The Mystery of the Screaming Clock (ahatti-9) by Robert Arthur

Author:Robert Arthur [Arthur, Robert]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: child_det
Published: 1967-12-14T16:00:00+00:00

It’s quiet there even in a hurricane.

Just a word of advice, politely given.

Old English bowmen loved it.

Bigger than a raindrop; smaller than an ocean

I’m 26. How old are you?

It sits on a shelf like a well-fed elf.

“I still don’t see how that can be a message,” Harry said. “Unless it’s a code of some kind.”

“It was intended for this Mr. King, who’s sick,” Jupiter reminded them. “He’s very good at clues and puzzles. This was something for him to puzzle out. If he could do it, so can we.”

“Speak for yourself,” Pete said gloomily.

“At first glance,” Jupe went on, “these peculiar sentences look something like the definitions of words in a crossword puzzle. My deduction is that each line means one word, and when we get all the words, we’ll have a message six words long.”

“But what words?” Pete wanted to know. “Where is it quiet even in a hurricane?”

“The best place to be in a hurricane is in a storm cellar,” Harry said.

“Or a bank vault,” Bob added.

“I don’t know.” Jupiter pinched his lip. “Maybe a bank vault would fit. We’re probably talking about something valuable, you know — ”

“How do you figure that?” Pete demanded.

“Why go to so much trouble unless it’s about something valuable?” Jupiter asked. “No, it’s about something valuable and it could be in a bank vault. Now let’s go on to line two. It says, ‘Just a word of advice, politely given.’ Now, what other words are there for ‘advice’? Pete, hand me that dictionary on the shelf.”

Pete handed him the dictionary from a shelf of books, and Jupiter leafed through it.

“Here we are,” he said, “ ‘Advice: an opinion or recommendation to a course of action.’ Let’s see how that fits. Bank vault — opinion —… It doesn’t sound right.”

“It sure doesn’t,” Pete agreed. “If you want my suggestion — ”

“Pete, stop!” Jupiter cried.

Pete stared at him. “Stop? Why? I was just going to tell you my suggestion — ”

“That’s it!” Jupiter told him. “Suggestion. A suggestion would be a polite way to give advice, wouldn’t it? I think you’ve solved the line for us.”

Pete blinked. “Then maybe it isn’t so hard after all,” he said. “Still, I don’t make any sense out of ‘bank vault — suggestion’.”

“Neither do I,” Jupiter agreed. “But we still have to get the rest of the words.”

“The third line is, ‘Old English Bowmen loved it’ ” Bob said. “But loved what? Bowmen were archers, they shot bows and arrows, so maybe they loved arrows.”

“Arrows are plural, not singular,” Jupe said. “Bowmen are also supposed to have loved a good battle.”

“Bank vault — suggestion — battle!” Harry exclaimed. “That’s worse than ever.”

“I agree,” Jupiter said, frowning. “But — ”

At that moment his aunt’s voice came in through the open skylight.

“Jupiter! Dinner-time. We’re closing up shop.”

“I’ll be right there, Aunt Mathilda,” Jupiter said into a microphone that connected with a speaker in his aunt’s office. To the others he said:

“I guess we’ll have to quit for the day. Harry, can you come back tomorrow?”

“I don’t think so,” Harry told him.

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