Tree Root Cavern and the Cryptic Discovery

by D. B. Magee

  Breaking the Finch Cipher

  Later that evening, after a stupendous seven-course supper that Mrs. Walborg had spent two hours preparing, William and Stacy were up in Stacy’s room, hovering over a page full of number combinations they’d tried, in their attempts to decode the Finch cipher. Next to them, displayed on Stacy’s computer screen, were a calculator program and a search engine list of web sites dealing with number codes.

  Leaning back in her chair, Stacy stared at the ceiling and sighed. “I can’t believe this!” she moaned. “I’ve tried every possible combination and calculation I can think of.”

  “There’s definitely something we’re missing,” William said, standing with his foot on the edge of her chair. “Maybe we’re looking at this all wrong.”

  Just then Ryan and Lisa wandered in. Ryan strolled up behind William, tilted his hat back with a finger, and peeked silently over Willy’s shoulder at the page full of numbers.

  Lisa strolled over and plopped down on the bed. “Any luck yet?” she asked.

  “Not yet,” William answered, tapping a pencil against his lips. “In fact, we’re pretty much stumped right now.”

  “Have you tried typing the actual string of numbers into a search engine?” Lisa asked. “Just to see if anything comes up.”

  “We’ve tried everything,” Stacy said absently, without really thinking about Lisa’s question.

  “Wait!” William exploded. “We haven’t tried that, yet.” Taking over Stacy’s keyboard, he quickly started a new search query with the series of numbers from the silver tag. A moment later, a results page appeared. The top listing read: look-and-say sequence. William clicked on it. A page opened, revealing instructions for deciphering this type of number sequence.

  “I can’t believe it!” Stacy cried. “There it is.”

  Together, Stacy and William read the instructions and studied the examples of the look-and-say number sequence.

  “I see it, now,” William said. “I can’t believe how easy it is. All you do is read what you see in the first position, then write it in the second position, and so on.”

  Stacy looked at the series of numbers again. 1CK, 11, 21, 1211, 111221, _G6_, _G7_…. “Right,” she said. “Now all we have to do is figure out how CK figures into all of this.”

  William appeared to be deep in thought for a few minutes. Then, snapping his fingers, he said, “I’ve got it! CK represents the code key to use in that position. And since the gold tag says that the code key is CK = 7, we simply start the number sequence with the number 7 instead of 1. The tag on the Cryptex reads CK – G5. So, that means we take 7 to the G-5th position.”

  Stacy found a clean area on the notepad and wrote out the new number sequence: 7, 17, 1117, 3117, 132117. “There,” she said, “now what?”

  William removed his glasses and began cleaning them with his shirttail. “That’s it!” he said, beaming. “132117 is our combination.”

  Stacy and Lisa begin jumping up and down, cheering.

  “Not so fast,” Ryan said. “What about the safe’s missing index mark?”

  William put his glasses back on and grinned even wider. “I’ve solved that mystery, too. And tomorrow when we go back down to Tree Root Cavern, I’ll show you.”

  In a dramatic fashion, Lisa flopped backward on the bed. “Ahhh!” she moaned. “We finally come up with a solution to the code, and now we’re going to have to wait all night before we can test it.”

  Cracking the Safe

  The next morning, Lisa slowly woke to the musical sounds of birds chirping in the Baobab tree outside her window. Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, she yawned and stretched— when it hit her. The safe! she thought. Today’s the day were going to open it!

  Whipping off the covers, she sprang to her feet and began to undress.

  Halfway out of her nightdress, she heard the vacuum cleaner and stopped. “Oh, bother!” she huffed. Mom’s upstairs doing chores. Letting the gown slip back down her body, she fell back onto the bed with such force that it caused feathers to shoot from her pillowcase. How are we supposed to get into the attic now?

  Just then, “Oh good, you’re up!” Mrs. Walborg said as she looked in cheerfully from the doorway. “I have to go help out next door for a little while. Will you kids be all right fixing your own breakfast today?”

  Lisa couldn’t believe her good fortune. Good old Mrs. Dewees? she thought, faking a yawn so as not to reveal her excitement. With all her ailments, she’ll keep mom busy for hours! “Sure, Mom,” she said aloud, stretching and yawning again for good measure. “We’ll take care of it.”

  “Thanks, sweetie. Your dad is in the shop, if you kids need anything. I’ll be back soon.” She waved as she left the doorway.

  Lisa waited and listened for the sound of the front door closing, signaling her mother’s departure. Then, leaping to her feet, she changed in a matter of seconds, and was soon banging on the doors of Ryan, Stacy, and William. “Wake-up!” she shouted. “Come on! Let’s go!”

  Barefoot and shirtless, Ryan sauntered out of his room, fastening his jeans. “It sounds like a stampede out here,” he said sleepily. “What time is it?”

  “It’s early, but Mom’s gone for a while, and Dad’s in the shop—so we should do this now!”

  Ryan rubbed his hand through his hair, stirring it to life.

  “Hey, what’s with all the noise?” Stacy mumbled, staggering groggily out of her room.

  Ryan chuckled at Stacy’s tangled and knotted hair.

  Just then William, his glasses balanced cock-eyed on his face, bounced hastily through the doorway, something like a human pinball. “Hold on! Wait for me!” he panted, tucking his twisted shirt into his shorts. Everyone laughed as he suddenly changed direction mid-run, tripped on his shoestrings, sprang off his knees and raced back toward his room. “Shoot!” he grunted. “I forgot the code.”

  Minutes later, with everyone dressed and full of high expectations and images of cash, gold, and jewelry on their mind, the four junior adventurers chattered noisily as they strolled down the hallway toward the attic’s entryway.

  One by one they, treaded up the wooden staircase, through the eerie attic, out the window, across the high walkway, and climbed up the outside of the massive Baobab tree and back down its hollow trunk, into Tree Root Cavern. Each of the children guessed and anticipated the contents of the Cryptex safe as they went.

  “So, where’s this mysterious index mark?” Ryan asked William, upon arriving.

  William pulled a piece of paper from his pocket. “It came to me last night, just as we solved the code,” he said, looking at the numbers on the paper. “Since the top and bottom rings are stationary, all we have to do is find where the first and last numbers of the combination line up on those two rings.”

  Ryan, Lisa and Stacy all stood poised, watching William as he searched the top ring for the number 1. Finding it, he looked straight down to the bottom ring. “Here it is!” he said, locating the number 7. “This is our index location.” Swiftly, he and Ryan proceeded to position the four movable rings in the correct order between these two numbers, completing the sequence with: 132117.

  “There, that’s it,” William announced. “Let’s give it a try.”

  Everyone held their breath. The room became instantly silent. The dim cave light flickered behind them as all eyes focused on Ryan.

  “Here goes!” Ryan said. Swallowing hard, he pressed the circular switch, click! Nothing happened. A murmuring of mutters and moans sounded throughout the earthy cavern. Then, deep within the safe, a low rumble was heard, followed by a faint whirring of hidden motors. Suddenly, the loud SLAP of air hoses dancing to life echoed from the walls.

  The girls jumped and grabbed hands.

  Ryan stepped swiftly to the front of the safe, with William right beside him.

  Nervousness turned to awe as the top of the Cryptex safe squealed to life. Neither slow nor fast the top rose into the air until it stopped about two feet above its star
ting position. Cheers and excitement filled the secret den.

  “Woo-hoo!” Lisa cried. “We did it! We solved it!”

  Stacy moved in tight behind the boys and strained, on aching tiptoes, to peer over their shoulders. “So, what’s in there? Let me see!” she begged. “Are we rich?”

  Behind Stacy, Lisa’s face glowed with anticipation as she squinted to make out the shadowy shapes inside the dark vault.

  William felt along the shelf and into the void, grabbing the first thing his short arms could reach: round and wooden—and heavy. Groaning, he pulled. A large steering wheel from an old sailing ship slid into view. “Why, would anyone put this old thing in here?” he grumbled.

  “Here, let me give ya a hand with that, Willy!” Ryan said, and together they pulled the large, hefty artifact from the safe’s shelf. Radiating out from its round hub, and banded by a concentric ring, were eight wooden spoke handles, and fitted over the hub’s large hole was what appeared to be a crudely molded cap or plug of some sort.

  As the boys tilted and lifted the wheel free from the safe, the light from the cave’s single bulb glinted off of the crude dusty cap.

  Stacy’s eyes sparkled greedily. “That looks like gold!” she cried.

  “Wow!” Lisa squealed. “Look at the size of that thing. It must be worth a fortune.”

  “We’re rich!” Stacy shrieked. And together, the girls held hands and jumped up and down in celebration.

  Setting the wheel on the ground, against the wall, under the cave’s light, Ryan and William took a look at the shiny gold cap.

  “She sure is a beaut,” Ryan said, and then looking at William, added, “I reckon that answers your question as to why it was in the safe.”

  William shook his head in disagreement. “That’s still no reason to put the whole wheel in there. It would have been easier just to pry that gold cap out and store it.” Without another word, he returned to the Cryptex to see what other riches might lie within.

  Ryan, however, stayed behind with the girls to admire the glistening golden disc, and to revel in their safe-cracking success and prosperous discovery. Taking his shirttail, he wiped the layer of dust from the hub cap’s surface. It was then that he made an additional discovery. “Willy,” he called over his shoulder, “there’s some kind of picture inscribed here.” He looked closer. “It looks like a map.”

  Studying the outline of the image, Ryan noticed that it looked like the side view of a man’s arm up to his shoulder, with closed fist. Scratched within the shape were the words: Blood Island. “Yee haw!” he hollered. “I think we’ve got us a wheel from a real-life pirate ship!”

  Just as the words left Ryan’s mouth a strong blast of air, appearing as if out of nowhere, slammed against him, almost knocking him off his feet. “Whoa!” he cried, stumbling sideways. “Where did that come from?”

  Lisa looked over at Ryan. “What?” she asked, wondering why he looked so stupefied.

  “Didn’t you gals feel that gust of wind?”

  Stacy and Lisa looked curiously at one another and then back to Ryan, both answering in the negative.

  Ryan shrugged it off. “Come on,” he said, “let’s see what else Willy’s found.”

  Approaching the safe, Ryan, Stacy, and Lisa found William swinging his short arms in all directions, fruitlessly groping within the deep dark vault. Finally, empty-handed, he withdrew. “I don’t think there’s anything else in there,” he said. “But, I’m not really sure. I can’t reach all the way in.”

  With the ship’s wheel, and the possibility of it being from a pirate ship, fueling Ryan’s imagination, his mind began conjuring up images of gold coins, jeweled swords, and other riches. He quickly stepped forward. “Let me take a gander, Willy,” he said. “I have a longer reach than you do.”

  Ryan leaned forward into the dark vault, and knocked his hat off in the process. It fell to the earthen floor. Stretching out as far as he could, he swept his arms in wide arcs. A moment later, the tips of his fingers brushed against a stack of ridged objects. “I feel something, Willy. Give me a boost up.”

  Grabbing Ryan’s foot, William hoisted him up deeper into the compartment.

  Ryan slithered in. “It feels like books,” his voice echoed back.

  Lisa pushed her way forward, uprooting William from his position in front of the safe. “Ooh! Let me see,” she urged. “I bet they’re important.”

  Ryan pulled the rigid stack toward him. “It’s just a bunch of notebooks,” he called back.

  William glowered at Lisa. “They’re probably nothing but some old bank ledgers!”

  “Or maybe they’re full of more clues,” Lisa said, finding this little treasure hunt exhilarating.

  Ryan backed his way out of the safe, bringing the journals with him. Resting on top of the stack was a finely handcrafted wooden box, slightly larger than a cigar box.

  Lisa’s eyes lit up at this new discovery. “Ooh! I’ll take this, instead.” She seized the box before William could protest. Her eyes sparkled with anticipation as she read the I.D. tag on its lid: Prototype – Property of David Finch. She rotated the lid open, peered in—and frowned. Snapping the lid closed, she pushed the box back into William’s hands. “I changed my mind! I’ll take these after all!” She promptly scooped up the notebooks and scooted off toward the settee.

  “Hey!” William grumbled. “If you don’t want it, what makes you think I do?”

  “I can think of no one better suited for what’s in that box than you,” Lisa said, setting down the notebooks.

  William opened the box and glanced inside. “Why?” he replied indignantly, “because I wear glasses?”

  “Well, that,” Lisa said with a chuckle, “and because you’re probably the only one who might be able to figure out what they really are.”

  Still disgruntled, William returned his attention to the box. Inside he found an old and very strange pair of glasses, the likes of which he’d never seen before. Along the top edge of the bulky black frames, the full width of the lenses, was mounted a small box. And, affixed to the outside of the beefy ear pieces, fastened near the lenses, were rotating arms, with foam tips at their ends covering what seemed to be mini speakers. William found the lenses themselves fascinating, as their outsides were completely blacked out, while their insides contained many tiny light-emitting windows (LEWs). William was indeed intrigued, and decided to find himself a place to plop down and further investigate this fascinating oddity.

  Seeing William sit down on the floor near her, Lisa held up one of the notebooks and cleared her throat to get his attention. “These aren’t bank ledgers,” she said. “These are journals—concerning various topics.”

  William looked back over his shoulder at Lisa. “Does one of those topics happen to concern these weird glasses?”

  “I haven’t seen anything on them yet,” Lisa replied, “but I’ll keep looking.”

  Back inside the Cryptex, Ryan was inching his way out when, by surprise, he discovered something he’d never expected to find inside the safe. Why in tarnation would anyone put an electrical box in here? he wondered.

  Standing outside the safe, and being the only one without anything to investigate, Stacy awaited Ryan’s exit. “Is that all there is?” she asked as he dropped to the floor.

  Ryan bent down and retrieved his hat. “I reckon so,” he said. “Though, I must say, for a big, fancy safe, I sure did expect to find something a lot more valuable than this ol’ stuff. The only thing of any value here is that gold hubcap.”

  “Maybe there’s more value to this stuff than meets the eye,” Stacy suggested.

  “Well, unless those are magic glasses,” Ryan said, thumbing toward William and his funky discovery, “or those notebooks lead to some secret treasure, then I doubt it.”

  Disappointed by Ryan’s take on the situation, Stacy hung her head sadly.

  Ryan saw the defeated look on Stacy’s face. “I reckon, though,” he said, “if you want to, we could take anoth
er gander at that ship’s wheel. There could be some clues there I missed. What do ya say?”

  Stacy cheerfully agreed, and together she and Ryan began strolling over toward the wheel—when one of the journals on the settee caught Ryan’s attention, with a sketch of the open Cryptex on its cover. He turned his head to read the title: Cave Equipment Manual. Something about the drawing looked peculiar. Ryan turned his gaze to the real safe. He hadn’t noticed it before, standing as close to it as he had been, but he could see it now, a discrepancy between the vault’s height and the safe’s overall height.

  “Stacy,” Ryan said. “Does that vault look too short to you?”

  Stacy looked at the safe. “What do you mean?”

  Ryan rubbed his chin, thinking. “Well, I’m just wondering why anyone would build such a tall safe for such a small vault.”

  “Who cares,” Stacy said, finally annoyed—and bored with what appeared to be a failed adventure. “I’m going back to the house.” She started for the exit.

  “Wait!” Ryan shouted. “I’ve got it. There’s probably another vault below this one, and I bet that’s where the treasure is!”

  Stacy stopped. “What treasure?”

  Ryan rushes over to the control box and punched the UP button—nothing happened. He punched it again.

  The short vault remained stationary. “Shucks,” he said, kicking his boot through the dirt. “I was sure that was gonna work.” He pushed the DOWN button and watched somberly as the safe hissed air and closed.

  Stacy stared inquisitively at Ryan, awaiting an explanation.

  “A pirate’s treasure,” Ryan explained. “I figure since they have the wheel from a pirate ship, then they must have the treasure, also. Otherwise, like Willy said, why store the wheel at all, especially in a secret cavern, deep underground, in this oversized safe?”

  Stacy shook her head at Ryan’s apparent obsession with pirate treasure. “If that wheel really did come from a pirate ship,” she said, “then I think the only treasure you’re ever going to see from it is that gold hubcap.”