Jimmy noted the detective’s bewilderment with a quiet smile of satisfaction. He did not look directly at the girl, but out of the corner of his eyes he could see her eager young face bent over the card, her pretty forehead wrinkled in a despairing attempt to decipher the curious document.
“Yet it was easy,” he said, “and if Reale had stuck to that word, the safe would have been opened by now.”
Angel pored over the mysterious clue.
“The word, as far as I can gather,” said Jimmy, “is ‘smock,’ but it may be——”
“How on earth——” began Angel in amazement.
“Oh, it’s easy,” said Jimmy cheerfully, “and I am surprised that an old traveler like yourself should have missed it.”
“Group occ. white red sec. 30 sec.,” read Angel.
Jimmy laughed.
It was the first time the girl had seen this strange man throw aside his habitual restraint, and she noted with an unaccountable satisfaction that he was decidedly handsome when amused.
“Let me translate it for you,” said Jimmy. “Let me expand it into, ‘Group occulting White with Red Sectors every Thirty Seconds.’ Now do you understand?”