Chapter 4

Chapter 4 The kids examined the other two notes. They found pinholes through the letters O, F, and E. "H, D, J, O, F, and E all have holes through them," Dink said, writing the letters on a pad. "Maybe the letters spell a secret message," Ruth Rose said. "Let's try to make words out of them." She grabbed the pad. "I get hoe, Joe, doe, foe, and fed," she said after a minute. "How about of, Ed, oh, and he," Dink suggested. "Those words don't make any sense," Josh said. "Maybe each letter stands for a word. You know,

like SCUBA." Dink and Ruth Rose just stared at him. "You know, SCUBA? S, C, U, B, and A? The letters stand for 'self-contained underwater breathing apparatus.'" Dink grinned. "Josh, how come you look so dumb, but you're really so smart?" Josh grinned right back. "How come you look so dumb, and you really are?" "Guys, stop fooling around," Ruth Rose said. "Let's figure out what these letters mean." The kids spent ten minutes trying to make a message out of the letters J, H, D, O, F, and E. "I give up," Dink said finally. "Wait a minute," Josh said. "Maybe Mother's already shown us the secret words." He picked up one of the notes and peered at the pinholes. "Look," he said. "This hole is in the first E in envelope. Maybe it's the word envelope that's part of the code!"

Dink and Ruth Rose arranged the four notes by date. Then they looked at the words next to the pinholes. Dink wrote down six words: Jenny, hid, den, on, fifth, envelope. Ruth Rose started to read them out loud, then suddenly grinned. "Listen, guys. 'Jenny hidden on fifth envelope."' "Awesome!" Josh said, giving Ruth Rose a big grin. "The one that came today is the fifth envelope," Dink said, holding it up. "But who—or what—is

Jenny?" "The message says Jenny is on the envelope," Josh said. "But all I see are the stamps." "Don't forget the ink and glue," Dink said. "What about looking for the letters J, E, N, N, and Y in the addresses?" Ruth Rose suggested. "E, N, N, and Y are there," Josh said after a minute. "But there's no J." "That leaves the stamps," Dink said. The stamps were pictures of big yellow sunflowers. "I don't see any Jenny there." "Guys, look," Ruth Rose said. She grabbed the other envelopes. "The first four envelopes have just one stamp each. But the one that came today has three." "You're right," Dink said. "I wonder why." He rubbed his fingers across the three sunflower stamps. "I feel something under there!" he said. Dink held the envelope up to the window. "There's something dark under those stamps," he said. "I can see an outline!"