Thanks, Catherwood!  I am dyslexic, so unfortunately making an error like that is why I need double-checkers . . .

meow

So, for Verse 1 numbers I got (without anagramming):
13-11-15-12-10-12-14-11-21-12-10-26-22-10-20-14-26-11-15-29-14-14
I-L-R-E-V-E-A-L-K-E-Y-X-B-Y-P-A-X-L-R-(?)-A-A

By my counting, your cipher text should be:
13-11-15-12
-11-
12-14-11-21-12-10-26-22-10-20-14-26-11-15-29-14-14
At first, I thought maybe this could explain some of the odd line breaks (e.g., Lane / Two Twenty Two).  But any puzzle-setter has to have a verifiable method for encoding, with expectations of how it would be solved.  The “29” causes doubt for me; the painful broken English in the result further fills me with doubt.  A good solve would be self-obvious and self-confirming.
But to be fair, I’ll punch out the rest of the numbers for the verses for comparison.

meow

As for the rare Fox/Crab alignment, well . . .
Some time I just don’t know my own strength!   ;D

Brilliant!  Now we’re all in trouble.

ohmygod…..
not again
,  meow, you must be powerful…
BMatty, if you don’t want to be
,  then don’t… but it is going to take a lot more than that to discourage us around these boards…

fox

LOL, I guess I should have been looking in florida all this time!!!
wilhouse

or….
30+ years after the start, this hunt is still active, and causing people to think and ponder and wonder and go places they didnt have a reason to go before.
Talk to people they had no reason to meet.  Enjoy a great day out in the sun/rain/fog/etc., rather then stay at home and watch tv.
That people still pick up the book and go,  “hey cool” shows how well the hunt was written. That few people have actually found a casque show how well they were hidden.
Nope no great reveal, no big finish. just somebody grabbing a shovel and thinking “I’ll try here now”
Masquerade, shouldnt be held up as the example of a “great” hunt. considering it really wasnt solved.
So I respectfully disagree with you, I think this is one of the best hunts ever written. Its really all about the hunt, and solving the clues. The treasure in this hunt
was never really much of a treasure. It’s just a way of keeping score. Note this is the Quest4Treasure board, Its the Quest, not the finding that is the real treasure.

I’ve just come to the conclusion that for a 30-year span, this was a poorly constructed treasure hunt.  There is no code.  There is no anagramming.  There are no solid confirmations or instructions except the sites themselves, and there have just been too many changes, too much tearing down and washing away and paving over and renovation.  It’s like the Children’s Zoo in Houston: that casque is gone now.  Just gone.  It won’t be found.  And there’s no telling how many of the other nine that have met the same fate, since no one is any closer to finding them.
The sad fact of this treasure hunt is that you can’t be sure of anything until you actually have your hands on a casque.  Even Mrs. Preiss doesn’t have the solutions anymore.  There isn’t going to be any great reveal like there was after Masquerade or Treasure.  This hunt has been in a state of decay for too long and the Internet came about 10 years too late to revive it.  (Egbert’s solve notwithstanding.)
I just don’t see what the fun is in trudging down this rabbit hole when it doesn’t seem like there’s any “there” there anymore.  Preiss expected the casques to be unearthed within a year.  The chances of finding one have slipped so far into the tenths or hundredths of a percent by now that I just wonder what’s in it for anyone anymore.  It was worth it for Egbert — he satisfied a dream he’d had for 20 years.  For everyone else, I just have to wonder: isn’t it time to find another hunt?  One with slightly better odds of solving?
Anyway, good luck with it.  I hope it works out, but I also hope that no one wastes too much time chasing it down, or at the very least, that the hunt is worth it to you.

And besides…it’s never been the prize, as was already stated. The longer this hunt goes on, the more satisfying it would be to solve it.

Thanks to Digger7, I did find some very interesting observations about the length of the lines being able to be interpreted as single letters.
There is a block of line-lengths going from 4-characters (no lines represented are 5-characters-long) to 29-characters + one line that is 33 characters (filling in the missing 5-character length?).  Sooooo . . .  26 different lengths of line to possibly hook up 26 letters.  In all fairness, there is only 1 deviation from this:  There is one line 32 characters long, and that is in the intro poem, not in one of the 12 Verses.
Also, the characters-per-line spread does seem to mimic some of the frequencies of letter occurance in English.
I will let you know if I find anything more down this particular path.

Bigmatt, you answered your own question when referring to sir egg. we are all in it to  “satisfy a dream  ”  the treasure has been pretty much a non issue. lets find another one guys!

fox

I think its about time.

This is very interesting.
please define your substitution algorithm more clearly.
ie ,
13= I
11= R
15 =
etc..
What are the values you are using and explain frequency of what to determine the values..
Actually for a confirmer, please perform an analysis on verse 12 and verse 4 and lets see how that
relates to confirmed finds.
I look forward to your response.
Thanks

Basically, I just treated the numbers of the letters in the line as symbolic place-holders for unknown letters, not as if the letter arrangement I was using came in any particular order.  (Think MenageriE’s sky crab.)  So, 13 just as well be a triangle or a star symbol, I’m not using the letter-pool in any particular array, as if it were an Atbash cipher or a 5 x 5 grid.  I don’t even expect there to be consistancy that ’13’ might = “Y” (as a purely theoritical example) from one verse to the next.  The main rule I was sticking to was that there was NO ANAGRAMMING (you all know how I love anagrams) — I was looking for phrases, with common real words, which made sense without anything weird except the occasional roman numeral.
I will do 4 next (I was currently working on 2, which I have about half-way).  I didn’t do it first, because I already knew what the result was “supposed” to be, and I didn’t want to pre-judge an answer.
(Update on Verse 4 matching Illustration 4)
The number of letters per each line are:
19-15-18-20-15-28-29-21-18-21-22-24-14-12
14 lines long, 15, 18, and 21 appear twice, the number/place holders do not seem to duplicate those values from Verse 1 for this possibility, which gives:
FIG’S IV PA GARDEN
— the PA would be cause for concern, except it was also used in Verse 1 to signify the word “page” — not Pennsylvania. Another possibility is [
b]FIG VIL PA GARDEN
(not on that page) — but since I am away from the book I do not know if the picture occurs on Page 44 — which would be a more convincing fit even if the Roman numerals are a bit awkward . . .
Again, this is not the only thing that can be proven with this particular frequency arrangement, but it does show a match is possible between Fig 4 and Page 4 from this, plus a hint that the casque might be found in a Garden.
If F= 19, i = 15, G = 18, S = 20, A = 21, R = 22, D = 24, E = 14, N = 12, P = 29, V = 28
(Verse 12 UPDATE:)
Verse 12 has the following number of letters per line:
23-21-12-18-14-14-21-10-15-10-21-13-8-13-4
which can be translated to
FIG V’S SITE T IN ONE
where f= 23, i=21,g=12,v=18,s=14,t=10,e=15,n=13,8=o
We know the Site was in One of the World’s Fair area’s, and a Tower was involved.
So, going by the data, I think we may have a definate trend worth applying to the rest . . .

Thank you Digger7 — I love the work!
As for the rare Fox/Crab alignment, well . . .
Some time I just don’t know my own strength!

I guess I don’t have an opinion about ciphers in The Secret one way or another but I do like to see new ideas and methods and do what I can to encourage them.  So, as meow has suggested, I have counted the number of letters in each line (ignoring spaces and punctuation as well as treating numbers as just another letter) and written out the numbers.  I was pretty careful about this but I won’t be offended if someone wants to check my work.  I also included the page number and the first line of each verse so there wouldn’t be any confusion about which verse I was referring to
I didn’t fully understand her explanation of the substitution cipher she used so I will leave that to her or anyone else who wants to try this line of reasoning.
Verse 0/Page 34 – The treasure now
14-13-14-11-6-21-25-26-19-12-29-25-23-32-25-25-26
Verse 1/Page 49 – Fortress North
13-11-15-12-11-12-14-11-21-12-10-26-22-10-20-14-26-11-15-29-14-14
Verse 2/Page 49 – At the place where jewels abound
27-26-22-12-19-19-22-22-24-19-12-11-19-12
Verse 3/Page 50 – If Thucydides is
14-15-13-23-19-18-9-18-14-12-19-10-13-12-13-11-14-13
Verse 4/Page 50 – Beneath two countries
19-15-18-20-15-28-29-21-18-21-22-24-14-12
Verse 5/Page 51 – Lane
4-12-21-22-20-14-14-17-21-27-28-9-10-17-13-15-13-8
Verse 6/Page 51 – Of all the romance retold
21-18-12-8-11-24-27-16-27-9-27-19-16-22-20-24-17-24-21
Verse 7/Page 52 – At stone wall’s door
16-17-10-17-19-11-16-13-26-17-10-17-9-9-10-15
Verse 8/Page 52 – View the three stories of Mitchell
29-29-17-22-18-24-15-12-12-16-24-22-19-14-12-24-20-20-29-20-17-17-16
Verse 9/Page 53 – The first chapter
15-14-7-12-21-20-20-25-24-14-16-14-24-16-18
Verse 10/Page 53 – In the shadow
11-14-14-25-8-28-10-15-6-20-20-22-33-6-24-6-8-17-19-11-16
Verse 11/Page 54 – Pass two friends of octave
22-10-14-22-22-10-19-11-20-15-12-18-9-21-19-18-6-9-27-13-8
Verse 12/Page 54 – Where M and B are set in stone
23-21-12-17-14-14-21-10-15-10-21-13-8-13-4
Verse 13/Page 47 – A dozen paintings
15-13-15-10-24-24-13-12-17-13
And for those who like their numbers in table form, here it is.  I have this table in word format and it looks a lot better than it does here so if anybody wants me to send it to them just let me know.
xxx V0 V1 V2 V3 V4  V5 V6 V7  V8 V9  V10 V11 V12 V13
L01 14 13 27 14 19 04 21 16 29 15 11 22 23 15
L02 13 11 26 15 15 12 18 17 29 14 14 10 21 13
L03 14 15 22 13 18 21 12 10 17 07 14 14 12 15
L04 11 12 12 23 20 22 08 17 22 12 25 22 17 10
L05 06 11 19 19 15 20 11 19 18 21 08 22 14 24
L06 21 12 19 18 28 14 24 11 24 20 28 10 14 24
L07 25 14 22 09 29 14 27 16 15 20 10 19 21 13
L08 26 11 22 18 21 17 16 13 12 25 15 11 10 12
L09 19 21 24 14 18 21 27 26 12 24 06 20 15 17
L10 12 12 19 12 21 27 09 17 16 14 20 15 10 13
L11 29 10 12 19 22 28 27 10 24 16 20 12 21 xx
L12 25 26 11 10 24 09 19 17 22 14 22 18 13 xx
L13 23 22 19 13 14 10 16 09 19 24 33 09 08 xx
L14 32 10 12 12 12 17 22 09 14 16 06 21 13 xx
L15 25 20 xx 13 xx 13 20 10 12 18 24 19 04 xx
L16 25 14 xx 11 xx 15 24 15 24 xx 06 18 xx xx
L17 26 26 xx 14 xx 13 17 xx 20 xx 08 06 xx xx
L18 xx 11 xx 13 xx 08 24 xx 20 xx 17 09 xx xx
L19 xx 15 xx xx xx xx 21 xx 29 xx 19 27 xx xx
L20 xx 29 xx xx xx xx xx xx 20 xx 11 13 xx xx
L21 xx 14 xx xx xx xx xx xx 17 xx 16 08 xx xx
L22 xx 14 xx xx xx xx xx xx 17 xx xx xx xx xx
L23 xx xx xx xx xx xx xx xx 16 xx xx xx xx xx

“…’Oh dear,’ says God,  ‘I hadn’t thought of that,’ and promptly vanishes in a puff of logic.”
(to quote Douglas Adams)

fox

OMG…
it has happened…I totally agree with Miss Crab.

OMG…
it has happened…I totally agree with Miss Crab.

who says the houston treasure is gone forever?  I still have hope that they will have to excavate the CZ one day, and if I’m still around, I’ll be there to claim the casque as it is unearthed.
I have a huge amount of satisfaction in Preiss’s email to me stating that I should dig where I think the casque is, and frankly, in some small way, I honor his memory whenever I look at the photos or think about the zoo.
My kids still talk about digging in the zoo, and it will be a treasure I will always have.
wilhouse

I have not given up this line of thinking yet, as I desperately hope to find a common cipher method connected with these puzzles that is not based on anagramming . . .

Why does there have to be a cipher?
The riddles and the pictures are plenty cryptic enough. There doesn’t have to be any other form of encoding, does there?

The thing is when this verse is applied to the real world it matches Herman Park in Houston perfectly. The only reason we have not found the casques is because the 3 plants or statues iluded to in the verse are no longer there and their is alot of ground in the approximate area to probe.

I was fiddling with another puzzle poem in a different game, when I realized the pattern might also apply to “The Secret”:
Count the number of letters in each line (I ignored spaces and puctuation)
Write out the numbers.
Use a frequency-based substitution cipher.
So, for Verse 1 numbers I got (without anagramming):
13-11-15-12-10-12-14-11-21-12-10-26-22-10-20-14-26-11-15-29-14-14
I-L-R-E-V-E-A-L-K-E-Y-X-B-Y-P-A-X-L-R-(?)-A-A
Translating the appropriate Roman numerals, you get:
49 reveal key 10 by pa 40 R(?) AA
For a confirmer, Verse 1 is on page 49 in the book, and Ponce de Leon is on page 40
I haven’t checked the other verses yet–there may be a different cipher code for each (I hope not) but I felt firm enough about this that I wanted to share with all those traveling out in the field.

I respectfully disagree that they are
too cryptic
. They are NOW, maybe—but in 1981 they weren’t. This has sort of been confirmed by old emails, where Preiss said he thought the casques and locations would all be found in very short order. 27 years ago this ol’ world was a very different place. Travel was not restricted, trees would have been smaller, undergrowth much less dense–signage and buildings would have been very different–and some of these places where they may be are unassuming enough that no photos will exist to help us find them now.  At our present time so much may have changed (the Hermann Park casque is a perfect example–every SINGLE landmark is gone!) that they may not be recoverable.  And that doesn’t even cover disasters like the Midwest flooding in 2002,  hurricanes in Louisiana and the Outer Banks…there is more that can CHANGE these locations than can actually preserve them.
Also, we’re (lately) conditioned to look for ciphers, since they are a bit more efficient than paintings and riddles. But in 1981, the cryptic riddle/visual puzzle was the way armchair hunts were done–Masquerade, Treasure, Money Hunt….all used similiar techniques.
No ciphers
.
I think Preiss would have mentioned a cipher, also–some way. Either obliquely, in the pre-puzzle material, or perhaps later in emails.
We have found one Anacrostic: SELOY. That’s it. No others. Attempts to find them have come up empty, or far too oblique to make sense.
Do we need ciphers? Nope. Are there ciphers in the verses? I doubt it very very much. Even what you’ve found so far is pretty vague and unconfirming. I don’t believe it’s a viable method for uncovering anything here, but you’re certainly welcome to try.

The riddles and pictures are
too
cryptic.
The job of a common cipher would actually, when recognized, make eveything easier.  (For example:  “Atbash every letter starting each line to get the city name!”)  Again, that does
not
mean said cipher exists.  It simply means that I may spend a lot of time ruling out other options. (The 10k ways that making a lightbulb doesn’t work vs. discovering the theory behind LEDs.)
I am just amazed that two casques were even found doing things what might have been the hard way.  It was and still is a major achievement.