“Alike?” cried Grant in amazement. “What do you mean?”
“Just what I said,” returned Fred. “The numbers on these two papers are exactly the same from start to finish.”
“That’s the strangest thing I ever heard of in my life,” exclaimed Grant. “Let me look at them.”
“Didn’t I tell you fellows that that piece of parchment Petersen had was a code of some sort?” demanded Fred.
“Does the fact that we found one like it prove that?” said George skeptically.
“It certainly seems so to me,” Fred exclaimed. “At any rate, it is a very odd coincidence.”
“It’s that all right,” admitted George. “Are they exactly alike, Grant?”
“They seem to be,” replied Grant, who had been carefully studying the two papers.
“We can soon find out, anyway,” said John. “Let me have one of them and I’ll read it aloud. One of you fellows can watch the other and check up the numbers.”
“That’s a good scheme,” Grant agreed. “Here, String, you take this one and I’ll keep my eye on the numbers on the other as you call them off.”