Lincoln High School - Totem Yearbook (Seattle, WA)

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It was a quarter of a mile to the nearest neighbor and the next morning, as no one but Luella and her brother knew the way, Ferg volunteered to get the milk. Dorothy went with him, as she wanted to be able to find the way next day. On the way home Ferg carried the milk. Dorothy quite frequently rambled from the path and it was while she was away on one of these ex- cursions that Ferg heard a surprised gasp and then an excited scream. He ran toward the sounds and found Dorothy pulling a mysterious looking paper off a branch. Before he could speak or get a clear glimpse of it, she was gone like the wind on the path leading home, the deserted Ferg speeding after. He reached there in time to see the rest of the party come hurriedly out of the house in answer to Dorothy's loud calls. One and all gathered around her as she stood on the lawn waving a waxed blue parchment aloft. The document was sealed but when everyone had as- sembled Dorothy carefully broke the seal and spread it wide. ln unison rose mingled exclamations of delight, disappointment and surprise when the paper disclosed rows and rows of symbols and numbers written in black ink! Luella was the first one to speak. Let's try to decipher it! I have an idea and I think I can! There were a few astounded murmurs at this proposal, but Luella's ideas were usually good ones so they listened to her explanation. In English, you remember, we read Poe's 'Gold Bug' and in that he told how to decipher a cipher: let's try his method on this one. Though they all secretly believed that this was no ordinary cipher and so could not be worked out by their amateurish methods, they agreed at least to try. Dorothy and Luella were voted to carry out the great project while the others humbly finished the interrupted housework. The honored two lay on a bed with paper, pencils and the wonderful cryptogram, and with great care, though there were difficulties that seemed ine surmountable until a lucky guess dissolved them, worked at the all-enthralling puzzle. The dizzying mass of punctuation marks, geometric figures, signs of the Zodiac and more familiar numerals finally faded before their eyes as one often sees happen on the cinema screen, and there appeared almost magically before their astonished eyes the following message: Herr Crundelz- Follow the path to the grove of trees locate stockade walk three feet east seven feet south ten feet diagonally southwest crawl through the dead brush to the decayed tree follow barbed wire fence to opening in woods trace path south of largest tree in clearing to deserted cabin climb south wall of cabin and walk east to huckleberry bush investigate. J. Bandricourt. Everyone was more excited than ever over this mysterious puzzle. Work was stopped immediately and they started off on an exploring expedition, headed by Dorothy and the paper. They had no idea of where to start but guessed that the path where the cipher was found would be the most likely place. Once there, they followed a branch of the main path into the woods a little way until it stopped. Where to go from there was the next question, as the only thing in sight was a rustic playhouse. Luella had an idea the stockade mentioned was a disguise for the playhouse. And so it proved! Dorothy, using Elizabeth's big feet, measured three feet east of the house, seven feet south of that point and PAGE NINETEEN 3 V Pt A ldlll

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.A 5 A I .'. 0, S if L, ,ei vi my He was a real he-man, he said at length. They were true pards, my boy. returned the miner, gravely. The third man stood up, and stretched his great form sleepily. lt's getting late, he said. You can talk, if you like, l'm going to bed. And picking up the young man as easily as if that hearty chap were a baby, he administered a stately spank, set him down, and marched into the tent, as solemn as an owl. The other two grinned at each other. He never will tell me what he has done, said the lad presently. And l've never been up here before where I could find out. Then, with uncon- scious reverence: But Dad is a fine old chap, anyhow. The fire leaped and flickered beside them, as if it were trying to arouse the silent night. Abruptly the sun swung down behind the Signal hills. Far overhead a solitary cloud leaped into flaming scarlet. Somewhere in the middle distance an owl hooted, and the sound was swallowed up in the night. The elder man smiled gently. Yes, boy. he said. He was Cameron. l was the sick man. .. -1 An Easter Mystery Phillif famen The woods were coming to lifeg green leaves obscured the gray trunks of trees and the salal and Oregon grape were profusely decorating the brown earth with their first pale shoots. The fir needles which covered the narrow, twisting path had not been trodden upon since before the light fall of snow, gone some weeks since. Voices echoed down the trail. They trod lightly, did these merry girls, even though the packs on their backs were not light. They had only half a mile farther to go, and then would begin their long-anticipated Easter camping venture. The air was still cold and the sun shone but seldom, but it was spring and they knew it. After this lively van-guard of five high-school girls, Helen, Elizabeth, Dorothy, Florence, and Luella, came two chaperones and one small boy. Aunt Pheme, as she was lovingly called, was one guardian, but the one of more im- portance to the hungry girls and the object of their solicitous care, was Anna Gustave Johanssen, the cook-from Sweden. It was nearly noon when they reached the summer camp that they were to occupy. The house was small, having only two rooms, but the attractions of the larger one were enhanced by an immense stone fireplace which they were to use for cooking and heating. There was the large porch behind the house which the girls immediately decided was the place for them to sleep, while beds indoors were assigned to Ferg and the chaperones. The house was on a bluff overlooking a small bay and entirely surrounded on the other three sides by dense woods. PAGE EIGI-ITEEN

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I ya- :VTC for , s sl xr ,V l' lx then ten more diagonally southwest. This brought them to a seemingly impassable clump of dead, prickly bushes. Stooping to investigate, however, Elizabeth found a narrow, tunnel-like way through which they all crawled. The tunnel ended at the base of a rotten tree! Beside the tree and nailed to it ran a barbed wire fence leading east. The passage beside the fence was soon blocked ahead by more underbrush, but the party turned to the right and entered a small clearing. The sides of this woodsy dell were formed by a group of small birches but towards the south was a large cedar tree. Back from this tree, leading into the still denser woods, was a small, hardly discernible trail. They followed its winding course for a quarter of a mile before they reached the deserted cabin of their instruc- tions. Luella and Ferg knew at once where they were, as they had visited the place before, though by a different route. The house was situated just a little way from the path they followed when they went to get the milk! It was quite a relief to the chaperones to find that they and their charges were not lost in the middle of a forest. But to follow our cipher: The cabin had been vacant for many years and only two walls were left standing, one of which was formed by two huge trees which had fallen parallel one on top of the other, reaching to a height of about nine feet. The top trunk was covered with flourishing green plantsg on it, south of the cabin, grew a large, thick huckleberry bush! It took Dorothy only a minute to reach it, as she was the first to see the white package among its branches. Ferg did the necessary climbing and handed the package to Dorothy who was speech- less with excitement. The rest were not tongue-tied though, and casually informed her it was probably dynamite and warned her not to drop it, please. She was anxious then to relinquish her position as chief carrier, but as no one else would touch the package, she headed a silent, trembling procession homeward. As soon as they reached the lawn again, she carefully laid it down with a sigh of relief. Elizabeth bravely cut the string and the enfolding paper fell away from a cardboard box. Elizabeth raised the lid with an excited hand, then the layer of white cotton, exposing eight candy Easter eggs! There was not a sound at this unexpected disclosure, everyone just staring. Aunt Pheme broke the silence with They are probably poison, and then there was silence no longer. There was a wild jabber of voices until Elizabeth, dominating them all, volun- teered to taste one and see what would happen. Silence reigned again: there was not a voice lifted to oppose, although this act might mean her death. In breathless silence they watched her gingerly nibble the icingg in silence waited for something to happen. But nothing did, and she boldly took another and larger bite. It looked too enticing, and not waiting further developments they all joined her, none wanting to be left out, as there was just one egg apiece. It wasn't until the last delicious crumb was gone that they began to question. As the candy hadn't hurt them+at least not yet-they surmised someone had played a joke on them. But who, among themselves, could have been clever enough to think of and make such a cipher? Suspicion fell on several likely and unlikely persons, from Ferg to the cook, with no results. Suddenly a stifled gurgle from the direction of the well-house drew all eyes that way and Luella was dis- covered doubled up with laughter, rolling on the ground in her glee. With a whoop they descended upon her and there was no resisting them. As they dragged her down to the beach, all they could get out of her between gasps was that they had taken so long to find her out she couldn't hold in any longer. She was still in a laughingly helpless condition as they carried her out to the end of the floating walk. They held her grimly by hands and feet and swung her-one, two, three, splash !-into the wet, wet water! PAGE TVVENTY '