“We’re on the track at last!” cried Mr. Newton. “Here, Larry, you write down the words I call off.”
Then, with fingers that trembled so he could scarcely hold the pencil, Larry set this down:
“To the boy who found the paper with blue marks we give you one week to make up your mind after that look for the loss of the small one who bears the name of a martyred president he will be taken from you when you least expect, sign deed at once.”
“What does that mean?” asked Larry.
“We’ll soon see. The first sentence is easily enough set off. ‘To the boy who found the paper with blue marks.’ You see, they have simply used every other word in the cipher. It was so easy it was hard. Now, then, we’ll go on. ‘To the boy, etc.,’ that means you. The next sentence reads: ‘We give you one week to make up your mind.’ The rest reads, properly punctuated: ‘After that, look for the loss of the small one who bears the name of a martyred President. He will be taken from you when you least expect. Sign deed at once.’”
“What does that mean about the small one bearing the name of a martyred president?” asked Larry.
“First consider who were the martyred presidents,” suggested Mr. Newton.
“Well, there were Abraham Lincoln, James A. Garfield, and William McKinley,” replied Larry.
“Is there anyone in your family with either of those names?”
“Let me see—of course—there’s Jimmy—James. But why do they refer to him?”