She asked him his condition, to which he replied in a few hard concise words, a smile playing upon his lips.

But the instant she heard him she fell wildly at his feet, and taking his hand in her trembling grasp, begged of him to show her mercy.

But the man only laughed--a laugh that was ominous in itself.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN.

CONTAINS AN EXPERT THEORY.

Frank Farquhar had been at the Hotel Angleterre in Copenhagen, the hotel with the prettiest winter-garden in Europe, for four days.

They had been four days of constant activity. As guide, he had the resident correspondent of the morning newspapers of which he was one of the directors, and he had already satisfied himself that, in the Danish capital, there was but one first-cla.s.s Hebrew scholar, namely Professor Axel Anderson, of the Royal University.

Copenhagen he found a bright pleasant little city full of life and movement, the shops gay and the streets thronged by well-dressed people.

In ignorance of what had befallen Gwen, he was thoroughly enjoying himself, even though he saw that his visit could have no satisfactory result as far as the quest for the authorship of the mysterious doc.u.ment was concerned.

One morning he had called by appointment upon Professor Anderson at his pleasant house in the Norrevoldgade and sat down to chat. The Professor, a well-preserved, rather stout man of about forty-five, with a fair beard, spoke English quite well.

"As far as I am aware," he said, "there are only two professors of Hebrew in Denmark beside myself. They are close personal friends of mine, and I feel sure that neither of them entertains any unusual theory concerning the Book of Ezekiel, or they would have consulted me. Of course, we have a good many scholars come to Copenhagen to study the Northern and Oriental codices in the Royal Library here. Hence I have become acquainted with many of the chief professors of Hebrew. Have you consulted Professor Griffin in London? He is one of the first authorities upon the matter in which you are interested."

"Yes, I happen to know him," responded the young man.

"And what is his opinion?"

"A negative one."

"Ah! Then most probably this typewritten ma.n.u.script you tell me about was some baseless theory of an irresponsible crank. I would accept Griffin's opinion before that of anybody else. There is only one other man of perhaps equal knowledge--old Erich Haupt, of Leipzig. He is a great Hebrew authority, as well as a recognised expert in cryptography."

"What is your opinion broadly upon the matter?" Farquhar asked.

"Well, candidly, I believe the theory to be without foundation,"

answered the Danish scholar. "I do not believe in the existence of a cipher in the Hebrew scriptures. There is nothing cryptic about the sacred record. As regards the vessels of gold and silver from Solomon's temple, they were restored by Cyrus. It is true that an ancient Talmudic tradition exists to the effect that the Ark of the Covenant, together with the pot of manna, the flask of anointing oil and Aaron's staff that budded are still hidden beneath the temple mount at Jerusalem. And my opinion is that your half-destroyed doc.u.ment is simply based upon this ancient tradition with which every Jew in Christendom is acquainted."

"But, Professor," exclaimed the other, "I know that you yourself are an authority upon cryptography. Have any ciphers been discovered in the original of the Book of Ezekiel?"

"Well, yes," was the Dane's answer as he stirred himself in his armchair, and reaching his hand to a bookcase took down a Hebrew-Danish Bible. Then turning to Ezekiel, he said: "There is certainly something in the Hebrew of the thirty-sixth chapter which has puzzled scholars through many centuries. It begins at verse 16: `Moreover the word of the Lord came unto me saying, Son of man--' Now in the constant repet.i.tion of `Son of man' certain scholars declare they have discovered a numerical cipher. In the first verse of this chapter we have, `Son of man, prophesy unto the mountains.' In the third verse of the following one he asks: `Son of man, can these bones live?' Again in verse 9 of the same chapter, he says: `Prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind.'

And in verse 11, still addressing him by the same t.i.tle, he tells the prophet: `Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel.' By the t.i.tle `Son of man' Ezekiel is so often addressed, `Son of man' is so constantly sounded in his ears and ours, that it forces on our attention that G.o.d deals with man through the instrumentality of men, and by men communicates his will to men. Hence certain cryptographers have set to work and formed the theory of a hidden meaning in all this."

"But is the actual cipher known?" asked Frank, at once excited.

"Certainly. It was deciphered by Bamberg, of Paris, forty years ago.

But the secret message had no bearing whatsoever upon the lost vessels of Solomon's temple," was the Professor's reply.

"What was the message?" inquired the young Englishman.

"Well--the alleged message which Bamberg deciphered commenced in the thirty-sixth chapter beginning at verse xvi. The pa.s.sage has peculiar claims upon the attention of any one searching for cryptic writings.

Addressed in the first instance to the Jews, and applicable, in the first instance, to their condition, it presents a remarkable summary of gospel doctrines, and that in a form approaching at least to systematic order. In the seventeenth verse we have man sinning: `Son of man, when the house of Israel dwelt in their own land, they defiled it by their own way and by their doings.' In the eighteenth verse we have man suffering: `Wherefore, I poured my fury upon them.' In the twenty-first verse man appears an object of mercy: `but I had pity.' In the twenty-second verse man is an object of free mercy--mercy without merit: `I do not this for your sakes, O house of Israel.' In the twenty-fourth verse man's salvation is resolved on: `I will bring you into your own land.' In the twenty-fifth verse man is justified: `Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean.' In the twenty-sixth and twenty-seventh verses man is renewed and sanctified: `A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you; and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments and do them.'

In the twenty-eighth verse man is restored to the place and privileges which he forfeited by his sins: `Ye shall be my people, and I will be your G.o.d.' `This land that was desolate is become like the garden of the Lord.' We have our security for these blessings in the a.s.surance of the thirty-sixth verse: `I, the Lord have spoken it, and I will do it;'

and we are directed to the means of obtaining them in the declaration of the thirty-seventh verse: `I will yet for this be inquired of by the house of Israel, to do it for them.'"

"And in these verses the French professor discovered a hidden message?"

"Yes. It read curiously, and was most difficult to decipher. But according to Bamberg it was an additional declaration of G.o.d's kindness to man. G.o.d was named as `the G.o.d of Salvation,' and `the author and finisher of man's faith.' It consisted briefly in an exhortation to those who discovered the cipher to read, and to believe. But as for the hiding-place of the treasure of Israel being therein designated--well, even Bamberg, whom half the scholars of Europe denounced as a crank, had never dreamed of such a thing. No, Mr Farquhar," he added, "you may rest a.s.sured that the remarkable screed never emanated from a Hebrew scholar in Denmark. Perhaps it might have come from Gothenburg," he laughed; "more than one hare-brained theory has come from over there!"

Anderson was a Dane, and the Danes have no love for the Swedes.

"You mentioned some one in Leipzig. Who is he?" asked Farquhar.

"Oh! Haupt--Erich Haupt," replied the other. "He's Professor of Hebrew at the University, and author of several well-known books. His `Christology of the Old Testament' is a standard work. Besides Griffin in London, he is, I consider, the only other man in Europe competent to give an opinion upon the problem you have put before me."

"How can I find him?"

"You'll no doubt find him in Leipzig."

Frank felt that this German was a man to be consulted, yet he was anxious to pursue the inquiry he had started in Denmark. The man who had died in Paris, and had been so careful to destroy his secret, had been a Dane, and he felt that the originator of the remarkable theory must have been a Dane himself. Briefly this was what Farquhar explained, but Professor Anderson a.s.sured him that no such theory could have come out of Denmark without his knowledge.

"Search in Gothenburg, or in Stockholm, if you like," he answered with a smile. "My own idea is that the unfortunate man was deceived by some `c.o.c.k-and-bull' story, probably an attempt to raise money in order to carry out a scheme to recover the treasure of Solomon. He believed the story of the existence of the temple treasure, and in order that no other person should obtain knowledge of the secret destroyed it before his death."

"But who was the discoverer of the secret?" asked the Englishman.

"Who can tell," remarked the Danish professor, shrugging his shoulders.

"Perhaps it was only some ingenious financial swindle. You have surely had many such in London in recent years. You call them in English, I believe, `wild-cat' schemes."

"There are many `wild-cat' schemes in the City of London at the present moment," Frank remarked with a laugh, "but I guarantee that none is so extraordinary as this."

"Probably not," laughed the Dane. "I confess that, to me, the whole thing seems like a fairy tale."

"Then you don't discern any foundation in fact?"

"Only of tradition--the Old Testament tradition that the treasures are still hidden in the temple mount. Yet, in opposition to this, we have another tradition to the effect that the vessels of Solomon's temple were used in Persia four hundred years after the captivity. Mention is made of this in a Persian ma.n.u.script preserved in your British Museum in London. I forget the number, but it can easily be looked up in the catalogue of Oriental ma.n.u.scripts."

"You believe that statement authentic?"

"As authentic as any statement in the ancient records," was his reply.

"But I would suggest that you consult Haupt. He knows more of Hebrew cryptograms and ciphers than any one else on the Continent of Europe.

What does Professor Griffin think?"

"He's inclined to treat the whole theory with levity."

Professor Anderson smiled.

"Of course," he said. "Supposed ciphers in certain books of the Old Testament are many. And as you know quite well, a cipher may be invented to fit any message or record desired. Your Baconian theory in regard to Shakespeare was sufficient proof of that."

"Then in your opinion no real cipher exists in the Book of Ezekiel?"

asked the Englishman.

"The Bible was inspired," was his reply. "If so, there is no cipher in it except what cryptographers invent."

Frank Farquhar was silent. His inquiries in the Danish capital had nearly carried him into a _cul-de-sac_.