The boys were immediately plunged into excitement. Everything else was forgotten. The chimney became the center of interest.
“Now we know why Hanleigh was measuring the chimney! Something is hidden there!” exclaimed Chet.
“Well, well!” said Joe approvingly. “And you actually figured it out all by yourself.”
“Nine feet high,” mused Frank. “We’ll have to get something to measure by.”
A stick was obtained and the boys roughly estimated its length as being about three feet. Then Joe went over to the chimney. Measuring from the floor, he marked off its length three times until he reached a spot which he judged would be nine feet high.
“It doesn’t look any different from any other part of the chimney,” said Chet.
Frank got up on a chair and carefully examined the chimney stone at the place to which Joe had measured. He felt the mortar, tapped the stone, ran his hands over the surface, but he found nothing to indicate anything amiss.
“Solid rocks and mortar,” he said, with disappointment. “All but those few cracks.”
“That’s queer,” said Joe. “Why should the cipher mention that part of the chimney so particularly?”
“We’re on the wrong track, for some reason or other.” Frank repeated the cipher message again: “ ‘Cabin Island chimney left front nine feet high.’ ”