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"Come on", said Anne. "Let's discuss it over scones and
lemonade", she said as she got up and ushered the others into the
kitchen.
"Timmy!" Shouted George. "Come, boy!" And Timmy emerged from
behind the sofa where he had been teasing the corner of a rug.
The children sat down to their feast and discussed the turn of
events laid bare to them in Jo's letter. "It seems she might have
encountered something frightfully sinister", observed Julian,
having read the letter fully through twice.
"I do hope she has come to no harm", added Dick, who had always
been a little fond of Jo and the attention she lavished upon
him.
"We must make haste!" Exclaimed George, excitedly. "Where is Jo
staying?"
"A small cottage, about 20 miles away", replied Dick.
"I'll prepare a hamper", added Anne, who while not quite sharing
the others' enthusiasm for the adventure, relished the thought of
once again playing surrogate camp mother. "I'll pack scones and ham
sandwiches, lettuce, tomatos, and lashings of ginger beer!"
It wasn't long before the children had their bikes readied and
laden with hampers of food and various pieces of equipment, and
they were off.
For the most part Julian and Dick lead the way, their bikes
weighed down with the lion's share, although George had stamped her
foot and refused to be given a light load just because she was a
girl. The boys had finally convinced her to carry less than them on
the basis that she had to carry Timmy in her basket. Anne followed
along behind.
It was early evening when they arrived at Jo's grandmother's
cottage, having stopped along the way for a hearty late lunch of
thick ham and salad sandwiches washed down with ginger beer.
Jo's grandmother was a short and wizened old lady with a
friendly face who lived in a small but quiant cottage nestled
amongst old and gnarled oak trees.
"Joanne's not here right now", she told the children. "She left
this morning, it was all quite strange", she added, ushering them
inside.
"Strange, you say", replied Julian. "In what way?"
"Well, she had hardly even touched her breakfast and she rushed
out of the house and up the lane. I haven't seen her since", she
said and then paused. "Oh, but ofcourse, she did say you might be
coming along, and she left you a note..."
Jo's grandmother disappeared into another room and reappeared a
moment later with a small folded note in her hand. "You must be
hungry. I have some vegetable soup cooking on the stove. Would you
like some?" She offered as she handed the note to Julian, before
disappearing into the kitchen.
"That sounds positively scrumptious", replied Anne on behalf of
all of them.
Julian unfolded the note and read the first lines out loud to
the others, "'Hello Dick, George, Julian, Anne and ofcourse little
Timothy, I've come across something you will all be interested in.'
The rest of the note is in some kind of code."
Julian handed the coded note to the others. It read: 20 28 33 36
48 69 74 83 102 103 123 142 162 170 179 197 217 242 261 270 294 300
309 315 335 360 380 388 406 411 416 432 447 456 470 490 509 518 542
561 570 594 613 618 640 645 659 664 679 693 698 717 722 744 749 763
769 784 805 823 829 844 862 882 907 926 931 953 958 972 988 1003
1012 1026 1046 1066 1089 1104 1130 1135 1153 1168 1173 1182 1189
1197 1217.
"Come, children, I've laid out some dinner for you."
The children sat down and ate double helpings of soup and lovely
fresh crusty bread that Jo's grandmother had baked herself, all the
while discussing the coming adventure. None had any clue as to what
would unfold.
Over dinner, Julian, Dick, George and Anne discussed the coded
message and tried various methods of decoding it until it was Anne
who exclaimed "I've got it!"
After dinner, the children all told Jo's grandmother how
delicious was the soup, made their goodbyes and headed out the
door. They mounted their bicycles and with a vigorous wave, headed
off up the lane.
"We need to hurry", said Julian, puffing a little with the
effort. "We need to get there before dark."
Please ensure you replace the
camouflaged waypoint and final cache so that they cannot be easily
spotted by muggles. BYO pen. Please write your log in "Famous Five
speak", although this is not a
requirement. |