Jupiter asked, “You don’t keep it with old Angus’s other things?”
“No, I never did,” said Mrs. Gunn.
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 Gunn was sure that the words golden life referred to a treasure left for Laura,” Mrs. Gunn said. “That last line made him search everything he could see in every mirror in the house. When he found nothing, he decided that the words read what my days built for you meant that the clue was in Angus’s journal. But he still never found anything.”
“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. Gunn, what did old Angus love at home, and what is the secret of Phantom Loch?”
“I have no idea what he loved at home, Jupiter,” Mrs. Gunn said. “The secret of the loch is a very ancient legend back in Scotland. The phantom of an early Gunn is supposed to appear on foggy winter mornings to stand on a crag and stare down the loch, watching for enemies. They say he was killed by Vikings in the ninth century, and is guarding against another raid. The legend of the phantom gave the loch its name.”
“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. Gunn?” Jupiter said after a moment. “How many people would know what’s in the letter and the first journal?”
“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. Gunn said, “but how could anyone hope to solve the puzzle if Laura couldn’t? It was written for her.”
“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. Gunn, solving mysteries and conundrums is our business.” He took a card from his pocket and presented it to Mrs. Gunn.
Cluny, wide-eyed, read it over his mother’s shoulder:
Rory grabbed the card and glared at it. He looked at the boys suspiciously. Jupiter ignored him.
“We would like to offer our services,” he said solemnly.
“We sure would!” Pete added.
Cluny urged, “Let them try, Mum! And I’ll help!”
“Well.” Mrs. Gunn smiled. “I see no harm in it, and if there were a treasure we could certainly use it, boys.”
“Hurray!” Bob, Pete, and Cluny cried together.
Mrs. Gunn laughed. “Then what about some lunch? Treasure hunters need their strength.”
Rory threw down the card. “It’s some trick, Flora!”
“I don’t think so, Rory,” Mrs. Gunn said.
“Then I wash my hands of the whole affair,” Rory raged, and stamped out of the living-room.
Jupiter watched him go, and frowned.
As soon as lunch was over, Rory McNab left, muttering that he was going to cut some Christmas greens from pines along the road. The boys and Mrs. Gunn returned to the living-room and began to study the second journal carefully.
“First, fellows,” Jupiter said, “you’ll notice that the journal isn’t a true diary. Angus didn’t write about his thoughts or plans, nor did he really describe anything. Most entries are brief, a line or two — Worked in the yard today and saw an eagle. More like a ship’s log — just the facts and no explanations.”
“The other journal’s just like that, too,” Bob said.
“So most entries don’t tell us anything,” Jupiter went on. “But Angus says in the letter to follow his course and read what his days built. He didn’t want Laura to note all he did, but only where he went and what he built.”
Cluny looked at the journal. “Well, the first entry’s about going somewhere — today began work on Laura’s surprise. First to Powder Gulch for men and sluice timber.”
“He was building something!” Pete exclaimed;
“As the letter says,” Jupiter agreed. “What next, Cluny?”
The red-headed boy turned several pages. “Nothing for two weeks. Just little notes — Saw hawk, and that sort of thing. Then he went to an island.”
“Mrs. Gunn?” Jupiter said. “What was Laura’s surprise?”