“To impossible the suddenness boy forever who nevermind found whatever the inexperienced paper delivery with upside blue showcase marks satin we lace give devoted you steam one furnace week pencil to ink make Hudson up ever your Brazil mind pig after cows that fencerail look evidently for concise the farm loss plow of cart the automobile small steamboat one teapot who stove bears umbrella the typewriter name ribbon of door a couch martyred dog president lamp he seemingly will purpose be desire taken curtain from when you deliberate when always you regular least sat expect train sign doormat deed impossible at tiger once.” “Well, if that isn’t foolish, I’d like to know what is,” remarked Larry. The oftener he read it the stranger it seemed. Then he turned it upside down, and tried to read it backward, but it was as bad one way as the other. “I guess I’ll throw it away,” he remarked. “No, I’ll save it, and show Mr. Newton,” he said, on second thought. “Maybe some of the fellows in the office sent it to me for fun. He’ll probably know about it.” The next morning he took the strange letter to the office with him, having said nothing to his mother about it, for fear she would worry. “She’d say it came from the Black Hand society, or the Mafia,” he thought, as the papers were full of stories concerning these blackmailers. “Any news?” asked Mr. Newton, when he greeted Larry. “Nothing special,” replied the lad. “Someone has been having a little fun with me, I guess.” “How?” Larry produced the oddly-constructed letter, and gave it to Mr. Newton. At first the older reporter glanced carelessly at it. Then he looked more carefully over it, and a puzzled look came into his face. “Can you make any sense out of it?” asked Larry. “Well, not exactly. That is, not right away.” “Do you mean you ever expect to be able to?” “I might.” “But it’s all nonsense. Just as if I took a lot of words at random, and jotted them down. It reads as good backwards as it does frontwards.” “Of course it does. That’s the way they intended.” “Who intended?” “The persons who sent you this cipher message.” “Is this a cipher?” “It certainly is, and it’s evidently a very easy one, or the gang would never have sent it. They evidently want to scare you a bit.” “Do you think the gang that stole the deed sent this?” “I certainly do.” “And can you read what’s in it?” “Not at once, but I’m going to try. They’re laughing at us, Larry, but we’ll laugh at them soon. Now to solve this cipher.” CHAPTER XX SOLVING THE CIPHER Much as he would have liked to go to work on it at once, Mr. Newton was obliged to postpone his beginning of solving the problem. There were a number of stories he had to go out on, and Larry, likewise, was kept busy. It was late in the afternoon when they found a chance to speak of the strange letter again.