Calico Classics Illustrated: Journey to the Center of the Earth
It is a runic manuscript my uncle shouted It is the language of the original people of Iceland My uncle picked up the book to show me when a small piece of old parchment fell from the book My uncle grabbed the paper only about fi ve inches by three inches in size There were strange looking letters on it more of the runic It did not seem important to me but my uncle could do nothing but stare at the paper After awhile the cook called out that dinner was on the table Forget dinner my uncle shouted But I was hungry and hurried to the dining room After waiting for my uncle a few minutes I decided to eat Just as I fi nished I heard my uncle yelling for me to come to his study again Look at this he said shoving the parchment in my face 6
There is some wonderful secret in this message I must discover what it is Sit down and write my uncle ordered I quickly obeyed I will substitute the runic letters with letters from our alphabet my uncle said I wrote the letters of each of the twenty-one words It made no sense to me mm rnlls esruel unteief sgtssmf kt samn atrateS emtnaeI nuaect Atvaar nscrc eeutul ccdrmi dt iac oseibo seecJde niedrke Saodrrn rrilSa ieaabs frantu KediiY I had barely fi nish ed when my uncle snatched the paper from my hands to examine it I should like to know what it means he said No matter how I looked at it I could not tell him the meaning 8
It is like a cryptograph he said A puzzle The book and the parchment are written in different hands The parchment is newer than the book by 200 years I agreed that his conclusion was logical The owner of the book must have written these mysterious letters my uncle said But who was he Maybe it is written in the book Professor Von Hardwigg took a powerful magnifying glass and examined the book A small blot of ink old and diffi cult to read was on the fl yleaf My uncle was fi nally able to make out some letters With a shout of joy my uncle cried Arne Saknussemm He explained That is the name of an important and famous Icelandic professor Maybe he has hidden some surprising invention on the parchment My uncle turned to me Neither of us will eat or sleep until I discover its secret I did not like the sound of this We tried many languages and worked for hours My 9
