It was not until he had pondered and puzzled for more than an hour that Jack got any fresh light. Then it occurred to him that some of the less-used of the letters might have been dropped. After some thought, he left out K, Q, and all the letters after V, and renumbered those that were left. The first result of this change gave him a thrill. He spelt out the word "RISE." "Now I’m on the scent!" he said to himself. Next came the word "ARRIVE," then two initials—P, H, after them the word "NAVIRE." "I can’t make any sense of it at present. Let’s go on." At length the complete message was deciphered. It ran as follows— RISE ARRIVE P H NAVIRE SOUS CONVOI E FREGATE PARTENT VENDREDI POUR JAMAIQUE SANDI COVE SAMEDI. This was certainly clearer; it was decidedly French for the most part; but what did "RISE," "P," "H" and "E" mean? In a few minutes Jack jumped to the meaning of H and E; they were to be taken as numbers, not as letters; eleven merchant ships under convoy of two frigates were leaving on Friday for Jamaica. What about "RISE?" He remembered by and by that he had not begun to write until the signaling had been in progress for some time. "RISE" was probably the end of a word. What French word ended so? He put other letters in turn before the perplexing syllable: _brise, crise, grise, prise_. PRISE! Captured! He saw it at last. The signaler was informing the men of the lugger that a captured ship had arrived; P stood for Portsmouth; and Jack had no doubt that the ship meant was the _Glorieuse_. All that was left of the message were the last three words: "SANDI COVE SAMEDI." These suggested that Sandy Cove was to be the scene of a cargo run on Saturday; but Jack had never heard of Sandy Cove. For the moment he gave no more thought to it; the first part of the message was of much greater importance than any smuggling business. The mystery was becoming clear at last. No wonder the French showed a disconcerting knowledge of the movement of English ships! De Fronsac was a spy! So far from detesting the Monstair, he was actually in the Monstair’s pay. His business was to supply the Monstair with information. And his cunning had found a means to avoid the perils that otherwise might have beset his task. He had made friends of the Luscombe smugglers, ostensibly cast in his lot with them, so that he might have opportunities of signaling information to the French. Jack saw through the scheme in a flash.