rant was conducting.

"Never mind why," exclaimed Grant. "Do as I say."

"Give me a sheet out of your diary, Pop," said Fred. "I'll do the
figuring."

"Are you going to write it all down?" inquired George.

"Shall I, Grant?"

"Put it all down. We'll go slowly, but we'll do it right."

"All right," exclaimed Fred. "Here goes," and he wrote as follows,
substituting the letter for the number every time he came to it:

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

"Well," exclaimed George when Fred had finished, "it may be very simple
and all that, but it doesn't mean anything to me."

"Of course, not yet," said Grant. "Have a little patience."

"Why don't you tell us what your system is?"

"No, you wait."

"How about fourteen now?" demanded Fred. "We decided that was a pretty
common number, you know. What shall I do with that?"

"I'll tell you," said Grant and once again he appeared to calculate
something in his head. "In place of fourteen put the letter _n_,"
he directed, "and use the copy you just made."

"What do you mean by the copy I just made?"

"I mean leave the letter _e_ where you put it in the last time."

"Here we go," exclaimed Fred and this is what he wrote:

20-1-11-e-1-3-15-21-18-19-e-4-21-e-n-15-18-20-8-15-n-e-8-21-n-4-18-e-
4-6-e-e-20-6-18-15-13-20-8-e-19-15-21-20-8-e-18-n-e-24-20-18-e-13-9-
20-25-15-6-19-8-l-18-11-18-15-3-11-20-8-e-n-e-1-19-20-6-9-6-20-25-6
-e-e-20-1-n-4-n-15-18-20-8-2-25-e-1-19-20-20-8-9-18-20-25-20-8-18-e
-e-4-9-7.

"Clear as mud," cried George, slapping Fred heartily on the back.
"You're a wonder, Peewee, my boy."

"I must confess I don't understand all this business," exclaimed Fred.
"Why don't you tell us what you are trying to do, Grant?"

"Because I'm not sure that I know myself."

"Tell us what you think anyway," urged John. "There's no harm in that."

"I'd rather not," said Grant. "If you fellows don't want to help me any
more though, I'm perfectly willing to work it out by myself."

"No, you don't," exclaimed Fred. "If there's anything going to happen
around here I want to be on hand."

"An' me too," said Sam eagerly. "Ah wants to be heah when dat treasah am
discovahed. Ah'll fix dem niggers in Richmond yet."

"Good