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."

"All ready?" said John.

"Go ahead," and this is what John read:

"20-1-11-5-1-3-15-21-18-19-5-4-
21-5-14-15-18-20-8-15-14-15-18-21-
14-4-18-5-4-6-5-5-20-6-18-15-13-
20-8-5-19-15-21-20-8-5-18-14-5-
24-20-18-5-13-9-20-25-15-6-19-8-
1-18-11-18-15-3-11-20-8-5-14-5-1-
19-20-6-9-6-20-25-6-20-25-6-5-
5-20-1-14-4-14-15-18-20-8-2-25-
5-1-19-20-20-8-9-18-20-25-20-8-
18-5-5-4-9-7."

"Exactly the same," announced Grant when John had finished. "Now what do
you think about that?"

"I believe it's a code which tells where some pirates have buried
treasure," announced Fred decidedly. "I also believe that this is the
island where it was done. How else do you account for our finding that
duplicate in the chest here?"

"It's strange all right," said George. "I can explain it all in a
different way, though."

"What's that?" asked Grant curiously.

"Just this. Suppose all those numbers do make up a code and that they do
give the key to some treasure or something. Isn't it possible that the
treasure was once in this empty chest, and some one found it and took it
away? Evidently there were at least two people in the secret, as the two
codes show. One of them got here first and took it away and as long as
he had no more use for the code he left it. Doesn't that sound
reasonable?"

"Yes, it does," Fred admitted. "It's not very cheerful, though, and I
hope you are wrong about it."

"I hope so, too," exclaimed George heartily. "It's just as well to look
at both sides, though."

"I don't believe your idea is right, Pop," said Grant.

"Why not?"

"Petersen got this code from his father, didn't he? Well, if his father
and the men he was with buried that treasure on this island it seems
strange that this old powder-horn and flint-lock pistol should be here.
Such things as that were used a good many years before Petersen's father
was alive."

"Who said his father was the one who buried the treasure?"

"I thought that was what some one said back there on the
_Josephine_."

"No, indeed. They said Petersen's father had the code, but I never heard
that he was one of those who were supposed to have buried the treasure."

"At any rate," put in George, "no matter who buried it, it doesn't say
that my theory is wrong. The pistol and the powder-horn may have been in
the ches