CHAPTER IX.
When the Tracer of Lost Persons entered Captain Harren's room at the Hotel Vice-Regent that afternoon he found the young man standing at a center table, pencil in hand, studying a sheet of paper which was covered with letters and figures.
The two men eyed one another in silence for a moment, then Harren pointed grimly to the confusion of letters and figures covering dozens of scattered sheets lying on the table.
"That's part of my madness," he said with a short laugh.

"Can you make anything of such lunatic work ?" The Tracer picked up a sheet of paper covered with letters of the alphabet and Roman and Arabic numerals.

He dropped it presently and picked up another comparatively blank sheet, on which were the following figures: [Illustration: Cryptographic symbols] He studied it for a while, then glanced interrogatively at Harren.
"It's nothing," said Harren.

"I've been groping for three years--but it's no use.

That's lunatics' work." He wheeled squarely on his heels, looking straight at the Tracer.