“I think Bob has hit on something,” Jupiter said, rousing himself. “What’s your other clue, Bob?”
“I also looked up archery and old English bowmen,” Bob continued. “They used to use wood from the yew tree a lot in making their bows. So if we said that old English bowmen loved yew, we have another word. Y-e-w is pronounced exactly the same as y-o-u.”
“Bob, I think you’re right,” Jupiter said, after a pause for reflecting. “Before Aunt Mathilda calls us to dinner, let’s go into Headquarters and have another try at that message.”
“Can’t it wait until tomorrow?” Pete asked. But he got up and followed when Bob and Jupiter started towards Tunnel Two.
Five minutes later they were grouped round the desk with the first mysterious message spread out before them.
“The first line of the message says,
‘Just a word of advice, politely given’
“I suggest you,” Pete exclaimed, forgetting his weariness. “That does start out like a sensible message after all. Okay, Jupe, what’s the fourth word?”
“The clue is,
” Jupiter said. “Meaning some body of water smaller than an ocean. That could be a river, a pond, a lake or a sea.”
“Sea!” exclaimed Bob. “Meaning s-e-e. That must be it. Now we come to the fifth clue,
“Let me try!” Pete spoke up. “There are 26 letters in the alphabet. Number 26 is the letter Z. Does that fit?”
“It does if we just use the sound of it,” Jupiter told him. “Z sounds like ‘the.’ And ‘the’ fits into the message. Now we just need the last clue,
“What sits on a shelf?” Pete asked. “Like an elf?”
“The word elf is just another word to confuse us,” Jupiter said. “Bob, you spent the whole day looking at shelves. Didn’t it occur to you what sat on them?”
“Books!” Bob yelled. “And every one of them full of words. You could say they were well-fed — with words.”
“I’m sure we have the message now,” Jupiter said. “I’ll write it out.” He did, and got:
I suggest you see the book.