The Caves of Fear: A Rick Brant Science-Adventure Story. Goodwin Harold Leland

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СКАЧАТЬ That means the first figure of the pair is the null, because it's the second figure that stands for 'bad.'"

      "Sounds reasonable," Scotty agreed. "Keep plugging."

      So far, the probable words were: Come both bad.

      Page 276 in the fourth group turned out to be a table of atomic weights. Line 86 was the element tantalum. If the first figure of the last pair was assumed to be a null, the word was the symbol for tantalum: "Ta."

      Rick stared at it. "Something's wrong. This doesn't make sense."

      Barby asked impatiently, "How do we know?"

      Rick yielded and moved to the next group. It gave the word "rubles." "That's Russian money," he said.

      The trio looked at it in bewilderment, then Scotty suddenly let out a yell of laughter. "I've got it! Can't you see? 'Ta' and 'rubles' go together! 'Tarubles.' Troubles!"

      Then they were all howling with joy. Leave it to Chahda to dream up something like that, Rick thought. So far, the message made sense. Come both, bad troubles.

      He turned the pages and counted feverishly. The sixth group gave "am," the seventh "in."

      The eighth group gave the message an ominous tone.

      Come both. Bad troubles. Am in danger.

      The scientists and Mrs. Brant were looking over Rick's shoulder now, too.

      The ninth group stopped them for a moment because the pair of figures standing for the word was 14. If the figure 1 was a null, the word was "the." But there were more than 14 words in the line, and the 14th was "my."

      Rick looked at the faces around him. "I think it's 'my' because he must have had a reason for using nulls. If I were making up the code, I'd use them because sometimes there are enough words in a line so you need two figures and sometimes not. But you always have to put down two figures so the groups will be even."

      "Good thinking," Rick's father complimented him. "Go ahead on that basis. But hurry up. The suspense is awful."

      There was a chorus of agreements.

      The next word was "boss."

      "He was working, then," Scotty guessed. "That must be it, if he has a boss."

      Rick hurried to the next group. It produced "Carl." Page 439, the 96th line, gave "Bradley." Then the boss's name was Carl Bradley.

      Hartson Brant gave a muffled exclamation. Scotty turned quickly. "Do you know that name, Dad?"

      "Yes. But let's get the rest of the message. Quickly, Rick."

      The words appeared in rapid succession, with a pause now and then to solve a new difficulty. Once, the lines across the columns were not even and a ruler had to be laid across to find the word. Again, a null appeared as the first number in the page group. Chahda had used it because the page was 51 and he needed a third figure to round out the group. That was easy to spot because the group read 951 and the book had only 912 pages.

      In the last series of groups Rick came across another double word like "tarubles." This time, "be" and "ware" combined to make "beware." Then, the very last word stopped them for a moment. It was "umbra."

      "What's that?" Scotty asked.

      "The shadow cast by the moon during an eclipse of the sun," Julius Weiss answered. "Or part of it, rather. There are two shadows. The umbra and the penumbra."

      Barby ran for a dictionary and leafed through the pages quickly. "I have it," she said. "Listen. It's from the Latin for 'shadow,' and it means 'a shade or shadow.'"

      "Shadow it is," Rick said, and wrote it down. Then, slowly, he read the full message to the serious group around him.

      COME BOTH. BAD TROUBLES. AM IN DANGER. MY BOSS, CARL BRADLEY, DISAPPEARED. GOVERNMENT WILL ASK SCIENTIFIC FATHER DO SPECIAL WORK. MUST TAKE. GET JOBS, MEET ME HONG KONG GOLDEN MOUSE. WATCH CHINESE WITH GLASS EYE, HE DANGEROUS. AND BEWARE LONG SHADOW.

      CHAPTER III

      Heavy Water

      Hartson Brant walked swiftly to the telephone and picked it up.

      "What's the matter, Dad?" Rick asked quickly. The scientist had a strange look on his face.

      "Give me the telegraph office," Hartson Brant said. He put his hand over the mouthpiece. "I'll tell you in a moment. I want to get a wire off immediately." He spoke into the phone again. "Western Union? This is Spindrift, Brant speaking. I want to send a straight telegram. Yes. To Steven Ames."

      Rick gasped. Steve Ames was the young intelligence officer of JANIG, the secret Army-Navy group charged with protecting the security of American government secrets. The Spindrift group of scientists had worked with Steve in solving The Whispering Box Mystery.

      Scotty's fingers bit into Rick's arm.

      Hartson Brant gave the address. "Here's the message. 'Have reconsidered your request basis of new information just received here. Urge you come or phone at once.' That's it. Sign it 'Brant, Spindrift.' Yes. Charge to this number."

      He waited until the telegraph office had read back the message, then hung up and turned to the waiting group.

      "Three days ago I had a phone call from Steve Ames. He asked if I could undertake a special job for the government that would require me to go overseas at once for an indefinite time. I was forced to decline because obviously I can't leave now with these staff changes about to take place."

      The scientist knocked the ashes out of his pipe, his face thoughtful.

      "Steve wouldn't take no for an answer. He insisted that the job was of the utmost importance, and he added that it concerned an old college chum of mine." He paused. "His name is Carl Bradley."

      Rick's eyes met Scotty's.

      "He said it was an urgent job, but that he would give me a few days to think it over, to see if I couldn't rearrange my affairs in some way. I assured him it was no use, that I couldn't possibly leave, but he said to take until Saturday to consider it. That's tomorrow."

      Rick whistled. "Some timing."

      "It's a lot more than mere coincidence," Hartson Brant said. "But I don't know any more about it than what I've told you."

      "Who is Carl Bradley?" Weiss asked.

      "I'm surprised you haven't heard of him, Julius. He has a considerable reputation as an ethnologist. He and Paul Warren and I were in school together. We lost track of him for a while, then he wrote from China. He had spent several years inland, living with the Chinese, as one of them. He produced some immensely valuable studies. Those, and his rather remarkable ability to speak and act like a Chinese earned him the nickname of 'Chinese Bradley.' He had lived most of his life since school in one part of Asia or another. But I'm sure I can't guess what his connection is with this special job of Steve's, or how he happened to become Chahda's boss."

      "Or why he's missing," Barby added.

      The cable had created a mystery that demanded a solution, but no amount of discussion answered the questions it raised. Finally, Mrs. Brant broke up the debate by pointedly remarking on the lateness of the hour. Reluctantly, СКАЧАТЬ