Looking back to all that has occurred to me since that eventful day, Iam scarcely able to believe in the reality of my adventures. They weretruly so wonderful that even now I am bewildered when I think of them.
My uncle was a German, having married my mother's sister, anEnglishwoman. Being very much attached to his fatherless nephew, heinvited me to study under him in his home in the fatherland. This homewas in a large town, and my uncle a professor of philosophy, chemistry,geology, mineralogy, and many other ologies.
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Now Professor Hardwigg, my worthy uncle, is by no means a bad sort ofman; he is, however, choleric and original. To bear with him means toobey; and scarcely had his heavy feet resounded within our jointdomicile than he shouted for me to attend upon him.
Now to tell the truth, at that moment I was far more interested in thequestion as to what was to constitute our dinner than in any problem ofscience; to me soup was more interesting than soda, an omelette moretempting than arithmetic, and an artichoke of ten times more value thanany amount of asbestos.
He was a very learned man. Now most persons in this category supplythemselves with information, as peddlers do with goods, for the benefitof others, and lay up stores in order to diffuse them abroad for thebenefit of society in general. Not so my excellent uncle, ProfessorHardwigg; he studied, he consumed the midnight oil, he pored over heavytomes, and digested huge quartos and folios in order to keep theknowledge acquired to himself.
There was a reason, and it may be regarded as a good one, why my uncleobjected to display his learning more than was absolutely necessary: hestammered; and when intent upon explaining the phenomena of the heavens,was apt to find himself at fault, and allude in such a vague way to sun,moon, and stars that few were able to comprehend his meaning. To tellthe honest truth, when the right word would not come, it was generallyreplaced by a very powerful adjective.
As I said, my uncle, Professor Hardwigg, was a very learned man; and Inow add a most kind relative. I was bound to him by the double ties ofaffection and interest. I took deep interest in all his doings, andhoped some day to be almost as learned myself. It was a rare thing forme to be absent from his lectures. Like him, I preferred mineralogy toall the other sciences. My anxiety was to gain real knowledge of theearth. Geology and mineralogy were to us the sole objects of life, andin connection with these studies many a fair specimen of stone, chalk,or metal did we break with our hammers.
Steel rods, loadstones, glass pipes, and bottles of various acids wereoftener before us than our meals. My uncle Hardwigg was once known toclassify six hundred different geological specimens by their weight,hardness, fusibility, sound, taste, and smell.
He corresponded with all the great, learned, and scientific men of theage. I was, therefore, in constant communication with, at all events theletters of, Sir Humphry Davy, Captain Franklin, and other great men.
But before I state the subject on which my uncle wished to confer withme, I must say a word about his personal appearance. Alas! my readerswill see a very different portrait of him at a future time, after he hasgone through the fearful adventures yet to be related.
My uncle was fifty years old; tall, thin, and wiry. Large spectacleshid, to a certain extent, his vast, round, and goggle eyes, while hisnose was irreverently compared to a thin file. So much indeed did itresemble that useful article, that a compass was said in his presence tohave made considerable N (Nasal) deviation.
Another peculiarity of his was, that he always stepped a yard at a time,clenched his fists as if he were going to hit you, and was, when in oneof his peculiar humors, very far from a pleasant companion.
My uncle was rich; his house was his own property, while he had aconsiderable private income. To my notion the best part of hispossessions was his god-daughter, Gretchen. And the old cook, the younglady, the Professor and I were the sole inhabitants.
I was about to venture upon some misplaced joke on the subject, when asmall scrap of parchment fell out of the leaves. Like a hungry mansnatching at a morsel of bread the Professor seized it. It was aboutfive inches by three and was scrawled over in the most extraordinaryfashion.
My uncle looked keenly at the document for some moments and thendeclared that it was Runic. The letters were similar to those in thebook, but then what did they mean? This was exactly what I wanted toknow.
And my uncle ought to have known, for he was a perfect polyglotdictionary in himself. He did not pretend, like a certain learnedpundit, to speak the two thousand languages and four thousand idiomsmade use of in different parts of the globe, but he did know all themore important ones.
It is a matter of great doubt to me now, to what violent measures myuncle's impetuosity might have led him, had not the clock struck two,and our old French cook called out to let us know that dinner was on thetable.
"I declare it puts me in mind of a cryptograph," he cried, "unless,indeed, the letters have been written without any real meaning; and yetwhy take so much trouble? Who knows but I may be on the verge of somegreat discovery?"
"To me it appears probable that this sentence was written by some ownerof the book. Now who was the owner, is the next important question.Perhaps by great good luck it may be written somewhere in the volume."
On the fly leaf was what appeared to be a blot of ink, but onexamination proved to be a line of writing almost effaced by time. Thiswas what he sought; and, after some considerable time, he made out theseletters:
"The way to discover it is easy enough. In this document there are onehundred and thirty-two letters, giving seventy-nine consonants tofifty-three vowels. This is about the proportion found in most southernlanguages, the idioms of the north being much more rich in consonants.We may confidently predict, therefore, that we have to deal with asouthern dialect."
"This man Saknussemm," he continued, "was a very learned man: now as hedid not write in the language of his birthplace, he probably, like mostlearned men of the sixteenth century, wrote in Latin. If, however, Iprove wrong in this guess, we must try Spanish, French, Italian, Greek,and even Hebrew. My own opinion, though, is decidedly in favor ofLatin."
We were affianced, and loved one another very sincerely. But my uncle,who never thought even of such sublunary matters, knew nothing of this.Without noticing my abstraction, the Professor began reading thepuzzling cryptograph all sorts of ways, according to some theory of hisown. Presently, rousing my wandering attention, he dictated one preciousattempt to me.
I could scarcely keep from laughing, while my uncle, on the contrary,got in a towering passion, struck the table with his fist, darted out ofthe room, out of the house, and then taking to his heels was presentlylost to sight.
I was very much of the same opinion, but not liking to say so, sent heraway, and began some of my usual work of classification. But try as Imight, nothing could keep me from thinking alternately of the stupidmanuscript and of the pretty Gretchen.
Several times I thought of going out, but my uncle would have been angryat my absence. At the end of an hour, my allotted task was done. How topass the time? I began by lighting my pipe. Like all other students, Idelighted in tobacco; and, seating myself in the great armchair, I beganto think.
Then again I seemed to find the word luco, which means sacred wood.Then in the third line I appeared to make out labiled, a perfectHebrew word, and at the last the syllables mere, are, mer, which wereFrench.
It was enough to drive one mad. Four different idioms in this absurdphrase. What connection could there be between ice, sir, anger, cruel,sacred wood, changing, mother, are, and sea? The first and the lastmight, in a sentence connected with Iceland, mean sea of ice. But whatof the rest of this monstrous cryptograph?
It came upon me like a flash of lightning. I had got the clue. All youhad to do to understand the document was to read it backwards. All theingenious ideas of the Professor were realized; he had dictated itrightly to me; by a mere accident I had discovered what he so muchdesired.
"Never!" cried I, jumping up. "Never shall my uncle be made aware of thedread secret. He would be quite capable of undertaking the terriblejourney. Nothing would check him, nothing stop him. Worse, he wouldcompel me to accompany him, and we should be lost forever. But no; suchfolly and madness cannot be allowed."
I had scarcely time to put down the wretched documents before my unclewas by my side. He was profoundly absorbed. His thoughts were evidentlybent on the terrible parchment. Some new combination had probably struckhim while taking his walk.
His combinations I knew now were useless, I having discovered the oneonly clue. For three mortal hours he continued without speaking a word,without raising his head, scratching, rewriting, calculating over andover again. I knew that in time he must hit upon the right phrase. Theletters of every alphabet have only a certain number of combinations.But then years might elapse before he would arrive at the correctsolution.
When I awoke my uncle was still at work. His red eyes, his pallidcountenance, his matted hair, his feverish hands, his hectically flushedcheeks, showed how terrible had been his struggle with the impossible,and what fearful fatigue he had undergone during that long sleeplessnight. It made me quite ill to look at him. Though he was rather severewith me, I loved him, and my heart ached at his sufferings. He was soovercome by one idea that he could not even get in a passion! All hisenergies were focused on one point. And I knew that by speaking onelittle word all this suffering would cease. I could not speak it.
"Nothing shall make me speak," I muttered. "He will want to follow inthe footsteps of the other! I know him well. His imagination is aperfect volcano, and to make discoveries in the interests of geology hewould sacrifice his life. I will therefore be silent and strictly keepthe secret I have discovered. To reveal it would be suicidal. He wouldnot only rush, himself, to destruction, but drag me with him." 152ee80cbc
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