File:The Siberian exiles. A novel (1893) (14771459664).jpg

Identifier: siberianexilesno00knox (find matches)
Title: The Siberian exiles. A novel
Year: 1893 (1890s)
Authors: Knox, Thomas Wallace, 1835-1896
Subjects:
Publisher: New York, R. Bonner's sons
Contributing Library: Boston Public Library
Digitizing Sponsor: Boston Public Library

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iew with his sister, Ivan,in his cell at Tambov, heard a g-entle tapping on thewall that separated him from the adjoining apartment. He thought nothing of it at first, but as it was re-peated over and over again, he concluded that hisneighbor had something to tell him. Then he thoughtof the knock alphabet that he had heard of, and, atonce he replied with a few gentle taps. He knew nothing of the ,knock alphabet, and hisonly idea was that the letters taken in their order shouldbe numbered, and each letter indicated by the numberof blows corresponding to its position. With this ideahe counted the blows that were given on the wall, andfound that his theory was correct. His unknown neigh-bor gave a certain number of knocks, about one secondapart; then he paused four or five seconds and gaveanother number; then paused again and continued.By taking the number of knocks to represent a letter,Ivan was overjoyed to find that his neighbor was askinghim : D-o-y-o-u-u-n-d-e-r-s-t-a-n-d ?(176) :*X
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J *^ THE CHECKEK-BOARD CIPHER ALPHABET. 177 The Russian alphabet contains thirty-six letters.* D is the fifth letter, and a the first, and con-sequently Ivan answered ^ Da (yes) by knocking fivetimes, then pausing- and giving a single knock. But ifhe had been using English instead of Russian it wouldhave required forty-nine blows on the wall to spell outthe word y-e-s —twenty-five for y, five for e and nineteen for s. He realized that talking in such fashion would bevery slow work, and as he thought of this, his neighborspelled out: Heres better way, wait. Then he gave a hard blow at each of the four cornersof the wall and followed it with the sound of scratching,as if he were drawing seven lines one after the otherhorizontally along the wall, so as to divide the wholespace into six sections. After drawing the first line hegave one knock on the wall, two knocks after drawingthe second line, three after the third, and so on. Ivanreadily comprehended what was meant, viz., that thespac

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