So you'd spell 'boat,' ERDW; and Senora Estrada knows
when she gets that despatch that she must count three letters BACK
from each letter to get the right ones. Take now such a cipher
word as ULIOH. That means RIFLE. Count three letters back from
each letter of ULIOH, and it'll spell RIFLE. You can make up a
lot of despatches like that, just to have the thing look natural;
savvy?"
"Out of sight!" muttered Condy, making a note.
"Then Our Mug and Billy Isham start getting a crew. And Our Mug,
he buys the sextant there in Mazatlan--the sextant, that got out
of order and spoiled everything. Or, no; don't have it a sextant;
have it a quadrant--an old-fashioned, ebony quadrant. Have Billy
Isham buy it because it was cheap."
"How did it get out of order, Captain Jack?" inquired Blix. "That
would be a good technical detail, wouldn't it, Condy?"
"Well, it's like this. Our Mug an' Billy get a schooner that's so
bally small that they have to do their cooking in the cabin;
quadrant's on a rack over the stove, and the heat warps the
joints, so when Our Mug takes his observation he gets fifty miles
off his course and raises the land where the government forces are
watching for him."
"And here's another point, Cap.," said Condy. "We ought to work
some kind of a treasure into this yarn; can't you think up
something new and original in the way of a treasure? I don't want
the old game of a buried chest of money. Let's have him get track
of something that's worth a fortune--something novel.
Pages:
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181