't you solved that
cipher yet?"

The boys walked dejectedly back to join the others. Rick explained that
the right volume was missing. The Spindrift files just didn't go back
that far.

"Sit down and eat your dinner," Hartson Brant said. He sliced roast for
them, his eyes thoughtful. "Something's wrong with your reasoning," he
said, as he filled Rick's plate. "Would Chahda have a 1912 edition with
him in Singapore? I doubt it. More likely he'd have a more recent one."

"But the letter L has to mean something," Barby protested.

"What could it mean but twelve?" Rick asked, and the answer struck him
before the words were out. He shouted, "I know! It could mean fifty! L
is the Roman numeral fifty."

Barby clapped her hands. Scotty reached over and pounded Rick on the
back.

"That's it," Hartson Brant said approvingly. "I'll make a wager on it.
Chahda used the 1950 edition."

Rick pushed back his chair, but the scientist's voice stopped him.

"Let's rest on our laurels, Rick. Finish dinner first, then we'll all
retire to the library and work it out."

Because they were burning with impatience, the three younger members of
the Spindrift family did not enjoy the meal, but they made a pretense of
eating. Then, an eternity later, Hartson Brant took the last sip of his
coffee and grinned at Rick. "Shall we get to it?"

"Shall we!" Barby led the way, holding the cable high.

The first part was easy. Since most pages in the _Almanac_ had three
numbers, they assumed that the first three numbers in each code group
referred to the page. Similarly, they assumed that the second two
numbers referred to the line. That left two numbers for the position of
the word on the line.

With nervous fingers Rick turned to Page 521 of the 1950 edition and
counted down 30 lines. He hesitated over the subtitles, then decided to
count them too. At the proper line, he looked up at Scotty and Barby who
were watching over his shoulder.

"But there are two columns."

"Don't worry about the columns," Scotty advised. "I don't think Chahda
would pay any attention to the columns, because it would mean extra
numbers in each group. Count right across and don't pay any attention to
the dividing line."

Rick did so. "It doesn't come out right," he complained. "The number is
39, but there are only 17 words on the whole line."

Barby sighed. "Maybe we're wrong all the way around."

"I don't think so," Hartson Brant said. He was sitting in a co