“We’ve caught a good many such messages too,” he said. “Have you managed to make anything of them?”
“Not a thing,” said Mr. Brandon, shaking his head. “If it is a criminal code, and I am about assured that it is, then it is a remarkably clever one and one that it is almost impossible to decipher without a key. I’ve just about given up trying.”
Then the boys told of their encounter with Cassey in the woods and their adventure in the old barn, and Frank Brandon was immensely excited.
“By Jove,” he said, “the man is up to his old tricks again! I’d like to get hold of him before he does any serious harm. That sort of criminal is a menace to the community.
“The funny part of it,” he continued, as they turned the corner into Bob’s block, “is that these messages are not all in Cassey’s voice. Have you noticed that?”
It was the boys’ turn to be surprised.
“That’s a new one on us,” Bob confessed. “The only messages we have caught so far have been in Cassey’s voice.”
Frank Brandon slowly shook his head.
“No,” he said, “I have caught a couple in a strange voice, a voice I never heard before.”
“The same kind of message?” asked Herb eagerly.