Twilight was drawing in, and against the vivid red hue in the western sky the placid waters of the tree-fringed creek made an entrancing picture, that harmonized with my dreams of adventure in the future, like a presage of good fortune. Unconsciously I found myself toying with a pocket compass I invariably carried, and as my eyes lingered for a moment on the delicately balanced needle, I saw in my mind's eye, not the compass card, but the outlines of a magic square, with the needle forming the puzzling diagonal. In the haphazard position I held the compass the needle pointed to N.E. on the card, and, like a flash, occurred the directions scrawled upon the mysterious cipher, "Steer nor'-east." "I have it!" I exclaimed aloud in my excitement. "'Steer nor.'-east' must be old Humphrey's way of expressing the sequence of the numbers on his cipher; and that is the direction of the diagonal." Without a moment's delay, I hastened home to make a fresh onslaught upon the puzzle, and, to make a long story short, I solved the "twenty-five" square by constructing two similar squares on its north and south sides--i.e. the top right-hand sides--and starting with the figure 1 and working in a N.E. direction, so that directly a number fell within one of the divisions of the adjacent squares, I transferred it to the corresponding division of the original design. But when by this means I came to a space already occupied by a number, I found, by consulting the already completed nine-divisioned square, that the next number was placed in the vacant space that invariably occurred below. The completed square, which I regarded with considerable satisfaction, appeared as under-- +---+---+---+---+---+ | | | | | | +---+---+---+---+---+ | | | | | | +---+---+---+---+---+ | | | | | | +---+---+---+---+---+ | | 18| 25| 2 | 9 | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | 17| 24| 1 | 8 | 15| 17| | | | | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | 23| 5 | 7 | 14| 16| 23| | | | | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | 4 | 6 | 13| 20| 22| 4 | | | | | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | 10| 12| 19| 21| 3 | 12| | | | | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ | 11| 18| 25| 2 | 9 | | | | | | +---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ Total of each vertical, horizontal, and diagonal line = 65. [Illustration: A bigger magic square.] Now came the crucial test of constructing a square with the same number of subdivisions as there were on Humphrey's cipher, and an intelligent application of the figures to the symbols of latitude and longitude; but here I was nonplussed, for I had no copy of the cipher, neither could I remember the actual numbers of subdivisions. Just then, however, my father and uncle returned, and while at supper they did not fail to notice my excitement.