Jean-Marie Blas De Robles - Where Tigers Are at Home

“Concerned is putting it mildly, I’m sick with anxiety. They’ve been officially reported missing. An army helicopter is setting out to search for them first thing tomorrow morning.”

“I can understand your worry, but I have great confidence in Professor Walde. I’ve met him several times and he gave me the impression he wasn’t a man to be involved in that kind of undertaking without thinking the matter through. He’s anything but an adventurer, you know. There must have been some kind of hitch, you can imagine all sorts of things happening in that area. Walde will be furious when he learns they’ve started the search so soon.”

“I pray God that you’re right, Monsieur Von Wogau, but that’s not the reason why I’m here. I …” She bit her lip, seeming to hesitate before taking the irrevocable step. “Journalists have a duty of confidentiality, do they not?”

“Just like doctors,” Eléazard replied, his mind suddenly on the alert. “Or priests, if you like.”

“Have you read the papers this morning?”

“Not yet, I spent the morning in São Luís, with Dr. Euclides, and I started work as soon as I got back.”

With trembling hands, Carlotta unfolded the paper she’d brought with her, then pointed to one of the headlines on the front page:

TRIPLE MURDER IN ALCÂNTARA

Eléazard ran his eye over the article, then turned to look at Carlotta.

“It was my husband,” she said, the tears welling up in her eyes. “I overheard him speaking to one of his lawyers on the phone.”

Eléazard let her tell her story then asked a few questions, insisting she try to recall as accurately as possible the words used. Any doubts he may have had vanished when she showed him photocopies of a file devoted to the governor’s land purchases; the name Carneiro was there, with a question mark followed by a handwritten note: to be settled as a matter of urgency! For a moment he had the feeling he had a time bomb in his hands … Links between the projected military base and Moreira’s speculation gradually formed in his mind.

“What do you want me to do?” he eventually asked after thinking it over.

“I have already started divorce proceedings,” she replied, trying to recover her composure. “I know him well, he didn’t intend that, he can’t have intended it … But there comes a moment when one has to answer for one’s actions before men, so that one can answer for them before God. This crime must not go unpunished … I want justice to be done, Monsieur Von Wogau, by any means you judge necessary to bring that about.”

“I will see to it,” Eléazard said gently. “It’s very courageous of you.”

“That’s not the word,” Carlotta protested, eyebrows raised. “No, I don’t think that’s the right word …”

Which tells of the unexpected way in which Kircher managed to decipher the sibylline writing of the French; in which we make the acquaintance of Johann Grueber & Henry Roth on their return from China & hear how they quarreled about the state of that realm

WITH HIS EXPERIENCED eye, Alban Gibbs noticed at once his friend’s worried appearance. Kircher made no attempt to deceive him; this affair with the secret message was threatening his own reputation but also risked undermining the Society’s standing, which was much more important. Explaining the details of the mystery to him, he eventually showed him the note with the text &, since Alban Gibbs did not know French at all, translated it:

“ Jade on lea sense at char ladder cracky ,” he said in lugubrious tones, “ chaff ale yea daw maze horde hey amber sad heard France arum …”

I saw Gibbs repress a slight smile: my master’s knowledge of English was perfect, but he had never succeeded — because he had never tried — to get rid of his strong German accent, which people regularly made fun of. This did not bother Kircher & he concentrated on his translation. Far from refining his pronunciation it seemed to me that he was actually trying to distort it even more.

“ Dove ray have heck tout lard her wreck ease pour rape Harry lens salt fate of Rancé parley gar deck horse dupe ape …”

He stopped, looking thoughtful, as if he were going through the words he had just spoken in his mind. Then he repeated, “ parley gar deck horse dupe ape ,” & his face lit up. “ Danke, mein Gott!’ 1he suddenly exclaimed &, with a little dance step (something I had never seen him do before), “ Parley gar deck horse dupe ape! Ho, ho! I’ve got it, my friends, I’ve got it! And it’s all thanks to you, Alban.”

Gibbs gave me a worried look & I felt a shiver of fear myself at the idea that my master might have gone beyond the borders of his mind.

“ Parma pare hole ,” Kircher went on, increasingly exultant, “ jape rove, rat if ye egg hare anti toss kill aura dace heyday invert hew dupe recent mess age! It works, my friends! Fetter sin germ hen, lave ant see doubt mill sea scent sauce end do … And it’s already 3 October! Sign yellow ye Eyck rid sap rope main … My God, Louis XIV! We must hurry, we’ve wasted too much time already!”

Kircher seemed to wake from a dream. Becoming aware of our presence & our dumbfounded expressions, he gave us the explanation of his agitation while he dressed to go out: “You must excuse my haste, but this is a most serious matter. It is essential I communicate the contents of this letter to the Supreme Pontiff.”

“But … the code,” I ventured to ask.

“Nothing simpler & nothing more ingenious. Listen to what I’m saying as if I were speaking French: parley gar deck horse dupe ape . What do you hear but: par les gardes corses du Pape ? That is the way the whole message works, you can reconstitute the meaning easily. Wait for me here, I’ll be back before long.”

As soon as my master had left, I pounced on the letter & unravelled the text following his indication:

Je donne licence à Charles de Créqui, Chevalier de mes ordres & Ambassadeur de France à Rome, d’oeuvrer avec toute l’ardeur requise pour réparer l’insulte aux Français par les gardes corses du Pape. Par ma parole, j’approuve, ratifie & guarantis tout ce qu’il aura décidé en vertu du présent message. Fait à Saint-Germain, le 26 d’août 1662. Signé Louis & écrit de sa propre main . 2

Alexander VII was delighted with Kircher’s success; he immediately had the two guards who had molested the Duke hanged & made dispositions to keep the French in Rome under surveillance.

The days that followed this episode, which Athanasius had merely seen as an occasion to exercise his skill, took on a different aspect. Kircher realized that a secret language was as useful as a universal language & was related to it as darkness is to light. In this my master was not for one moment thinking of serving kings or other persons who wanted to hide their correspondence, but simply of serving the truth. For if it was good to reveal knowledge & propagate it, it was not less necessary, sometimes, to restrict certain information to those wise enough to make proper use of it. Which the priests of ancient Egypt had done by inventing the hieroglyphs, as had a number of other nations such as the Hebrews with their Cabbala, the Chaldaeans or even the Incas of the New World. Accordingly my master decided to invent a language that was truly indecipherable & while I put the finishing touches to his Polygraphia , he devoted himself entirely to that project.

The year 1664 was marked by the return to Rome of Father Johann Grueber. When, eight years previously, he had been about to go to China, he had promised Kircher, at his request, to be his eyes there and to observe everything he could, down to the least details that might serve to satisfy his curiosity about that country.