“Then I’m going to have one also,” cried Cleo, already on her knees before the broken star.
“Count the pieces,” suggested Louise, “and perhaps we can all have a piece.”
“Very well,” agreed Miss Mackin, “but mark the spot well. It may have some significance.”
The girls were eagerly digging up the little granite pieces. As they turned each over they found it marked with characters similar to that found by Corene.
“I know! I know!” exclaimed Julia. “I’ve read about this sort of marking. See, the straight lines. That’s the rune.”
“Rune!” repeated Grace.
“Yes, don’t you know we read of it in our ancient history? A rune is a sort of alphabet of sixteen characters and all are formed in straight lines.”
“I remember,” spoke up Cleo. “The letters look exactly like our signal code, for wig-wagging. Don’t you know there were pictures of funny clothes-pins and jumping-jacks?”
Not all were exactly clear in their memory of the runes, but each intended to look it up, and Miss Mackin was delighted that her girls had stumbled upon so interesting a discovery. Carefully collecting all the pieces the Bobbies next proceeded to mark the spot secretly, and it was this seemingly trifling detail that eventually led to the finding of the granite star clue.