Page 161 of 197 CHAPTER XIII. IS IT A MATTER OF FIGURES? - Eight Hundred Leagues on the Amazon

Judge Jarriquez sat down at the table, took up a sheet of paper and a pencil, and said:

"Now, Mr. Manoel, let us choose a sentence by chance, the first that comes; for instance:

_Judge Jarriquez has an ingenious mind._

I write this phrase so as to space the letters different and I get:

_Judgejarriquezhasaningeniousmind._

"That done," said the magistrate, to whom the phrase seemed to contain a proposition beyond dispute, looking Manoel straight in the face, "suppose I take a number by chance, so as to give a cryptographic form to this natural succession of words; suppose now this word is composed of three ciphers, and let these ciphers be 2, 3, and 4. Now on the line below I put the number 234, and repeat it as many times as are necessary to get to the end of the phrase, and so that every cipher comes underneath a letter. This is what we get:

_J u d g e j a r r I q u e z h a s a n I n g e n I o u s m I n d_ 2 3 4 2 3 4 2 3 4 2 3 4 2 3 4 2 3 4 2 3 4 2 3 4 2 3 4 2 3 4 2 3 4 And now, Mr. Manoel, replacing each letter by the letter in advance of it in alphabetical order according to the value of the cipher, we get:

                              _j_ + 2 = _l_
                              _u_ + 3 = _x_
                              _d_ + 4 = _h_
                              _g_ + 2 = _i_
                              _e_ + 3 = _h_
                              _j_ + 4 = _n_
                              _a_ + 2 = _c_
                              _r_ + 3 = _u_
                              _r_ + 4 = _v_
                              _i_ + 2 = _k_
                              _q_ + 3 = _t_
                              _u_ + 4 = _y_
                              _e_ + 2 = _g_
                              _a_ + 3 = _c_
                              _h_ + 4 = _t_
                              _a_ + 2 = _c_
                              _s_ + 3 = _v_
                              _a_ + 4 = _e_
                              _n_ + 2 = _p_
                              _i_ + 3 = _l_
                              _n_ + 4 = _r_
                              _g_ + 2 = _i_
                              _e_ + 3 = _h_
                              _n_ + 4 = _r_
                              _i_ + 2 = _k_
                              _o_ + 3 = _r_
                              _u_ + 4 = _y_
                              _s_ + 2 = _u_
and so on.

"If, on account of the value of the ciphers which compose the number I come to the end of the alphabet without having enough complementary letters to deduct, I begin again at the beginning. That is what happens at the end of my name when the _z_ is replaced by the 3. As after _z_ the alphabet has no more letters, I commence to count from _a,_ and so get the _c_. That done, when I get to the end of this cryptographic system, made up of the 234--which was arbitrarily selected, do not forget!--the phrase which you recognize above is replaced by

		No government can stand for a long time without a fearsome oposition. Benjamin Disraeli