From her handbag, she took out a small address book and a pencil, found
a blank sheet at the back, and drew the following diagrams:
A | D | G
---------
B | E | H
---------
C | F | I
. | . | .
J | M | P
---------
.K | N.| Q.
---------
L | O | R
. . .
\ S /
V \ /T
/ \
/ U \
.
\ W /
. Z\ /X .
/ \
/ Y \
.
"See?" she said. "It's very simple, really. You just remember the
position of each letter in its portion of the diagram, and draw
the corresponding shape instead of the letter; a square for E,
square-plus-dot for N, an L-shape for G, same with a dot for P, an
inverted V-shape for U--"
"I get it," I said. "Gad, it looks positively runic when you write that
way."
Snow put the address book back into her bag. "So that's what I found
scratched onto that supporting beam. The message said, simply: SNOW
I AM ALL RIGHT FIND CLATCLIT THE SUGARFOOT AND HE WILL EXPLAIN."