"D.C. improving shall settle all soon.Dusky Fowl."
"Still, I wasn't much the wiser, and it never for a moment occurred to me that D.C. stood for Dulcie Challoner"
"Good heavens, Dick!" I cried, "you don't mean to tell me that Dulcie"
"Do be patient, brother-in-law, and let me go through the whole thing before you interrupt with your ejaculations," Dick said calmly. "Well, four days went by, and then in the Morning Post of February 7th the second advertisement appeared:
"Rlxt. ex. sroehnel. 28. Zcokk. zbpl. qc.
Ptfrd. Avnsp. Hvfbl. Ucaqkoggwx.DUSKY
FOWL."
"The code was the same as the first, and I deciphered it quite easily. Here it is," and he read from a bit of paper he held in his hand:
"Date is February 28. Shall stay at Mount Royal Hotel, Bedlington.Dusky Fowl."
There was nothing more after that until February 12th, when the third advertisement appeared, same code,here it is deciphered:
"Car will be at Clun Cross two day February 28.Dusky Fowl."
"That 'Dusky Fowl' bothered me a lot. I couldn't think what it meant. Several times I had gone through the names of all the 'dusky birds' I could think ofblackbird, rook, crow, raven, and so on, but nothing struck me, nothing seemed to make sense. Then the next dayyesterdayan advertisement in the same code appeared which startled me a lot because your name and Mr. Osborne's were in it, and it didn't take me long then to get at the meaning of 'Dusky Fowl.' Here is the advertisement from yesterday's Morning Post, and directly I had read it I wrote that letter asking you to come to see me at once, or to let me come to you."