ight. Take _i_ for nine."

Once more Fred wrote it out as follows:

t-a-k-e-a-3-o-u-r-s-e-4-u-e-n-o-r-t-h-o-n-e-h-u-n-4-r-e-4f-e-e-t-f-r-o
-13-t-h-e-s-o-u-t-h-e-r-n-e-24-t-r-e-13-i-t-25-o-f-s-h-a-r-k-r-o-3-k-t-
h-e-n-e-a-s-t-f-i-f-t-25-f-e-e-t-a-n-4-n-o-r-t-h-2-25-e-a-s-t-t-h-e-r-
t-25-t-h-r-e-e-4-i-7.

"That's the way," cried George. "Give him some more. Clean it up this
time."

"Let's see," said Grant musingly. "What numbers are left?"

"Three, four, thirteen, twenty-four, twenty-five, two and seven," said
George. "I think that's all."

"All right," exclaimed Grant, "we'll finish it up. Go ahead, Fred, and
in place of three put _c_, in place of four _d_, put _m_
for thirteen, _x_ for twenty-four, _y_ for twenty-five,
_b_ for two, and let's see, _g_ for seven. That ought to do
it."

"Here I go," said Fred, beginning to write at once. "You tell me what to
do when I come to those numbers."

Grant prompted him and the whole code of numbers was soon translated
into letters, reading as follows in its final form:

t-a-k-e-a-c-o-u-r-s-e-d-u-e-n-o-r-t-h-o-n-e-h-u-n-d-r-e-d-f-e-e-t-
f-r-o-m-t-h-e-s-o-u-t-h-e-r-n-e-x-t-r-e-m-i-t-y-o-f-s-h-a-r-k-r-o-c-k-
t-h-e-n-e-a-s-t-f-i-f-t-y-f-e-e-t-a-n-d-n-o-r-t-h-b-y-e-a-s-t-
t-h-i-r-t-y-t-h-r-e-e-d-i-g.

CHAPTER XXIV

SOLVED

"There it is," exclaimed Fred when he had finished writing.

"What does it say?" demanded George. "It's certainly jumbled up."

"We'll start at the beginning," said Grant eagerly, "and spell out the
letters and see if we can't make words out of them."

"Read them out loud," suggested Fred, "and go slow."

"T," began Grant, "that doesn't spell anything. T-a; T-a-k; T-a-k-e."

"Take," exclaimed George. "There's a word."

"Good," cried John. "Go ahead from there, Grant."

"A," said Grant.

"That's a word," cried Fred. "We've got 'take a,' so far."

"C," said Grant. "C-o; C-o-u; C-o-u-r."

"That means 'heart' in French," exclaimed George. "The next three
letters, s-e-d, mean 'but' in French. Do you suppose that could be
right?"

"It doesn't make sense that way," said John. 'Take a heart but.' What
does that mean?"

"Perhaps every word doesn't count," George suggested.

"Look here," exclaimed Grant. "What does c-o-u-r-s-e spell?"

"Course, of course," said John laughingly.

"Certainly it does," said Grant. "That's the word we want. So far we
have three; 'take a course.' Doesn't that sound more like it to you
fellows than some s