Out of fifteen symbols in the
first message four were the same, so it was reasonable to set
this down as E. It is true that in some cases the figure was
bearing a flag and in some cases not, but it was probable from
the way in which the flags were distributed that they were used
to break the sentence up into words. I accepted this as a
hypothesis, and noted that E was represented by XXX.
"But now came the real difficulty of the inquiry. The order of
the English letters after E is by no means well marked, and any
preponderance which may be shown in an average of a printed
sheet may be reversed in a single short sentence. Speaking
roughly, T, A, O, I, N, S, H, R, D, and L are the numerical
order in which letters occur; but T, A, O, and I are very nearly
abreast of each other, and it would be an endless task to try
each combination until a meaning was arrived at. I, therefore,
waited for fresh material. In my second interview with Mr.
Hilton Cubitt he was able to give me two other short sentences
and one message, which appeared -- since there was no flag --
to be a single word. Here are the symbols.
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