The following morning, Mike and Ellie went on a short ramble across the moors, hoping to spot the Maliphant sisters. It didn't take long to find them; both were hunting for plants, separated by a few hundred metres of boggy moorland. "Hope seems to be coming this way," said Ellie, bending down to pick up a rock and carefully placing Izzy's note underneath. "Well, she can't miss that.", said Mike.

Later that evening, Mike and Ellie had hidden themselves in a peat hag near the Rocking Chair stones to get a good view of the meeting between Izzy Mortimer and Hope Maliphant. Hope was already there, sitting nervously on a small rock. It wasn't long before Izzy Mortimer arrived.

Mike and Ellie were not in the best position to hear all of the conversation. Words echoes off the rocks in strange ways and the occasional gust of wind sometimes drowned Izzy and Hope's voices out. They listened as best they could: "…Cuddeny has suspicions…" "…my sister can't be…" "…we've got to do this…"

As the conversation continued, Mike and Ellie heard a shrill whistle from the distance. At that moment, an enormous hound appeared on top of the Rocking Chair stones. The hound's fur appeared to glow and its eyes burned red as it rose onto its haunches and howled. Izzy and Hope looked up to see the hound launch itself directly towards them.

"It's Old Schuck!" whispered Mike. "If I hadn't seen it myself then I wouldn't have believed it!"

Hope and Izzy ran for their lives in different directions. Old Schuck paused, paced slowly around in a circle and then let out a horrifying howl. It then bounded off in the direction Izzy had gone, a glowing blur disappearing into the mist.

"Look up there!" said Ellie to Mike. High up on the moor, a silhouette appeared on top of a ridge. As Mike looked up, the mysterious figure nodded and slowly walked out of view.

"Come on," said Ellie. "Let's find out who that was." The friends started to walk up towards the ridge, darkness and the boggy ground slowing their progress. Eventually, they reached the summit. On the ground they could see a small bothy bag and very basic camping equipment.

"Whoever's camping here can't have gone far. Maybe there's something here that will tell us who it is," whispered Ellie. She quickly looked around the campsite. Nearby lay a powerful torch, a pair of binoculars and a pile of ordnance survey maps. "I think we've found the person who sent the flashing light code," she said.

Underneath a small camping stove, Mike saw a piece of paper with "M&E" written on it. "I think this is for us," he said.

Alan Turing Cryptography Competition 2018 is organised by the The Department of Mathematics at The University of Manchester.
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