“See!” he cried. “The cipher1 is cunningly reversed, in order to make it more complicated. The big threes written by the old Italian were drawn2 as a silent indication of the correct solution of this document. Besides, there is before and after the entry of the date of the document two threes, one at each end—meaning first the third letter, and secondly3 each three letters reversed.”
“Let’s decipher it at once—whatever it is!” I exclaimed, hastily pulling up a chair to the table beside him and taking a sheet of blank paper and pencil. Imagine for yourself the tension of my mind at that critical moment. What might not be concealed4 behind that bewildering array of letters? Was the secret of the whereabouts of the treasure written there, or was it, after all, only some unimportant record having no reference at all to the hidden loot?
The old man was staring at the document with a puzzled air, for it was apparently5 not so easy to decipher as he had believed.
“Dictate it to me, and I will write,” I urged quickly, holding up my pencil ready. The suspense6 was irritating. We both of us were impatient to get at the truth.
Slowly, and not without a good deal of difficulty, Staffurth reversed each three letters of the cipher, three by three, and then reading them by aid of the alphabet I had compiled, gave down the beginning of the document to me as follows?—
SP HXWE HQOPHWRABEH LCWO SR MCWO AP WO
On thys twenty-first daye of Maye in ye
RSKBO CPL HXABHAOHX WOBO SR WO BCAUPO SR
foure and thirtieth yere of ye raigne of
SKB ESKNBAUPO JCLAO OJAZCFOHX YKOPO SR
our souvrigne Ladie Elizabeth Quene of
OPUJCPLO RRBCPIO CPL ABOJCPLO LOROPLOB SR WO
Englande Ffrance and Irelande Defender7 of ye
RRCAHX A FCBHXSJSMOQ LC EIXSBPS XCNO MCLO
Ffaith I Bartholomew da Schorno have made
HXWE EOIBOH BOISBL.
thys Secret Record.
Our excitement knew no bounds. It was, after all, a secret record, and without doubt it referred to the treasure! It is always interesting work to decipher an old document, but more especially so one that no man has been able to read for ages. Imagine yourself for a moment in my place, with a fortune attached to the revelation of that secret!
Old Mr. Staffurth’s voice trembled, as did his thin, white hands. As a pal8?ographist he had at times made some remarkable9 discoveries while delving10 in the dusty parchment records of bygone ages, but surely none had ever affected11 him like this. We were learning the place where a fortune lay hidden.
For close on two hours we worked together incessantly12, slowly obtaining the right equivalents of the cipher, but very often making errors in calculation with the puzzling threes. The writing was simple after all, but at the same time difficult to decipher, requiring great care and patience. At length, however, I sat with the whole of the secret revealed before me, written down in plain English, surely one of the most interesting documents among the thousands preserved in the national archives.
The record, which we read and re-read a dozen times with breathless interest, was as follows?—
ON THYS TWENTY-FIRST DAYE OF MAYE IN YE FOURE and thirtieth yere of ye Raigne of our Souvrigne Ladie Elizabeth, Quene of Englande Ffrance and Irelande, Defender of ye Ffaith, I Bartholomew da Schorno have made thys secret Record.
TO EIGHT of ye men who fought wyth me on ye Great Unicorne against ye Spanysh galleon13 and who made covenant14 was ye place of ye loote knowne. In all those men dyd I place my trust. One Robert Dafte hath broken hys oath and hath reveled ye secret, for he hath tolde before hys death unto hys wyfe ye place into which we walled ye golde. Therefore it hath become necessarie in tyme to remove ye treasure which we captured from ye Spanysh and from ye Barbarians15 of Algiers unto a place of safetie from thieves, from conspiratiors, and from ye enemies of oure Quene.
THEREFORE be it known unto ye person who may rede thys my Record that on thys daye above written the whole of what I possess has been removed from ye priest’s hole in ye Manor17 of Caldecott and concealed in a place more fytting and secure. The knowledge of it now remains18 only wyth my trusted friends Clement19 Wollerton and John Ffreeman, the two signatories to ye present document. Be it knowne also therefore that ye secret covenant playced in ye hand of Richard Knutton is now made by me null and voide, although my testamentary disposition20 of ye golde jewels and all other articles whych I Bartholomew da Schorno, noble of Ferrara, Commendatore of the Order of San Stefano, have treasured shall remain as I have before written; that is to saye that should ye Knights21 of Saint Stephen not require funds ye golde is to become ye sole and absolute property of ye youngest childe of ye family of Clement Wollerton, of Stybbington, in ye Countie of Huntyngedon, but without any parte or portion to go to ye familie of Richard Knutton, ye last mentioned havyng wickedly and maliciously22 conspyred wyth ye wyfe of ye saide Robert Dafte to steale and take possession of ye treasure during our absence on ye seas.
AND THEREFORE be it known unto ye person who gains ye secret of thys cipher that I wyth mine owne hand have written thys my record for two purposes. In ye firste playce to make it plaine unto all men that it is my ardent23 desire to assist ye worke of ye release of Christians24 in slavery in Barberie, and secondlie to reveale unto ye one who deciphers my record ye place where ye golde wyll be found. Let hym rede and marke well.
FOURE MILES from Stamforde towne on ye great roade into Scotlande and to ye left hande, is Tyckencote Laund. Within thys woode have we buried ye treasure three arms-lengths deepe, and to recover it ye directions whych herewyth I give must be followed closely. Enter ye woode by ye path leading through ye fieldes at ye fourth mylestone from Stamford towne and passe ye lyne of six oakes always facing Empinghame church until ye Three Systers are found. Midway between ye three, at twenty-and-nyne foot-paces from ye south, have we planted an oak sapling and beneath it will be found hydden ye golde of ye Spanyards and ye jewels of ye Corsairs.
(Here followed the roughly-executed plan which consisted of three triangles at unequal distance from each other, and a crude sketch25 of the tree beneath which the gold was hidden. Across the sketch was an arrow, presumably showing the direction of the sunrise, and a second one with the word “Empinghame” written at its barb16.)
LET HE WHO fyndeth thys my wealthe carrie out my written will, taking unto hymselfe one of the chests of monie as hys recompense. But should he not give up ye remainder in full unto ye last descendant of ye Wollertons of Stybbington my curse shall for ever reste upon hym. That what is herein written is true, we who alone knowe ye secret of ye saide treasure and have taken oure oathes to keepe it untyl the golde should be wanted by ye Knightes of Saint Stephen have hereunto sett oure hands and seale on ye daye and yere first above written.
CLEMENT WOLLERTON.
JOHN FFREEMAN.
BARTHOLOMEW DA SCHORNO.
The spot to which the treasure had been secretly removed from that upstairs chamber26 in Caldecott Manor was now actually revealed to us! But we entertained a horrible suspicion that Bennett and his friends were equally in the possession of the secret. The suggestion that the document sold by the dead man Knutton contained a key to the cipher was, of course, now dismissed; but we were nevertheless filled with fear that the quartette might, by some means or other, have solved the problem, just as we had done.
Philip Reilly, although he had returned to his desk at the bank, had spent his spare time down at Hammersmith, and had watched the movements of the four men. He had once or twice told me that he believed some fresh move was being made, and he had also discovered that the fourth man, he who had charge of Dorothy on that fatal night at Kilburn—a short, dark-bearded, thick-set fellow known as Martin—was in reality a low-class solicitor27 named Martin Franklin, who rented a small back office in the Minories and appeared to have very few clients.
Staffurth agreed with me that we should lose no time in obeying the directions given in the document before us, therefore I drove into the city before the banks closed, and showed Philip the secret revealed. On reading it he became highly excited, as may be imagined, and, having obtained two days’ leave of absence from his manager, we went out and bought several useful implements28, including a saw, three shovels29, pickaxes, etc. Then, having sent them to King’s Cross cloak-room to await us, we drove home to Chelsea, where we informed Usher30 of the good news, and found him ready and anxious to render us assistance. Afterwards I went on to Dorothy and showed her the solution of the cipher. She seemed, however, apprehensive31 of some evil befalling me.
That night, having purchased an Ordnance32 map in Fleet Street, the three of us left London, travelling to the quiet, old-world town of Stamford, and putting up at that old-fashioned hostelry the Stamford Hotel. Perhaps you, my reader, know the quaint33, sleepy old Lincolnshire town, with its Gothic architecture, its Elizabethan houses, its many church spires34, and its noisy cobbles. Thirty years ago, before the railways came, it was a commercial centre and a busy, prosperous place; but nowadays its streets are deserted35, its fine old churches seem to be tumbling to decay, and only on market days does the typically English town awaken36 from its lethargy. Very picturesque37 is its situation, lying behind the broad, fertile meadows of the Welland, with Burghley House—that magnificent palace immortalized by Tennyson—in its immediate38 vicinity.
It was not, however, to enjoy the pleasant peace of Stamford town that we had come there. We did not arrive until nearly ten o’clock at night, and were, of course, compelled to leave our implements at the railway station. To take them to the hotel might arouse suspicion. Therefore we ate our supper in the coffee-room—cold roast beef and ale—retired soon after, and arose early next day, after a night of sleepless39 impatience40. In the privacy of Reilly’s room we decided41 upon a plan of action. With Usher I was to hire a trap and drive to Tickencote village, which, we learnt, was three miles away, past Casterton, on the Great North Road, and then dismiss the conveyance42, while Reilly was to go to the station, obtain the tools, and follow us in a separate trap hired from the George. At Tickencote village we were to meet and go on together to the place indicated in the old Italian’s record.
Immediately after breakfast we parted company and Reilly went out, after which we ordered a dog-cart and drove along the straight, broad highway, with its quantity of telegraph lines at the side, the great road which runs from London to York. The autumn morning was fresh, even a trifle chilly43, but the season was a late one, and the leaves had not yet fallen, although the frosts had already turned them to their bright red and golden tints44. Beyond Great Casterton Church we crossed a bridge at the end of the village, and a square tower among the trees in the distance was pointed45 out by our driver as Tickencote Church. Arrived at the village, which was just off the high road, we entered the inn.
Over a glass of ale we learnt several things we wished to know, namely, that there was Tickencote Park and Tickencote Laund. The park commenced at the junction46 of the high road with the short road leading up to the village, while the Laund lay back from the road behind some fields nearly a mile farther on. I learnt this by chatting with the landlady47 about fox-hunting. There were always foxes in Tickencote Laund, she informed me, and hounds were sure to have sport whenever they drew it.
While there it suddenly occurred to me that if Philip arrived with a collection of tools our visit would at once arouse the curiosity of the villagers. Therefore I whispered to Usher and we left the place, eventually meeting our friend on the high road a quarter of a mile away. He handed out the tools from the trap, then, jumping down, told the man to return for him at four to Tickencote village.
In order not to attract any attention we walked on, leaving Reilly to carry the picks and shovels at a short distance behind. Even there we were not safe, for we knew not whether our enemies had secretly watched our departure from London. Dorothy was always impressing upon me her suspicion that the men kept continual observation on me, while Usher knew Bennett well enough to be certain that he would not give up the chance of a fortune without some desperate effort.
Nevertheless, keeping a watchful48 eye everywhere, we walked along the wide muddy high road, impatient to arrive at our goal, and eager to dig at the spot indicated by the roughly-drawn plan upon that faded parchment.
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收听单词发音
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1
cipher
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| n.零；无影响力的人；密码 | |
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drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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secondly
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| adv.第二，其次 | |
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concealed
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| a.隐藏的，隐蔽的 | |
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apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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suspense
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| n.（对可能发生的事）紧张感，担心，挂虑 | |
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7
defender
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| n.保卫者，拥护者，辩护人 | |
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8
pal
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| n.朋友，伙伴，同志；vi.结为友 | |
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9
remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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10
delving
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| v.深入探究，钻研( delve的现在分词 ) | |
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affected
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| adj.不自然的，假装的 | |
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incessantly
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| ad.不停地 | |
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galleon
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| n.大帆船 | |
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covenant
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| n.盟约，契约；v.订盟约 | |
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15
barbarians
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| n.野蛮人( barbarian的名词复数 )；外国人；粗野的人；无教养的人 | |
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barb
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| n.（鱼钩等的）倒钩，倒刺 | |
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manor
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| n.庄园，领地 | |
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remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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clement
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| adj.仁慈的；温和的 | |
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disposition
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| n.性情，性格；意向，倾向；排列，部署 | |
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knights
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| 骑士； （中古时代的）武士( knight的名词复数 )； 骑士； 爵士； （国际象棋中）马 | |
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maliciously
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| adv.有敌意地 | |
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ardent
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| adj.热情的，热烈的，强烈的，烈性的 | |
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Christians
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| n.基督教徒( Christian的名词复数 ) | |
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sketch
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| n.草图；梗概；素描；v.素描；概述 | |
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chamber
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| n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所 | |
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solicitor
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| n.初级律师，事务律师 | |
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implements
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| n.工具( implement的名词复数 )；家具；手段；[法律]履行（契约等）v.实现( implement的第三人称单数 )；执行；贯彻；使生效 | |
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29
shovels
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| n.铲子( shovel的名词复数 )；锹；推土机、挖土机等的)铲；铲形部份v.铲子( shovel的第三人称单数 )；锹；推土机、挖土机等的)铲；铲形部份 | |
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30
usher
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| n.带位员，招待员；vt.引导，护送；vi.做招待，担任引座员 | |
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apprehensive
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| adj.担心的，恐惧的，善于领会的 | |
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ordnance
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| n.大炮，军械 | |
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quaint
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| adj.古雅的，离奇有趣的，奇怪的 | |
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spires
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| n.（教堂的） 塔尖，尖顶( spire的名词复数 ) | |
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deserted
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| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
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awaken
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| vi.醒，觉醒；vt.唤醒，使觉醒，唤起，激起 | |
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picturesque
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| adj.美丽如画的，（语言）生动的，绘声绘色的 | |
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immediate
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| adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的 | |
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sleepless
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| adj.不睡眠的，睡不著的，不休息的 | |
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40
impatience
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| n.不耐烦，急躁 | |
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41
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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42
conveyance
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| n.(不动产等的)转让，让与；转让证书；传送；运送；表达；（正）运输工具 | |
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43
chilly
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| adj.凉快的，寒冷的 | |
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44
tints
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| 色彩( tint的名词复数 )； 带白的颜色； （淡色）染发剂； 痕迹 | |
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45
pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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46
junction
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| n.连接，接合；交叉点，接合处，枢纽站 | |
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landlady
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| n.女房东，女地主 | |
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48
watchful
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| adj.注意的，警惕的 | |
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