By degrees the sounder stopped its mad dancing and began to work slowly.
"Listen," said Frank, and he seized a pencil, "it's something he wants us to hear. I'll write it down."
Frank began scratching as the sounder clicked on. And this is what he got:
"Do ntfo rgett hat youow eme fi vedol lars."
"It's Choctaw!" cried the Codfish, who had been leaning over Frank's shoulder as the message came in. "Who can read Choctaw? David, don't speak up too quick. And Frank thinks he's an operator! Shades of my grandmother, what a message!"
Frank had been staring at the page. Finally he burst out laughing.
"Oh, it's a joke, is it? It looks funny enough to be a joke. Explain it, please."
"The only trouble is, that I didn't get the spaces right between the words. See, when you space it right the Choctaw becomes the following: 'Don't forget that you owe me five dollars'."
"What an insulting thing to send over our own wire first crack out of the box!" said the Codfish. "Of course we owe him five dollars, and if he were a gentleman he wouldn't remind us of it, particularly when we haven't got it in our clothes."