“I don’t know,” she said. “But one thing I’ve learned, Franny, is that not only do I not know everything, but there’s lots of things people know that I don’t even know that I don’t know. When you’ve got a problem, find an expert, and don’t assume they won’t find a solution just because you can’t imagine any way to fix the problem.”

So I ran to get flashlights and we made the long trek in the dark, looking up periodically hoping to see the Argot, but we could neither see nor hear anything that sounded like a plane.

*   *   *

When we got to the cabin the hermit didn’t answer our knocks. We tried to open the door, but he had a latch on the inside so Sina had to break the door in.

“Oh dear, I feel so rude,” she said.

The hermit was asleep in a corner of his cabin. Sina charged up to him, shined her flashlight in his eyes, and said, “Wake up! For God’s sake, wake up!”

But the hermit continued to snore, so she reached down and shook his shoulder.

“You must wake up. It’s an emergency,” she said.

At this word the hermit not only popped awake but was on his feet in seconds, making incoherent noises that must have been sleep talk and pulling on his pants.

“Please, you have to help us,” pleaded Sina. “You must tell us everything you know about the Argot. It’s been stolen and we must get it back.”

The hermit just stood staring at us. His body had reacted from long practice to an emergency situation, but his mind couldn’t take it in.

“Oh, Sina, this is no good,” I wailed. “He doesn’t even understand us.”

“Don’t you remember,” Sina pressed on, “how Old Tom came to ask you about the Argot? Because the children’s father, Mr. Madden—Fixing Bob, as he calls himself—has taken it. Because of the code you helped send him. If you knew the code, you must know something about the Argot. You must be able to help us get it back.”

The hermit still stood in mute incomprehension.

“The Argot. The Argot!” repeated Sina, as if trying to jam the word into his brain and shake something loose.

But as he stood looking confused, Sina began to cry. Whether this was in frustration or grief I could not tell. I had never seen Sina cry before. It shook me as much as any of the events of that night.

“There are three children who will die. And Old Tom, who went to rescue them. Please. Please,” Sina pleaded. “They’ll be shot down. You must have known something when you gave Zebediah the code. Now he’s gone to join his father. Zebediah made a wish in the night garden.”