bigscoop
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"It would be difficult to portray the delight he experienced when accident revealed to him the explanation of the paper marked "2." Unmeaning, as this had hitherto been, it was now fully explained, and no difficulty was apprehended in mastering the others..." I think it is possible that the author is telling us that he has in fact already decoded ciphers 1 & 3 as well. However, in the very next paragraph he writes, "That they would attach no importance to a seemingly unintelligible writing seems quite natural; but their attention being drawn called to them by the publication of this narrative, may result in eventually bringing to light the missing paper."
The missing paper? We have long assumed that this was to mean a key to ciphers 1 & 3, but I don't believe this is the case. Instead, I think the author was looking for a different paper, and not a key or even another cipher, but rather the piece of paper that contained the keyword index to the 19 four digit codes contained in C1. By bring to light the publication of all three ciphers he was likely hoping to attract the attention of someone who had knowledge of the entire affair, and hence hopefully/possibly gaining access to that critical keyword index. C1 & C3 were probably never published in a solvable arrangement, but by presenting them and claiming that "no difficulty was apprehended in mastering the others..." he was sending a clear signal that "Yes, I have solved the ciphers, but I still need the keyword index to complete C1. If you have that keyword index, perhaps we can help each other, so we need to talk." I think it is likely that this keyword list was the unintelligible paper the unknown author was looking for.
The missing paper? We have long assumed that this was to mean a key to ciphers 1 & 3, but I don't believe this is the case. Instead, I think the author was looking for a different paper, and not a key or even another cipher, but rather the piece of paper that contained the keyword index to the 19 four digit codes contained in C1. By bring to light the publication of all three ciphers he was likely hoping to attract the attention of someone who had knowledge of the entire affair, and hence hopefully/possibly gaining access to that critical keyword index. C1 & C3 were probably never published in a solvable arrangement, but by presenting them and claiming that "no difficulty was apprehended in mastering the others..." he was sending a clear signal that "Yes, I have solved the ciphers, but I still need the keyword index to complete C1. If you have that keyword index, perhaps we can help each other, so we need to talk." I think it is likely that this keyword list was the unintelligible paper the unknown author was looking for.
