What was the purpose of these secretive actions? That was a question which baffled Harry Vincent. He had left a coded report for The Shadow, behind the fire extinguisher in the hallway. But there had been no word from The Shadow in return.
Working on statistics, Harry found his thoughts reverting to Menzone. He was convinced that the South American’s railroad plans were a cover for some other operation. Yet Harry had discovered nothing concerning Menzone’s secret business.
The telephone bell began to ring from the study. Harry arose from his chair. Menzone, also rising, waved his secretary back.
“Keep on with your work, Vincent,” he said, in his peculiarly accented style. “Allow me to answer the telephone.”
Was Menzone expecting the call? Harry decided that such must be the case. He saw Menzone enter the study. He saw the door close — but it did not fully shut. Laying his work aside, Harry tiptoed to the study door.
MENZONE was at the telephone. Harry could see him through the opened crack. The South American had drawn a small booklet from his pocket. He had it in readiness as he spoke.
“Fee,” Menzone was saying. “Alk zay fela.”
For a moment, Harry took the words for Spanish. Then the unfamiliar sound impressed him. Drawing a pencil and an envelope from his pocket, Harry jotted down the odd words that he had heard, spelling them in phonetic fashion.
“Sovo,” Menzone was saying. “Bole bota atex vodo of alta… Alk rofe folo folo bole rojo…”
Menzone was listening. His smile increased as he thumbed the little book on the table before him. Then, in a tone of finality, he declared:
“Alk deek kire… Fee… Sake hoda. Seek alta eeta… Kye kye deek rema. Reen alk kode… Alk deek deek rema.”
Harry was copying these words as the receiver clicked. He looked up hastily, just in time to see Menzone open a desk drawer and thrust the little book away. Menzone locked the drawer. This delay was fortunate. It gave Harry, still copying the final words, time to scurry back to the living room.
When Menzone arrived, Harry was back at work. The envelope was in his pocket. Menzone glanced at his watch. He noted the time as eight o’clock.
“I am going out,” he announced. “I shall be back within an hour. Remain here, Vincent.”
The moment that Menzone had left, Harry sprang to his feet. He approached the window. He saw Menzone arrive on the sidewalk below. The South American was carrying his briefcase of papers. Harry saw him hail a cab.
Apparently, Menzone was on his way to hold a conference with persons interested in his enterprises. Such would have been Harry’s final decision, but for one fact — the oddly worded phone conversation which Menzone had held.
Harry realized that he had listened to an unintelligible language. The words which he had heard would prove useful in deciphering it; but they were comparatively few. The real key lay in the little book that Menzone had dropped in the desk drawer.
Hurrying to the study, Harry extracted a set of keys from his pocket. He found one that fitted the lock. He opened the drawer. He discovered the pamphlet. There was no wording on its paper cover. The title page, however bore this statement:
Rudiments of Agro.
On the next page, Harry discovered short explanatory paragraphs. They were followed by a vocabulary of words. Seizing pencil and paper, Harry began to jot down notes in shorthand, that he might copy the body of the pamphlet and leave the little booklet for Menzone’s return.
These were specimens of the notations which Harry made: [1]
Agro, a phonetic language… Certain letters omitted… C, hard like K… Vowels pronounced as the letters themselves… Spelling “za” to be read as “zay.” Opposites expressed by a reversal of their syllables. “Doto” — “large.” “Todo” — “small.” Plurals, a repetition of the word… “Sak” — “hour”; “sak sak” — “hours”… Possessives, add “ro” before or after the word… Example: “Ki” — “they;” kiro” — “theirs.”
Harry began to study the vocabulary. Here he found a list of words and began to write them as rapidly as possible. In capital letters, he noted the Agro words; after them, words in parentheses that were evidently the pronunciations as they would sound in English; these pronunciations appeared only where necessary:
all…………….OPO
always………….FORO
at……………..OD (ode)
bad…………….VOSO
bring…………..RAF (rafe)
will bring………REF (reef)
brought…………ROF (rofe)
careful…………THON (thone)
come……………DAK (dake)
will come……….DEK (deek)
came……………DOK (doke)
day…………….DOVO
do……………..VAK (vake)
will do…………VEK (veek)
did…………….VOK (voke)
go……………..CAD (kade)
will go…………CED (keed)
went……………COD (kode)
good……………SOVO
have……………PANO
will have……….PENO
had…………….PONO
heard…………..TABA
will hear……….TEBA (teeba)
heard…………..TOBA
hour……………SAK (sake)
house…………..GOMO
here……………RIK (rike)
is……………..ZA (zay)
will be…………ZE (zee)
was…………….ZO
later…………..REMA
minute………….SEK (seek)
no……………..EF (eef)
now…………….GOLO
need……………RAJO
will need……….REJO
needed………….ROJO
night…………..VODO
paper…………..FOLO
ready…………..FELA
see…………….ATO
will see………..ETO
saw…………….OTO
second………….SOK (soke)
send……………FAR (fare)
will send……….FER (feer)
sent……………FOR (fore)
sooner………….AMER (ameer)
tell……………BATA
will tell……….BETA (beeta)
told……………BOTA
then……………LOGO
there…………..KIR (kire)
this……………EXAT
that……………ATEX
to……………. AK (ake)
useful………….TOKO
when……………REN (reen)
yes…………….FE (fee)
HARRY was impressed by the vocabulary, as he jotted down these words among many more. He noted how words were opposites: dovo and vodo — day and night; rik and kir — here and there. He was also impressed by the verbs; how the simple change of a single letter made the tense present, future, or past. While wondering about adjectives, he came across a notation which stated that the repetition of such a word gave it comparative or superlative degree. The example was “voso” for “bad;” “voso voso” for “very bad.”
Then came the table of pronouns and numerals. These formed a simplified group:
I…………….ALK…………….me.
we……………ALK ALK…………us.
you…………..BOL (bole)
he……………KA (kay)………..him.
she…………..KE (key)………..her
it……………KI (kye)
they………….KI KI (kye kye) …them
one…… ALTA six……..FODA
two…… BODA seven……GODA
three…..CODA eight……HODA
four….. DODA nine……..ITA
five…….ETA (eeta) zero…….JODA
more………….FO (foe)
less………….OF (oaf)
1
Note: When he reached this point of his narrative, The Shadow supplied me with a copy of the Agro code book. It consisted of a pamphlet of some 28 pages, printed in small type. In preparing this chronicle, I have not attempted to provide the complete vocabulary as copied by Harry Vincent, as space would not permit. Instead, I have included only those words required to translate all the Agro conversations which appear in this story. MAXWELL GRANT.