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“Ye’ll nae lose the house, Flora,” Rory grumbled, “nor need fairy tales o’ treasures to keep it.”
“The new journal’s no fairy tale, Mr. McNab,” Jupiter said.
“Call me Rory, boy, and I’ll admit the journal’s real if Flora says so,” Rory said grudgingly. “But it no proves the treasure’s more than the nonsense of fools.”
“But the letter, Rory!” young Cluny cried.
“Letter?” Jupiter repeated.
Rory ignored the leader of the trio. His eyes narrowed. “We’d best have a read o’ that journal. Hand it to me.”
Cluny took the journal from his mother, and gave it to Rory. The two of them sat on a long bench in front of the smouldering fire and began to read the journal. Mrs. Gu
“Yes,” she said, “if there was a second journal, it would have been in that chest. My husband told me that his grandfather, Angus’s son, found the original journal in the chest. Grandfather Gu
“Why was Angus’s son so sure, Mrs. Gu
“Well, there’s a letter, you see? Great-grandfather Angus —” She stopped and smiled. “Perhaps I should begin at the begi
They told her what they had found out about the wreck of the Argyll Queen and the murder of Angus Gu
“You’ve read the manuscript the Historical Society is preparing? Then you know most of the story. I told the Society as much as I could — everything that I’d learned from my husband,” Mrs. Gu
Jupiter exclaimed, “So old Angus built this house exactly like Gu
“That’s right, Jupiter,” Mrs. Gu
“Over the years,” Mrs. Gu
The old tower came in handy after the Gu
“Same idea as a New England widow’s walk,” commented Bob.
Pete burst out, “But what about the letter, ma’am?”
“After Angus found the valley and the pond that looked so much like home, he built the house. It took him almost two years. Then he sent for his wife and son. But when they got here from Scotland months later, old Angus was dead and so were his murderers. His wife, Laura, found a letter addressed to her and hidden in an old bed-warmer.”
“Something almost no one would use except his wife!” Jupiter said with satisfaction.
“His son thought that, too, when all the rumours of treasure started,” Mrs. Gu
“Can we see the letter, ma’am?” Pete urged.
“Of course, boys. It’s in my bedroom in a scrapbook.”
Jupiter asked, “You don’t keep it with old Angus’s other things?”
“No, I never did,” said Mrs. Gu
She left the living-room and returned in a moment with a scrapbook. The boys crowded round to read the old, yellowed letter:
Laura, dear
You will be here soon, but lately I fear I am being watched. I must write these last, urgent words in the knowledge that other eyes may see them.
Remember that I loved you and promised to give you a golden life. Remember what I loved at home, and the Secret of the loch. Follow my last course, read what my days built for you. See the secret in a mirror.
The boys looked at each other, and read the old letter again.
“According to my husband, Grandfather Gu
“Because he didn’t have the second journal,” Jupiter declared. “The letter says follow my last course. The word course is sailor-talk for a ship’s direction, where it’s going, its path. The letter is telling Laura to read about what Angus did last for a clue to the treasure — and that has to be in the second journal. It covers the last two months before he wrote the letter. What did old Angus do the last two months?”
Rory snorted and threw down the second journal. “He nae did anything about a treasure! All this journal does is tell where he went and what he did to build some surprise for Laura.”
“I don’t see any clues, fellows,” Cluny admitted unhappily.
“I guess I didn’t, either,” Jupiter confessed. “But… Mrs. Gu
“I have no idea what he loved at home, Jupiter,” Mrs. Gu
“A ghost story,” Rory snapped. “To add to a treasure fable!”
“The treasure’s no fable to Java Jim!” Pete said hotly.
“What about the man in the green VW?” Bob demanded.
“And all the break-ins?” Cluny echoed.
Rory lapsed into a sullen silence.
“Mrs. Gu
“Over the years, Jupiter, many people must have read them.”
“Then that could explain the break-ins,” Jupiter said. “Java Jim must know about them, and must think the letter does refer to a journal. There’s a gap of two months between the last entry in the first journal and Angus’s murder. Java Jim probably realised there had to be a second journal! So he searched for it!”
Then he’s another big fool,” Rory muttered.
“I don’t think so,” Jupiter said. “Look what Angus said in the letter — I must write these last, urgent words in the knowledge that other eyes may see them. So he wrote a puzzle he thought Laura could solve. I’m convinced that Angus did hide some treasure, which can be found by solving the puzzle with a clue in the second journal!”
Bob, Pete, and young Cluny nodded eagerly.
“Perhaps so, Jupiter,” Mrs. Gu
“We’ll figure it out, ma’am!” Bob cried.
“We’ve solved lots of puzzles and mysteries!” Pete said.
Jupiter drew himself up taller. “As it happens, Mrs. Gu
Cluny, wide-eyed, read it over his mother’s shoulder: