“No.” Johnny’s answer was prompt. “He always says ‘Good luck—Pant.’”
“That’s it!” The girl gave a sudden excited jump that brought a shower of small rocks down from above. “That’s it! See! Now we are making progress. See! This hyphen stands for g. Those two nines for double o, percentage sign for d, and so on. I know now. This was written on a typewriter, one of the little portable kind.”
“Oh!” said Johnny, beginning to see the light. “What a chump I am. Can you make it out?”
“I think I can,” she cried excitedly.
“Read it,” said Johnny.
“I can’t just yet. Let me think. Your typewriter is one of those small portable affairs that fold over and fit into a black case, isn’t it?”
“Yes.”
“Let me think. I learned the touch system on one of those. Let me feel it out. Got a pencil?”
Johnny produced a stub of what had once been a pencil.
Turning the note over, the girl began drumming on it with all her fingers.