Ruth Nulton Moore - Mystery of the secret code

Cover

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BOOKS BY RUTH NULTON MOORE

The Sara and Sam Series

Mystery of the Missing Stallion

Mystery of the Secret Code

Mystery of the Lost Heirloom

Mystery at Camp Ichthus

Ghost Town Mystery

Mystery at the Spanish Castle

Mystery at Captain's Cove

Other Upper Elementary/Junior High Books

Christmas Surprise, The

Danger in the Pines

Distant Thunder

(A sequel to The Christmas Surprise)

Ghost Bird Mystery, The

In Search of Liberty

Mystery at Indian Rocks

Mystery of the Lost Treasure

Peace Treaty

Sorrel Horse, The

Where the Eagles Fly

Wilderness Journey

For Younger Readers

Toms and the Talking Birds

Toms y los Pjaros Parlantes (Spanish)

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Mystery of the
Secret Code

Ruth Nulton Moore

Illustrated by James Converse

Sara and Sam Series, Book 2

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Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

Moore, Ruth Nulton.
Mystery of the secret code.
(Sara and Sam series; bk. 2)
Summary: Teen-agers searching for a treasure hidden
at an old farm find a secret message written in code.
1.Children's stories, American.[1.Mystery and
detective stories.2.TwinsFiction]I.Converse,
James, ill.II.Title.III.Series: Moore, Ruth Nulton.
Sara and Sam series; bk. 2.
PZ7.M7878Mzk1985[E]85-5441
ISBN 0-8361-3394-3 (pbk.)

The paper used in this publication is recycled and meets
the minimum requirements of American National
Standard for Information SciencesPermanence of Paper
for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39. 48-1984.

MYSTERY OF THE SECRET CODE
Copyright 1985 by Herald Press, Scottdale, Pa. 15683
Published simultaneously in Canada by Herald Press,
Waterloo, Ont. N2L 6H7. All rights reserved
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 85-5441
International Standard Book Number: 0-8361-3394-3
Printed in the United States of America
Design by Alice B. Shetler
Cover by James Converse
01009998979695941098765432

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To David and Lesia Longacre
with love

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S ara Harmon glanced out the window of the school bus and drew in a long sigh. All the kids around her were laughing and chattering together like long-lost friends. Everyone seemed to be happy and excited on this first day of schooleveryone, that is, except her.

The girl sitting next to Sara had completely ignored her and was leaning halfway across the aisle, talking with two other girls. In the seat in front of her, Sara's brother Sam was sitting with their friend Huy Chau, their heads together in earnest conversation, and farther down the aisle her older brother, Tim, was talking easily with Vickie Raber, as if he had known the pretty blond girl all his life instead of just the week before school started.

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A flutter of uncertainty started up inside Sara. This was her first day in a new school, and she wondered how it would be, being the new girl in her class. One thing she did know. It was a strange and disturbing experience to be sitting in a school bus with nobody paying the least bit of attention to her. Back in Philadelphia, where they used to live, there had been millions of friends to jabber with on the way to school.

That summer her family had moved to Maplewood, a small college town forty miles north of Philadelphia, where Professor Harmon had accepted the position of chairman of the history department at Maplewood College. They had bought a small farm which dated back to the American Revolution and was called the old Goodwin place because Goodwins had lived there from the eighteenth century until just a year ago. Because of the pretty marsh pond in the woods beyond the old stone house, Sara had renamed their new home Marsh Pond Farm.

One of the best things about Marsh Pond Farm was that their nearest neighbors, the Rabers, owned a horse farm a half mile down the road. Sara smiled as she thought about the exciting summer they had when she and her twin brother, Sam, solved the mystery of the stolen stallions and helped Huy Chau, a Vietnamese refugee, find a foster home with the Rabers.

Vickie had missed out on all the excitement because she was in Nebraska at the time, visiting her grandmother. But when she returned, just a week before school started, Tim was quite willing to fill their pretty neighbor in on everything that had happened. Tim and Vickie were both seniors in high school, which helped further their friendship, and now Sara could see Tim's black curly head bent close to Vickie's blond one as he leaned over to look out the window

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at the large, two-story, brick school they were approaching.

When they had all piled out of the bus, Vickie gathered them around her, like a mother hen, Sara thought, and led the way to the office where they picked up their schedules and room assignments. Tim was elated that he and Vickie were in the same homeroom, and after they helped Huy find his homeroom and Sara and Sam theirs, they vanished with a group of seniors to the upper floor of the building.