"Could it have been Alison?" suggested Margaret. "Maybe she meant it about the steward."
"That's my guess!" echoed Alexander.
"But why did she write it in English, and with this charcoal or whatever it is? And why did she hide it in that beam? And why was the diary torn in two?"
"You can search me!" Alexander remarked, shrugging his shoulders.
"Wouldn't it be a good idea to find out by translating the rest?" quietly suggested Bess, the practical. "No doubt she'll say something in it that will put us on the right track."
"Good business!" chuckled Alexander. "You've got some sense in that bean of yours, kid!"
"I don't understand you!" retorted Bess, coldly. She thoroughly disapproved of his slang, and was never amused by it as the rest often were.
"I should worry!" he responded unconcernedly, and turned to Margaret. "Couldn't you dope out a bit of it now, kiddie? You've got the goods to do it with."
"No," interrupted Corinne, looking at her watch; "it's getting late, and I must go. Let's give Margaret a couple of days to work it out, and then we'll have a grand old meeting and solve the whole riddle—I hope!"
Much as they longed to know the whole story at once, it was obvious that Corinne's suggestion was most sensible. But before they separated, they unanimously voted "Aye!" to another matter—that the discovery of the contents of the secret beam was the most satisfactory thing that had happened so far!