The Haunted Lighthouse
Page 9
Cody shivered with excitement. “Really?”
“You were right. The crystal turned out to be a diamond. And it’s apparently worth quite a lot of money.”
“You’re kidding!” Cody squealed. The other Code Busters high-fived at the news.
“And he wants to do something for the Code Busters, to thank you all.”
“For real?” Quinn said.
“Yes. He’s invited you all to a day of swimming at the Claremont and lunch at the Bayview Café. All the burgers and fries you can eat. And this will make you smile—he’s throwing in some tech equipment for the club.”
“Awesome!” Luke said.
“Sweet!” M.E. nearly shouted.
“How did he know where to find us?” Cody asked. “He must be a pretty good detective.”
“He remembered my name from my credit card, called me, and told me the news.”
Cody felt extremely satisfied with the results of their treasure hunt. “See, Dad? Being a Code Buster pays off.”
Mr. Jones patted her leg and stood up.
“Yeah, well, remember: snooping around in other people’s business can also get you into trouble. So enjoy your code busting, but don’t get carried away, hear?”
“Sure, Dad,” Cody said.
“Oh, and this must’ve fallen out of your backpack for you.” He handed her a large manila envelope. “Your mom said to bring it up to you. See you guys later.” He left the kids to their studies, closing the door behind him.
Cody studied the envelope addressed to “The Code Busters.” There was no return address. She opened it and found a sheet of paper inside. There appeared to be nothing written on either side. At the bottom of the envelope, Cody spotted a pen.
She held it up.
“What is it?” M.E. asked.
“I’m not sure,” Cody answered. She uncapped the pen, then began swiping it across one side of the paper. Letters were revealed.
“It’s an invisible ink decoder!” Quinn said. “Cool! It looks like someone wrote a message on the paper in invisible ink, and included the decoder pen! What does it say?”
Cody continued to color the paper with the pen, until all the letters were revealed. She held it up for the others to see.
“It makes no sense,” Luke said, looking at the ten-by-ten-square grid filled with random letters.
He was right, Cody thought. It didn’t make sense—yet. But four of the words jumped out at her immediately—the ones along the edges of the puzzle. She recognized it as a hidden-word puzzle. Inside the grid were strings of letters—going vertically, horizontally, and diagonally—that formed familiar words. Together the kids went to work on the puzzle, circling the words as they found them.
Soon they had a list of random words.
CARMEL
PIRATES
MISSION
TREASURE
WHERE
WANTS
THE
TO
VISIT
SEARCHED
FOR
WHO
Cody noticed the leftover letters were in alphabetical order.
“This is like an anagram of words,” M.E. said.
Cody began rearranging the words on a sheet of paper. It didn’t take her long to put the words together so they made sense.
Code Buster’s Solution found on this page.
“It sounds like we’re going on another field trip soon,” she exclaimed! “I’ll bet it’s from Ms. Stad.”
“Cool!” Luke said. “I love pirates. This should be fun.”
Cody looked at Luke. “Do you really think there’s a hidden treasure?”
Luke shrugged. “I guess we’ll find out soon enough!”
CODE BUSTER’S
Key Book
&
Solutions
Finger Spelling:
Pig Latin:
To speak pig Latin, take the first consonant of the word, add ay to it, and move it to the end of the word. For example, to say “Cody” in pig Latin, you would say “ody” first, then “Cay,” to form “ody-cay.” If the word is only one syllable, like “Quinn,” use the first letter (or two) to form the end of the word, such as “inn-quay.”
Cryptogram Key:
A B C D E F G H I J K L M
T H E R O C K A L I B Q F
N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Z G J M P N D V S Y U X W
Alphanumeric Code (1):
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O
16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26
P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Tap Code:
LEET Code:
A = 4
B = 8
C = (
D = |)
E = 3
F = |=
G = 6
H = #
I = !
J = _|
K = |>
L = |_
M = //
N = //
O = ()
P = |*
Q = (,)
R = |2
S = $
T = +
U = (_)
V = /
W = //
X = *
Y = |/
Z = 2
Morse Code:
A .-
B -…
C -.-.
D -..
E .
F ..-.
G --.
H .…
I ..
J .---
K -.-
L .-..
M --
N -.
O ---
P .–.
Q ---.-
R .-.
S …
T -
U ..-
V …-
W .--
X -̣. -
Y -.--
Z --..
Phonetic Alphabet:
A = Alpha
B = Bravo
C = Charlie
D = Delta
E = Echo
F = Foxtrot
G = Golf
H = Hotel
I = India
J = Juliet
K = Kilo
L = Lima
M = Mike
N = November
O = Oscar
P = Papa
Q = Quebec
R = Romeo
S = Sierra
T = Tango
U = Uniform
V = Victor
W = Whisker
X = X-ray
Y = Yankee
Z = Zulu
Caesar’s Cipher:
ABCD EFGH I J K L MNOP QRST UVWXYZ
ZALV DPMJ XFNW ORBK SCIU QEHTGY
Alphanumeric Code (2):
Semaphores:
Telephone Code:
A = .2 B = 2 C = 2. D = .3 E = 3
F = 3. G = .4 H = 4 I = 4. J = .5
K = 5 L = 5. M = .6 N = 6 O = 6.
P = .7 Q/R = 7 S = 7. T = .8 U = 8
V = 8. W = .9 X/Y = 9 Z = 9.
Chapter 1
Sudoku:
Anagrams: house, school, monkey, danger (or garden), finger (or fringe), forgot, spelling, scream
Pig Latin: My parents do, too!
Cody’s e-mail message: I dare you to visit the haunted lighthouse on Alcatraz
Finger spelling: Mom says it’s time to go home.
Chapter 2
Wacky Word: Locked up in jail
Finger spelling: Have fun at school.
Chapter 3
Cryptogram: 1. Al Capone 2. Machine Gun Kelly 3. Creepy Carpis 4. Birdman 5. Doc Barker 6. Pretty Boy Floyd
Pretty Boy Floyd was never at Alcatraz
Chapter 4
Alphanumeric code (1): 1. FIVE feet by NINE feet.
2. SINK, COT, and TOILET.
3. 336, and 6 SOLITARY.
4. YES, ONE PER MONTH.
5. TOO EXPENSIVE and RUN DOWN.
6. PRISONERS COULDN’T TALK, so they used a TAPPI
NG CODE.
7. 36 TRIED, but NONE WERE SUCCESSFUL.
8. YES. They were BUILT BY SOLDIERS.
Tap code:
W A T E R
C O O L
Chapter 5
LEET code: CANDLE ON THE WATER
Morse code: What do we do now?
Chapter 6
Morse code: S O S = Save Our Ship = Help!
Riddle: It’s a lighthouse!
Finger spelling: LIGHTHOUSE
Chapter 7
Phonetic alphabet: Ship in distress.
Morse code: Campanile bell tower 110 degrees.
Chapter 8
ABC code: Does this clue ring a bell?
Zigzag code:
Meet at the Campanile tomorrow at ten.
Chapter 9
Caesar’s cipher:
MEET UPSTAIRS IN TOWER L & K
Alphanumeric code (2): Claremont Hotel
Chapter 10
Semaphore code: Constance - arriving tomorrow noon - Edward.
Finger spelling: Let’s go.
Mirror code: E-T-U-H-C-Y-R-D-N-U-A-L
LAUNDRY CHUTE
Chapter 11
Telephone code: We were followed! Man standing in doorway!
Chapter 12
Finger spelling: I’ll make a run for it.
Chapter 13
Hidden Word Search Puzzle:
WHO WANTS TO VISIT THE CARMEL MISSION WHERE PIRATES SEARCHED FOR TREASURE?
Finger spelling:
Chapter Title Translations
Chapter 1 The Shadow Knows
Chapter 2 The Torn Message
Chapter 3 More Pieces to the Puzzle
Chapter 4 The Search for Two Seats
Chapter 5 To Be or Not to Be?
Chapter 6 The Haunted Lighthouse
Chapter 7 No Admittance—Keep Out!
Chapter 8 The Zigzag Puzzle
Chapter 9 Carillon at Campanile
Chapter 10 The Haunted Hotel
Chapter 11 Someone Is Watching
Chapter 12 Room 422
Chapter 13 Diamond in the Rough
For more adventures with the Code Busters Club, go to www.CodeBustersClub.com.
There you’ll find:
1. Full dossiers for Cody, Quinn, Luke, and M.E.
2. Their blogs
3. More codes
4. More coded messages to solve
5. Clues to the next book
6. A map of the Code Busters neighborhood, school, and mystery
7. A contest to win your name in the next Code Busters book.
Suggestions for How Teachers Can Use the Code Busters Club Series in the Classroom
Kids love codes. They will want to “solve” the codes in this novel before looking up the solutions. This means they will be practicing skills that are necessary to their class work in several courses, but in a non-pressured way.
The codes in this book vary in level of difficulty so there is something for students of every ability. The codes move from a simple code wheel—Caesar’s Cipher wheel—to more widely accepted “code” languages such as Morse code, semaphore and Braille.
In a mathematics classroom, the codes in this book can easily be used as motivational devices to teach problem-solving and reasoning skills. Both of these have become important elements in the curriculum at all grade levels. The emphasis throughout the book on regarding codes as patterns gives students a great deal of practice in one of the primary strategies of problem solving. The strategy of “Looking for a Pattern” is basic to much of mathematics. The resolving of codes demonstrates how important patterns are. These codes can lead to discussions of the logic behind why they “work,” (problem solving). The teacher can then have the students create their own codes (problem formulation) and try sending secret messages to one another, while other students try to “break the code.” Developing and resolving these new codes will require a great deal of careful reasoning on the part of the students. The class might also wish to do some practical research in statistics, to determine which letters occur most frequently in the English language. (E, T, A, O, and N are the first five most widely used letters and should appear most often in coded messages.)
This book may also be used in other classroom areas of study such as social studies, with its references to code-breaking machines, American Sign Language, and Braille. This book raises questions such as, “Why would semaphore be important today? Where is it still used?”
In the English classroom, spelling is approached as a “deciphering code.” The teacher may also suggest the students do some outside reading. They might read a biography of Samuel Morse or Louis Braille, or even the Sherlock Holmes mystery “The Adventure of the Dancing Men.”
This book also refers to modern texting on cell phones and computers as a form of code. Students could explain what the various “code” abbreviations they use mean today and why they are used.
—Dr. Stephen Krulik
Dr. Stephen Krulik has a distinguished career as a professor of mathematics education. Professor emeritus at Temple University, he received the 2011 Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics.
Students, your attention, please,” Ms. Stadelhofer announced to her class. “Do any of you recognize this book?”
Dakota—Cody—Jones was about to raise her hand to answer when Matt the Brat, the kid who sat in front of her, turned around in his seat.
“Is that your baby book, Cody-Toady?” Matt teased. His breath smelled of peanut butter.
Cody glared at him.
“Matthew Jeffreys, turn around and pay attention,” Ms. Stad said sharply.
“Sorry Ms. Stadelhofer,” Matt said.
Ms. Stadelhofer held up the book again. “How many of you learned Mother Goose nursery rhymes when you were little? Do any of you remember this rhyme?”:
“Sing a song of sixpence
“A pocket full of rye …”
Cody’s best friend, M.E.—MariaElena Esperanto—waved her hand. M.E. loved poetry. It wasn’t surprising she’d know nursery rhymes.
“Yes, MariaElena?” said Ms. Stad.
“I know the whole thing by heart,” M.E. said proudly.
“Would you like to recite it for us?” Ms. Stad asked.
M.E. cleared her throat:
“Sing a song of sixpence
“A pocket full of rye
“Four and twenty blackbirds
“Baked in a pie.
“When the pie was opened
“The birds began to sing
“Was that not a tasty dish
“To set before a king?”
“Nice job, MariaElena,” Ms. Stad said. “Now, do you know what the rhyme means?”
M.E. frowned. “Uh … somebody baked a pie full of birds for the king? Sounds yucky to me.”
“Believe it or not,” Ms. Stad said, “many nursery rhymes are about real historical events and have secret meanings.”
Cody’s ears pricked up.
“Coded references in the rhymes are about wars, plagues, and injustice. Most people didn’t read or write, so they memorized rhymes. Even pirates used rhymes to pass on secret messages,” Ms. Stad continued.
“Pirates?” Matt the Brat blurted, forgetting to raise his hand. Ms. Stad shot him a look.
Cody could picture Matt wearing an eye patch and swinging a sword—right before he tripped and fell into crocodile-infested waters.
But the word pirate had definitely caught Cody’s attention, too.
As Ms. Stad gave Matt her usual lecture, Cody jotted down a coded note for M.E. using her Caesar’s cipher wheel. M.E. and Cody were members of the Code Busters Club, along with Quinn Kee and Luke LaVeau from Mr. Pike’s class. They all loved creating and cracking codes, and they had built their own clubhouse in a nearby eucalyptus forest. The four kids had made their own ciphers by cutting out two circles, one larger than the other. They’d written the alphabet around the edge of the outer circle, and then t
hey’d done the same on the rim of the inner circle but had mixed up the letters. After lining up the letter Z on the inner circle with the letter A on the outer circle, Cody quickly coded the message by substituting the corresponding letters. That way no one could read it if it fell into the wrong hands—like Matt the Brat’s.
She located the first letter of her message on the outer circle—I—then wrote down the corresponding letter underneath it—X. She continued to code each letter until the sentence was complete:
X HBRVDC XP UJDCD’I Z KXCZUD LBVD?
Code Buster’s Key and Solution found on this page.
Using origami, Cody folded the sheet of paper into a hidden square within a square. She passed the palm-sized note to Becca, who passed it to Stephanie, who passed it to M.E.
“Quiet down, please,” said Ms. Stad. “You might be surprised to learn that the nursery rhyme ‘Sing a Song of Sixpence’ was a message that pirates used to recruit crew members for their ships. ‘Sing a song of sixpence’ refers to the amount of money the pirates would earn for the trip. ‘A pocket full of rye’ is about how they spent their money. ‘Four and twenty blackbirds baked in a pie’ meant the pirates planned to lure other ships in range, then launch a surprise attack. ‘When the pie was opened’ meant the attack itself, and ‘the birds began to sing’ was about the pirates who fought in the attack.”
Ms. Stad paused for a moment and grinned. “Can anyone guess who ‘the king’ refers to?”