We crossed the creek at the head of the island by means of a skiff, and, ascending the high grounds on the shore of the mainland, proceeded in a northwesterly direction, through a tract of country excessively wild and desolate, where no trace of a human footstep was to be seen. "This bug is to make my fortune," he continued, with a triumphant smile, "to reinstate me in my family possessions. "Four letters beyond the word 'degree,' we perceive the combination But where are the antennae you spoke of?" "Not well! ; It was at this moment that his eyes, and mine also, fell upon the scrap of parchment, which I then supposed to be paper. here fairly screamed Legrand, "do you say you are out to the end of that limb?" and the longer one at the bottom like a mouth --and then the shape of the whole is oval." "Keeps a what, Jupiter?" Now, a not overacute man, in pursuing such an object, would be nearly certain to overdo the matter. Acting on this hint, I made the division thus: Matters of little moment are rarely consigned to parchment; since, for the mere ordinary purposes of drawing or writing, it is not nearly so well adapted as paper. "Why I mean de bug. I made them as distinct as they are in the original insect, and I presume that is sufficient." For some minutes he continued to scrutinize the drawing minutely where he sat. About the middle of October, 18--, there occurred, however, a day of remarkable chilliness. --find the left eye of the skull." As it was, I assumed the cryptograph to be English. "Jupiter, I should like to understand what it is you are talking about. "In this expedition to the 'Bishop's Hotel' I had been attended by Jupiter, who had, no doubt, observed, for some weeks past, the abstraction of my demeanor, and took especial care not to leave me alone. Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree.... Be on the lookout for your Britannica newsletter to get trusted stories delivered right to your inbox. He grasped my hand with a nervous empressement which alarmed me and strengthened the suspicions already entertained. "Readily; I have solved others of an abstruseness ten thousand times greater. vociferated Legrand, letting the negro go, and executing a series of curvets and caracols, much to the astonishment of his valet, who, arising from his knees, looked, mutely, from his master to myself, and then from myself to his master. "Pretty much, but not altogether," said Legrand. You can also find a biography of Edgar Allan Poe, along with some of his most famous quotes and loved poems. It is the loveliest thing in creation!" "     16. Every thing had been heaped in promiscuously. On my consenting, he thrust it forthwith into his waistcoat pocket, without the parchment in which it had been wrapped, and which I had continued to hold in my hand during his inspection. do you know your right hand from your left?" I had no alternative but to conclude him stricken with lunacy, and I became seriously anxious about getting him home. --sunrise?" Omissions? Spose I drop him down fuss, and den de limb won't break wid just de weight ob one nigger." Besides all this, there was a vast quantity of solid gold ornaments; --nearly two hundred massive finger and ear rings; --rich chains --thirty of these, if I remember; --eighty-three very large and heavy crucifixes; --five gold censers of great value; --a prodigious golden punch-bowl, ornamented with richly chased vine-leaves and Bacchanalian figures; with two sword-handles exquisitely embossed, and many other smaller articles which I cannot recollect. --answer me this instant, without prevarication! In fact, having once established connected and legible characters, I scarcely gave a thought to the mere difficulty of developing their import. Jupiter's countenance wore, for some minutes, as deadly a pallor as it is possible, in the nature of things, for any negro's visage to assume. Do you know that Jupiter is quite right about it?" an arrangement immediately suggestive of the word 'thirteen,' and again furnishing us with two new characters, i and n, represented by 6 and *. I reasoned, for example, thus: When I drew the scarabaeus, there was no skull apparent on the parchment. Saying this, he seated himself at a small table, on which were a pen and ink, but no paper. ‡     "     16. gallery "Looking now, narrowly, through the cipher for combinations of known characters, we find, not very far from the beginning, this arrangement, "But your grandiloquence, and your conduct in swinging the beetle --how excessively odd! do you hear me?" This is an updated version of Poe's original cryptogram. There was not a particle of silver. Is it any wonder, then, that I prize it? "But," I interposed, "you say that the skull was not upon the parchment when you made the drawing of the beetle. In these excursions he was usually accompanied by an old negro, called Jupiter, who had been manumitted before the reverses of the family, but who could be induced, neither by threats nor by promises, to abandon what he considered his right of attendance upon the footsteps of his young "Massa Will." The plot is far-fetched: William Legrand, who has lost his family fortune, … In this manner we journeyed for about two hours, and the sun was just setting when we entered a region infinitely more dreary than any yet seen. In a few minutes the voice was heard again, announcing that the seventh limb was attained. Jupiter and myself are going upon an expedition into the hills, upon the main land, and, in this expedition, we shall need the aid of some person in whom we can confide. "In supposing it to be a bug of real gold." The noise was, at length, very effectually silenced by Jupiter, who, getting out of the hole with a dogged air of deliberation, tied the brute's mouth up with one of his suspenders, and then returned, with a grave chuckle, to his task. In an instant, a treasure of incalculable value lay gleaming before us. 2:*‡(;4956*2(5*-4)8¶8*;40692 --that's a fine fellow. Our utmost united endeavors served only to disturb the coffer very slightly in its bed. "The scrap of paper, you mean," said I. Still nothing appeared. I'd rudder not go fer trubble dat bug --you mus git him for your own self." I proceeded to use the glass. These colors disappear at longer or shorter intervals after the material written on cools, but again become apparent upon the re-application of heat. "Yes, I nose dat --nose all bout dat --'tis my left hand what I chops de wood wid." guestbook good, Upon turning it over, I saw my own sketch upon the reverse, just as I had made it. Many of them were very old, and as time keepers valueless; the works having suffered, more or less, from corrosion --but all were richly jewelled and in cases of great worth. When I came home at night my valet proposed to give me a flogging. --he had prepared a huge stick, the other day, with which to chastise me for giving him the slip, and spending the day, solus, among the hills on the main land. I made up my mind, at once, that this was of a simple species --such, however, as would appear, to the crude intellect of the sailor, absolutely insoluble without the key." This reflection suggested some meaning --some relevancy --in the death's-head. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). I immediately kindled a fire, and subjected every portion of the parchment to a glowing heat. "I now scrutinized the death's-head with care. which --which is your left eye?" I said, after contemplating it for some minutes, "this is a strange scarabaeus, I must confess: new to me: never saw anything like it before --unless it was a skull, or a death's-head --which it more nearly resembles than anything else that has come under my observation." "Then up with you as soon as possible, for it will soon be too dark to see what we are about." "Did you bring any message from Mr. Near the western extremity, where Fort Moultrie stands, and where are some miserable frame buildings, tenanted, during summer, by the fugitives from Charleston dust and fever, may be found, indeed, the bristly palmetto; but the whole island, with the exception of this western point, and a line of hard, white beach on the seacoast, is covered with a dense undergrowth of the sweet myrtle, so much prized by the horticulturists of England.                    :     "     4. what ho! It's getting late, and, besides, you remember your promise." 1     "     8. Legrand immediately took the scythe, and cleared with it a circular space, three or four yards in diameter, just beneath the insect, and, having accomplished this, ordered Jupiter to let go the string and come down from the tree. In a few seconds he had uncovered a mass of human bones, forming two complete skeletons, intermingled with several buttons of metal, and what appeared to be the dust of decayed woollen.