“Well, if that isn’t foolish, I’d like to know what is,” remarked Larry.
The oftener he read it the stranger it seemed. Then he turned it upside down, and tried to read it backward, but it was as bad one way as the other.
“I guess I’ll throw it away,” he remarked. “No, I’ll save it, and show Mr. Newton,” he said, on second thought. “Maybe some of the fellows in the office sent it to me for fun. He’ll probably know about it.”
The next morning he took the strange letter to the office with him, having said nothing to his mother about it, for fear she would worry.
“She’d say it came from the Black Hand society, or the Mafia,” he thought, as the papers were full of stories concerning these blackmailers.
“Any news?” asked Mr. Newton, when he greeted Larry.
“Nothing special,” replied the lad. “Someone has been having a little fun with me, I guess.”
“How?”
Larry produced the oddly-constructed letter, and gave it to Mr. Newton. At first the older reporter glanced carelessly at it. Then he looked more carefully over it, and a puzzled look came into his face.
“Can you make any sense out of it?” asked Larry.