“What makes you think it’s not written in English?” demanded Grant.
“Well, just look along there in the middle,” said George. “It says r-k-r-o, and then k-t-h-e-n-e. Did you ever hear of any words that sounded like that?”
“No, but towards the end it spells two words distinctly,” protested Grant, “Just see there, n-o-r-t-h, and t-h-r-e-e. Certainly they spell north and three, don’t they?”
“They do,” admitted George. “That’s what puzzles me. Part of it seems to be all right and part wrong. Are you sure your system is right?”
“Not yet, but I’m getting surer all the time. How about you, String?”
“I agree with you, Grant. We’ll have it all in a minute.”
“Maybe it’s written in two languages,” said Fred. “Sometimes they do a thing like that, you know, to make it all the harder.”
“You’re a cheerful soul,” exclaimed Grant grimly. “If it’s written in two languages we’ll be about as badly off as we were before.”
“And we shan’t know whether we’re right or not,” added George.
“I say go ahead anyway the way we have been doing,” exclaimed Fred. “We seem to be making some sort of progress.”