teside telegraph office has a cable for you, but
they won't read it over the phone because it's all numbers. And it's
from Chahda."

Chahda, the Hindu boy who had been like a member of the family since he
joined a Spindrift expedition in Bombay, was back home in India. He had
left the boys in New Caledonia after a recent adventure in order to
visit his family.

"I'd better talk to them," Rick said. "Who's on the wire?"

"Bill Martin."

Rick took the phone. "Bill? This is Rick. What's up?"

"Got a cable addressed to you," Bill answered. "I'd rather not try to
read it over the phone because it's all numbers. Can you or Scotty pick
it up?"

"Where's it from?" Rick asked.

"Singapore. And it's signed by your Indian friend."

Singapore! What on earth was Chahda doing in Singapore? Rick couldn't
guess. "Bill, what kind of numbers are they?"

"Groups. Seven figures in each group. If you ask me, it's some kind of
code."

Rick thought quickly. "Barby's in Whiteside, Bill. She went over to a
movie right after lunch, and she should just about be getting out. You
can get her next door at the Sugar Shop, because she always stops in
there for a fudge sundae after the show. If she's already gone, phone
the boat landing. You ought to catch her one place or the other."

"I'll try," Bill promised. "If I don't catch her, I'll call you back."

"Thanks a million." Rick restored the phone to its cradle and looked at
Scotty. "What do you make of that?"

Scotty shrugged. "It beats me. I didn't know Chahda was planning to
leave Bombay. If it comes to that, I didn't know he knew anything about
codes."

"Neither did I," Rick agreed. "Remember he said something about a job in
his last letter? There was something secret about it he couldn't tell
us. Maybe that's why he's in Singapore."

"Could be. Anyway, we won't know for sure until we get the cable and
decipher it. If we _can_ decipher it, that is."

"We'll be able to," Rick said confidently. "He wouldn't send us one we
couldn't break."

Scotty nodded. "I hope you're right. Well, let's go back and get lazy
again."

"Not me." Rick started for the stairs. "I'm going to stop loafing and
get busy. The lenses for the camera arrived a week ago and I haven't
even looked at them."

"I'll go with you. I got some questions about these new people maybe you
can answer."

Upstairs in Rick's bedroom, Scotty sat down in the old leather armchair
while Rick opened up the doors that con