The Problem of Cell 13 by Jacques Futrelle. Part 4
Watch on KineScope.
The Thinking Machine sat on the bed and thought for an hour. Then he looked once more outside his cell window. One of the outside guards stood directly opposite, beside the wall. He was looking at the window of Cell 13 when The Thinking Machine’s large head appeared. But the Professor didn’t see the guard.
At twelve o’clock the Cell 13 guard brought The Thinking Machine his food. It was horrible but The Thinking Machine didn’t mind. He wasn’t interested in food. He spoke to the guard, who watched him as he ate.
“Have they made any modifications here in the last few years?” asked The Thinking Machine.
“Not really,” said the guard. “They built the new wall four years ago.”
“Have they done anything to the prison building?”
“Well, they painted the outside. And then seven years ago they had a new plumbing system installed.”
“Ah, I see,” said the prisoner. “How far is the river over there?”
“About a hundred metres. The boys have a baseball ground between the wall and the river.”
The Thinking Machine had nothing more to say, but when the guard was ready to go he asked for some water.
“I get very thirsty here,” he explained. “Could I have some water in a cup please?”
“I’ll ask the warden,” replied the guard, and he went away.
Half an hour later he returned with a small cup.
“The warden says you may keep this cup,” he told the prisoner. “But you must show it to me when I ask for it. If you break it, I won’t give you another one.”
“Thank you,” said The Thinking Machine. “I won’t break it.”
Two hours later the same guard was passing the door of Cell 13. He heard a noise and stopped. The Thinking Machine was on his hands and knees in a corner of the cell. There was the sound of several squeaks. The guard watched him.
“Ah, I’ve got you,” he heard the prisoner say.
“What have you got?” said the guard.
“One of these rats,” he replied. “See?” The guard saw a rat in The Thinking Machine’s hands. The prisoner carried it towards the light. “It’s a water rat,” he said.
“Haven’t you got anything better to do than catch rats?” asked the guard.
“It’s terrible that there are rats in this prison,” said The Thinking Machine. “Take this one away and kill it. There are many more where it came from.”
The guard took the rat and killed it. Later he told the warden about the incident, but the warden only smiled.
Later that afternoon the armed guard in the yard outside Cell 13 saw the prisoner look out and put a hand through the bars of the window. Something white fell slowly to the ground. It was a roll of linen from a shirt, and wrapped around it was a five-dollar bill. The guard looked up at the window again but the face was no longer there.
With a smile he took the cloth and the five-dollar bill to the warden’s office. There was something written on the outside of the cloth in strange ink. It said:
“Please deliver to Dr Charles Ransome.”
“Ha!” said the warden, “His first plan of escape has failed. But why did he address it to Dr Ransome?”
“And where did he get the pen and ink to write with?” added the guard.
The warden looked at the guard and the guard looked at the warden. There was no easy solution to the mystery. The warden studied the writing carefully.
“Well, let’s see what he wanted to say to Dr Ransome,” he said. He unrolled the second piece of linen.
“Well, if that – what – what do you think of that?” he asked, extremely confused.
The guard took the piece of linen and read:
“Epa cseot d’net niiy awe htto n’si sih. T.”