battle of Lepanto had been fought in October, whereas he had decided that the inscription was written in June, and that it had something to do with English refugees and the Turkish fleet. This interpretation certainly gave a wider and more European interest to the writing in the Q—— bone-cave. But on further consideration, it seemed to Mr Grope that he would hardly be able to maintain it in printed controversy with the learned. The Turk’s head was pitchforked with so much abruptness among the directions to secure Norfolk and K——, that unless it were supposed to be a watchword among the conspirators, it seemed impossible to dovetail it in.
The antiquary did not go out that morning; he retired to his study and reflected on the difficulties of the Turk’s head. At last another light came in upon him, reminding him that there were many inns in the country with the sign of the Saracen’s Head, relics of the medieval time when the Saracens were the bugbears of Europe. Very likely there had been inns called the Turk’s Head in the sixteenth century, when Europe was always in terror of the Turks, and Mr Grope even fancied that he remembered seeing one with that sign in a village in the east of England. Looked at in this new light, the meaning of the inscription appeared to be: ‘Betray and take Norfolk at the “Turk’s Head” inn, on the 20th of June 1571, with all possible haste. Take and retain K——.’
Writing this out at full length, Mr Grope read it over with fond pride. He had thoughts of sending a letter on the subject to that scientific paper the Minerva at once, but prudence intervened, and he determined that he would first consult Sir H—— T——, the great archæologist, whom he had helped to lionise at Q——. It would be as well to say, when he wrote to the Minerva, that his friend Sir H—— T—— agreed with him as to the solution of the mystery; and he accordingly despatched a full account of the matter to the great man. That evening Mr Grope dined out, and could not refrain from imparting his triumph to a select circle of his acquaintances. Mr Grope was generally admitted to be the most intellectual resident at Q——. If a strange fish was caught in the bay, a strange fossil found in a quarry, or a coin dug up in a field, it was always referred to Mr Grope; and there were only one or two people who ever presumed to smile at his conclusions. And now when Mr Grope dilated on the conspirator and the inscription in the newly-found cavern, addressing in his drawling tones the small audience in the drawing-room after dinner—for he had kept the sensation for the benefit of the ladies—no one arose to dispute his explanation. The conspirator’s mention of the month of roses was especially attractive and convincing.
But it came to pass that Sir H—— T—— was not quite convinced. That savant thought it not impossible that the inscription might have something to do with the Ridolfi Plot, as the date was 1571; but as to the rest he differed from Mr Grope, courteously but decidedly. He did not believe in the Latin, and especially in Mr Grope’s Latin. He did not believe in the poetic paraphrase of June. He had read a good deal of sixteenth-century correspondence, and had never found a conspirator or any one else who spoke of June as the month of roses. ‘Nor’ might stand for Norfolk, though such was not Sir H—— T——’s opinion. Did Mr Grope think that the inscription was either partly or wholly written in cipher?
To say that Mr Grope was not disappointed, would not be adhering to the truth. He had arranged the matter in his mind, and had foreseen a triumphant career for his inscription among the archæologists and historians. It seemed impossible that Sir H—— could doubt such inevitable conclusions. The whole thing, as Mr Grope made it out, had fitted together like a Chinese puzzle. Yes, he almost resolved to persevere in his own view. To hold a controversy with Sir H—— T—— might make him nearly as great a man as Sir H—— himself. But he felt in his heart that no one would side with the Turk’s Head and the month of roses when Sir H—— was against them. Mr Grope was convinced of the truth of his own interpretation; but he would collect another possible meaning or two, and while pronouncing in favour of the first, submit the others to the learned public. After all, the idea of a cipher opened out a pleasing vista of conjecture. Much conjecture there must of course be, when conspirators would write in disjointed fragments. In the Ridolfi Plot he possessed at least a basis of operations.
It so happened that our antiquarian friend had some acquaintance with a gentleman who was now searching the archives at Simancas for facts to confirm a favourite theory, and who had on one occasion dined with him at Q——; and to him Mr Grope now conceived the happy thought of writing, with a request that he would send him a few of the ciphers used by Philip II. and his correspondents. In due time he received the keys of five or six ciphers, inclosed in a courteous note. The historian himself had sympathy with Mr Grope’s efforts in the cause of archæological science, and had besides, a lively recollection of Mr Grope’s ’47 port.