"This is all I can make out of it: 'I *end you *** **nds of ***is **een. ***tter it on *** *rass. nce rr ws,'. Sounds as crazy as the steer, doesn't it?"
"That's as easy as living on a farm," said Stella, who had been looking over Ted's shoulder.
"All right, Miss Smarty, what is it?" said Ted laughingly.
"See, it's part of instructions to some one, and the way I read it is like this: 'I send you so many pounds'—I don't know just how many, but from the spaces the weight is expressed in three letters or three figures. The next is presumably a poison, although I wouldn't have thought of it if you hadn't spoken of it. What does two words, the first ending in 'is' and the other in 'een' mean, I wonder?"
They all scratched their heads for an answer.
"Why, sure, I have it," said Ted. "It is Paris green."
"That's it. Clever boy. Then there's 'tter,' which simply shouts 'scatter' at you. After that 'rass.' That's not hard. It reads so far: 'I send you, say six, pounds of Paris green,' although it must have been more than that. 'Scatter it on the grass.'"
"But the rest of it. That will stump you," said Ben.
"That's what caused me to get next to it first. It's Clarence Barrows, as sure as you're born!"
"Stella, you're right, by jinks!" shouted Bud. "Ther sweet-scented Lieutenant Barrows has sent men out yere ter poison our critters, and we've caught him with ther goods on."