“Hut, 2, 3, 4, hut, 2, 3, 4…” If Sgt Stitches’ favorite thing to do was geocaching, his second favorite thing was drilling the new recruits. “Ok you dirt bags! When we’re done marching, you can drop and give me twenty! But for now…. HUT! 2! 3! 4!…”
Just then, Lt Happy Camper came up to the sergeant with Sgt Tiki in tow. “I’ve got another cache for you, sergeant.” said Lt Happy Camper. “Sgt Tiki will take over the drills.”
With that, Sgt Tiki stepped up and shouted, “ All right you maggots! Let’s see some sharp marching there! HUT! 2! 3! 4!…”
Sgt Stitches looked back as Cpl Coconut and Cpl Kiwi continued to march around the parade square while Sgt Tiki continued the cadence, “HUT! 2! 3! 4!…”
Lt Happy Camper leaned towards Sgt Stitches and said, “You’ve been having trouble with the codes we’ve been using lately, so I’m just going to give you the numbers. Here is the key to get them in the right order.”
Lt Happy Camper gave Sgt Stiches a piece of paper with the following key:
north DA CB.EFG
ABCDEFG
west FEG CD.AHB
ABCDEFGH
“Now listen carefully, sergeant, because I’m going to give you two sets of numbers. The first number in each set is A, the second number is B and so on… You think you handle that?”
“Yes Sir, Lieutenant”
With that, Lt Happy Camper leaned over and whispered the numbers into Sgt Stitches ear. All the while, Sgt Tiki continued “HUT! 2! 3! 4!…”.
“Did you say the coordinates were 2347?” asked Sgt Stitches
“No! And keep you voice down… the coordinates are classified!” Lt Happy Camper leaned over again and whispered the numbers again.
This time, Sgt Stitches leaned back and whispered the numbers back to Lt Happy Camper.
“OK, you’ve got them… now you better go write down those coordinates before you pick up the cache and head out on patrol”
Sgt Stitches repeated the numbers to himself as he headed back to the barracks.
The sounds of “HUT! 2! 3! 4!…” rang out behind him as he headed back to the barracks.
“Let’s see that was a seven and a four and a two…”
“HUT! 2! 3! 4!…”
“…or was that a 2 and a 3 and a 4…”
“HUT! 2! 3! 4!…”
“or was it 3 1 1 7 3 1 1 4 3……”
When Sgt Stiches got back to his office he frantically scribbled down the numbers running through his head.
31173114311211141113 11121117111211153112111321
“Oh no! Not again! Lt Happy Camper is going to kill me! All that counting really messed me up!” Sgt Stitches searched his memory for how he ended up with those numbers. “Let’s see I got to those numbers from here…”. Once again Sgt Stitches scribbled furiously until he figured out how he got to the previous set of numbers.
1117111411121413 1217121511121311
“Whew! I think I can recover the whole thing now,” Sgt Stitches thought to himself. “Just two more iterations and I should be back to the original set of numbers!” When Sgt Stitches was done, he did indeed have the original numbers.. His paper looked like this:
| 31173114311211141113 |
11121117111211153112111321 |
| 1117111411121413 |
1217121511121311 |
| ???????? |
???????? |
???????
(original numbers) |
????????
(original numbers) |
| ABCDEFG |
ABCDEFGH |
| north DA CB.EFG |
west FEG CD.AHB |
Relieved to have avoided the wrath of Lt Happy Camper, Sgt Stitches took the new coordinates and headed out to place the cache.
Cache contains log sheet, but no pencil. FTF prize is a keychain flashlight. Container is fatter than a film can, but shorter. The cache difficulty is a combination of the difficulty of the puzzle and the difficulty of finding the cache once you get the coordinates. As always, feedback is appreciated and I am perfectly willing to provide additional hints if you miss the clues that are hidden in the story...
