The Mysterious Code

Frayne, left all the Frayne
property to Jim.”
    “Whoopee! Let’s tell
Jim!” Trixie shouted.
     
    Dramatically Trixie
told the story to the boys as Honey exhibited the box. “What do you think of
that?” she demanded when she had finished.
    Brian and Mart
stopped their work on the oil heater and exclaimed over the jewel box. Jim was
strangely silent.
    Alarmed, Trixie
questioned him. “Why don’t you say something, Jim? The jewel box and rings
belong to you now, of course. What’s the matter?”
    “It’s just something
my mother told me a long time ago,” Jim said. “And because, for once, Jonesy,
my stepfather, was blamed for something he didn’t do.”
    “You mean someone
thought he stole the jewel box?” Trixie asked.
    “Yes,” Jim said. “My
mother thought he did, too. My Aunt Nell and Uncle Jim Frayne never liked him.
They loved my mother, and they couldn’t understand why she ever married Jonesy.
Nobody could.”
    “What about the
jewel box?” Trixie urged him. “What did you know about it?”
    “I’m trying to tell
you, Trixie,” Jim said sadly.
    “My mother told me
that when Aunt Nell came back from Europe, she couldn’t find the box or the
rings anyplace. She didn’t mind the loss of the rings so very much, but Uncle
Jim had given her the jewel box one time when they were in Paris. She loved it
more than anything she owned. Jonesy used to ask my aunt and uncle for money,
and, when my mother wouldn’t let them give him any more, I guess Aunt Nell
thought he stole the jewel box. When my mother accused him of stealing it, he
denied it.”
    “That time he was
right, wasn’t he?” Trixie asked.
    “Yes,” Jim agreed.
“I’d like to be able to tell him it’s been found.”
    Trixie and Honey,
who, when Ten Acres burned, had seen how cruel Jonesy could be, didn’t waste
much pity on him now. “Will you let us exhibit the jewel box at the show?”
Trixie asked.
    “Yes, of course,”
Jim answered. “The Bob-Whites can sell it and the rings, too, and add the money
to the Fund.”
    “I’ll bet your
mother will buy it, Honey,” Trixie said. “She thinks it’s just beautiful,” she
added to Jim.
    “Then she shall have
it,” Jim said at once. “I know Aunt Nell would have liked that. Mother’s been
so wonderful since she and Dad adopted me. The club can sell the rings. We’ll
just exhibit the jewel box at the antique show.”
    The next day the Sleepyside
Sun had a long story about the treasure found in the Manor House attic. The
Bob-Whites spread the newspaper on the table in the school cafeteria. Nothing
was said, of course, about the part Jim’s stepfather played in the drama. There
was a picture of Jim, however, of the jewel box, of all the Bob-Whites and
their clubhouse, and a picture of Ten Acres before it burned.
    “You made a lot of
fuss about that jewel box,” Mart said, “and you overlooked the keenest part of
Trixie’s discovery.”
    “What was that?”
Trixie asked, all ears.
    “The acrobatic
alphabet, of course,” Mart said. “We can use it for a secret code. If anyone
gets into trouble, he sends a message in code, and we fly to the rescue!”
    “You’re right,
Mart!” Trixie said. “Why didn’t I think of using it for a club code? I’ll go
back and hunt it up again in that old magazine tonight.”
    “I did copy it from
the magazine,” Honey said. “I have it here in my notebook. I’ll make copies for
all the Bob-Whites. We’ll all have to learn it.”
    “We’ll have to
concentrate on learning the letters SOS at least,” Mart said. “I’m afraid there
are brains in this gathering incapable of assimilating the alphabet in its
entirety.”
    “Skip it, Mart,”
Brian told his brother. “Don’t forget that Trixie found the alphabet,
translated the message on the key tag, and discovered the musical jewel box.”
Brian spread a paper napkin on the table, looked in Honey’s notebook, and
copied the three letters of the code.
     

     
    “Maybe,” he said,
“if we all try hard enough, we can get it through our heads that this means SOS
and is a frantic call for help. And now let’s get going to our classes.”

Thieves! • 7
     
    Every night after school the
Bob-Whites worked. Jim and Brian polished the swords till they shone.
    Then they gilded the
frame of the old mirror. It was about forty-two inches square, and they had
found an old gilt iron base to hold it. Refinished, it was beautiful.
    Trixie washed and
polished the two brown