Читать книгу Путешествие к центру Земли / A Journey to the Centre of the Earth - Жюль Верн, Жуль Верн - Страница 4

“Undoubtedly it is Runic,” said the Professor; “but there is a secret in it, and I want to discover the key.”

He finished the sentence with a violent gesture.

“Sit there,” he added “Sit there and write.”

I sat down.

“Now I will dictate to you every letter of our alphabet which corresponds with each of these Icelandic characters. We will see what that will give us.”

The dictation commenced. I did my best. Every letter came one after the other[16], with the following remarkable result:

mm.rnlls esrevel seecIde

sgtssmf vnteief niedrke

kt,samn atrateS saodrrn

emtnaeI nvaect rrilSa

Atsaar .nvcrc ieaabs

ccrmi eevtVl frAntv

dt,iac oseibo KediiI

When this work has ended my uncle tore the paper from me and examined it attentively for a long time.

“What does it all mean?” he asked mechanically.

I could not help him.

“This is what is called a cryptogram, or a cipher,” he said, “in which letters are purposely thrown in confusion. Under this jargon there may lie the clue to some great discovery!”

As for me, I thought that there was nothing at all in it; though, of course, I did not say so.

Then the Professor took the book and the parchment, and diligently compared them together.

“These two writings are not by the same hand,” he said; “the cipher is of later date than the book. There are two hundred years between the manuscript and the document.”

I agreed.

“I can imagine,” continued my uncle, “that some possessor of this book wrote these mysterious letters. But who was that possessor? Is there his name in the manuscript?”

My uncle raised his spectacles, and carefully examined the blank pages of the book. On the front of the second title-page he could distinguish some letters.

“Arne Saknussemm[17]!” he cried in triumph. “That is the name of another Icelander, a savant of the sixteenth century, a celebrated alchemist!”

I gazed at my uncle with admiration.

“Those alchemists,” he resumed, “Avicenna, Bacon, Lully, Paracelsus[18], were the real and only savants of their time. They made discoveries at which we are astonished. Has not this Saknussemm concealed under his cryptogram some surprising invention? It is so; it must be so!”

“No doubt,” I replied, “but why did he hide so marvellous discovery?”

“Why? Why? How can I tell? Did not Galileo [19]do the same with Saturn? We shall see. I will reveal the secret of this document, and I will neither sleep nor eat!”

My comment on this was “Oh!”

“First of all we must find out the key to this cipher; that cannot be difficult.”

At that I quickly raised my head.

“There’s nothing easier. In this document there are a hundred and thirty-two letters: seventy-seven consonants and fifty-five vowels. So this is a southern language. But what language is it?”

I was looking at the letters.

“This Saknussemm,” the Professor went on, “was a very well-informed man; so he was not writing in his own mother tongue, he selected Latin. The savants of the sixteenth century generally wrote in Latin. So it is Latin.”

I jumped up in my chair. These barbarous words belong to the sweet language of Virgil[20]!

“Yes, it is Latin,” my uncle went on; “but it is Latin confused and in disorder. Let us examine carefully. Here is a series of one hundred and thirty-two letters in apparent disorder. This arrangement has arisen mathematically in obedience to the unknown law. Whoever possesses the key of this cipher will read it with fluency. What is that key? Axel, have you got it?”

I did not answer, and for a very good reason. My eyes had fallen upon a charming picture: the portrait of Gräuben. We had become engaged unknown to my uncle. Gräuben was a lovely blue-eyed blonde. I adored her. Every day she helped me to arrange my uncle’s precious specimens; she and I labelled them together. Mademoiselle Gräuben was an accomplished mineralogist. How often I envied the stones which she handled with her charming fingers.

“No, no, no,” cried my uncle, “there’s no sense in it!”

Then he rushed outside onto the Königstrasse and fled.