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| - The children quickly decide that they will follow the clues and go to Mr. Benedict's aid in secret. Rhonda reveals that Mr. Benedict gave her a letter before he was kidnapped, and told her to open it when the other children arrived. The envelope contains a message of greeting from Mr. Benedict, and a nonsensical riddle. In solving the riddle, they discover that the words are in alphabetical order. This leads them to a dictionary, and then a journal - in which is another nonsensical riddle. The children discern it to mean TAKE THE SHORTCUT. The children sneak off on the The Shortcut, the “fastest ship in the world” and find more information that takes them to a castle in Portugal. The Shortcut is the new cargo ship captained by Mr. Benedict's old Navy friend, Phil Noland. Within a few days
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| abstract
| - The children quickly decide that they will follow the clues and go to Mr. Benedict's aid in secret. Rhonda reveals that Mr. Benedict gave her a letter before he was kidnapped, and told her to open it when the other children arrived. The envelope contains a message of greeting from Mr. Benedict, and a nonsensical riddle. In solving the riddle, they discover that the words are in alphabetical order. This leads them to a dictionary, and then a journal - in which is another nonsensical riddle. The children discern it to mean TAKE THE SHORTCUT. The children sneak off on the The Shortcut, the “fastest ship in the world” and find more information that takes them to a castle in Portugal. The Shortcut is the new cargo ship captained by Mr. Benedict's old Navy friend, Phil Noland. Within a few days they land in Portugal, where the children are dismayed to find that Ten Men are stationed on the journey's trail to catch them. At the destination of the next clue a couple Ten Men catchff long enough for Milligan to suddenly arrive (his first appearance thus far) and whisk them away to safety. He accompanies them to a remote island in the middle of the ocean where Mr. Curtain has Mr. Benedict and Number Two held. From there, hidden evidence directs them to a library in Thernbaakagen. There they learn that the “mysterious plant” is called duskwort and is extremely rare - possibly extinct. It has the power, when burned in fire, to put entire villages to sleep for hours on end. It also is a possible antidote to Mr. Benedict’s narcolepsy (Mr. Benedict found this out because of his parents and his parent's great friend). Researching the duskwort, they find that no one knows what it looks like. They travel to a hotel, but are found by two of Mr. Curtain’s henchmen, called the Ten Men. However, they are rescued by Milligan, who accompanies them to find more evidence. They finally find the location of the duskwort - an abandoned island. At night they keep watch at the top of the silo in the middle of the village, and Number Two is revealed to have escaped. However, she is malnourished and injured, and cannot give much information as to what's going on. After getting captured by Ten Men and making an escape, the children get to the mountain cave where Mr. Curtain is stationed. They discover Mr. Benedict chained to the wall in a cave. He begs them to destroy the duskwort. Upon the children saying they don’t know what it looks like, he jumps up and reveals himself to be Mr. Curtain, and locks the children to the wall with the real Mr. Benedict. Mr. Curtain leaves after Mr. Benedict tells him where the duskwort is. However, McCraken then appears to report that Milligan jumped off a cliff to avoid capture. Kate bursts into tears, and when Mr. Benedict tries to comfort her he falls asleep in his grief. Later, when the children are left alone, Kate is optimistic as usual and tells her friends that Milligan would never have jumped to his death - not if they were still in danger. So when Mr. Benedict hypnotizes S.Q. Pedalian into unlocking their handcuffs, they get away. They make their way to the edge of the island and discover Milligan, who is terribly injured but had been trying to crawl back to save them. He says he'd been to that cliff before and saw the bottom was all mud and about a 50 foot drop. He sheepishly admits he'd made a slight misjudgement in the darkness and ended up hurting himself. Against his wishes they bring him with them, and when they get to the beach Captain Noland grounds his ship to distract Curtain and the Ten Men. All the passengers and our heroes hide in the hold at the bottom of the ship to protect themselves from the villains. When their location is discovered Constance cries out that they've set an explosive to dislodge the door just as the Coast Guard arrives. Kate takes the explosive and almost throws it at Mr. Curtain, who's on the shore, but instead throws it into the ocean, reasoning that to kill them would bring her as low as them. Mr. Curtain therefore goes uncaptured and escapes, but everyone is safe and sound. When they return home Mr. Benedict insists that they all stay at his home to ensure everyone's safety.
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