Nickie nodded absently for he was already absorbed in a good hand of cards which Biff had just dealt him. Skippy made certain that they were all equally absorbed; also, he made certain that Frost was still quiet upstairs. Then he proceeded to read. SKIP: UNDERSTAND UNEXPECTED MOVE--SHOULD HAVE PREPARED FOR THAT ... YOU MUST SEND WORD SOMEHOW--IT'S YOUR JOB!... SIGNED "BOSS." He must send word--_somehow_! _It was his job!_ No one but Carlton Conne could have said it just like that--no one but Carlton Conne could have written it! And Skippy thrilled at the thought, thrilled each time he read the vivid message. He _would_ get word to him somehow, particularly since he had seen in print that it was his job to do nothing else but! There was no doubt about it now. Carlton Conne had signed himself as _Boss_! CHAPTER XVI A NOTE A half hour later, Skippy had decided on one phase of his job. He climbed the dusty stairway and proceeded to the door of a room which no boy had been allowed to enter. Frost answered his knock but did not ask him in. He had jumped up from a small, battered table upon which he had been writing, and now he stood in the open doorway, his colorless eyes searching Skippy's face in surprise. "Can you lend me some paper an' pencil?" the boy asked briskly. Frost's eyes narrowed. "What for?" "To work out cross-word puzzles," Skippy answered, his eyes meeting Frost's gaze unflinchingly. "The kids are playin' cards an' I wanna do something." He laughed. "I work cross-word puzzles--every night!" "Mm!" Frost seemed to be turning the thought over and over. Finally, he walked to the table and taking a bunch of keys from his pocket, he selected one and opened a little drawer. When he came back to the door he held out a pencil and two sheets of ordinary note-paper. "Here, kid," he said, chuckling, "cross-word puzzle all night if you feel like it." Skippy took the paper smilingly but did not stop for further conversation. He wasn't taking any chances and he hurried downstairs again before Frost could think it over and perhaps recall him. For an hour, Skippy scribbled and wrote all over one sheet of the paper. The other piece of paper along with a pencil of his own he carefully concealed under his belt. And, when the game of rummy was broken up around midnight, the boy had torn his scribbling sheet into a hundred bits and scattered it on the table. Then when they went upstairs, he returned the pencil to Frost. Fifteen minutes later, he saw the rim of light disappear from under the door jamb and he knew that Frost had blown out his lantern and was going to bed. He waited breathlessly then and after some minutes got out of bed and tiptoed to the door where he listened intently. It was some time before he was rewarded with the sound of Frost's first labored snore. Then he roused Fallon. "Don't make a sound, Nick," he whispered.