Darke Darrell, the Boy Detective — page 74: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

figures, his brows heavily knit, the paper tightly clutched. The following were the figures and the order of their ar- rangement: 13—12—7—21 21—_8—_7—19—4—8— 6— 22 ““J] am just as sure as can be, that those figures indicate the way out of this dungeon,” reasoned Darke. ‘* But how _ can J ever decipher them? How can I hit upon the key? There are four eights, four sevens, and three twelves. If _ each figure indicates a letter, then those particular ones must stand for vowels, as vowels are most frequently used. still, S and T are almost as frequent. The figures 12—14 _ —7, in the second line, ‘might stand for the word ‘the.’ If so, all the sevens stand for E. He studied, and figured, and experimented, until the _ perspiration stood upon him in drops. The minutes seemed a ~ — . like hours.. The light was growing more dim, for the sun _ no longer shone directly into the court-yard outside. ““T’m dead beat;” he muttered, with a sigh of despair. *«T give it up.” As he sat on the table he knocked his heels together, boy-like, and stared into the shadowy corner of the apart- ment. ‘‘Hah!” he suddenly exclaimed, bringing his hands _ together, his face brightening. ‘That mysterious card 4 _ which I found in the belt! It may be the key to what is _ chalked on the door.” He took from his pass-book the copy which he had taken | of the card in the belt, and closely studied it. 1214 7 the!” he suddenly exclaimed, all excite- ment. “Iwasright. Ill find out what it all means ina WwW; ** 33 jiffy’ Gomichbooks (E()