replace the unfortunate

ock seemed to be g

nalytically and with profound scrutiny. He had brought all the resources of his mind

th my eyes his trembling hands, I took count of every movement. Might not some unhoped-for result come of it

, without lifting his head; rubbing out, beginning aga

and thirty-two quadrillions, nine hundred and two trillions, eight billions, a hundred and seventy-six millions, six hundred and forty thousand combinations. Now, here were a hundred and thirty-two letters in this se

s regarded this heroic metho

ncle, bending over his task, noticed nothing, not even Martha half openi

eur take any su

nce, I was overcome by sleep, and fell off at the end of the sofa, while

air tangled between his feverish fingers, the red spots on his cheeks, revealed his desperate struggle with impossi

ng to gain upon me. The poor man was so entirely taken up with his one idea that he had even forgotten how to get angry. All the strength of his feelings was c

ew of the steel vice that was crushing hi

tured fellow. Why was I

ble to my uncl

other geologists have never done he would risk his life. I will preserve silence. I will keep the secret which mere chance has revealed to me. To discover

and waited. But I had not reckoned upon one li

d. The big key was gone. Who could have taken it out? Assuredly, it w

had not the smallest interest? It was a fact that a few years before this, whilst my uncle was working at his great classification of minerals, he was forty-eight hours without eating, and all

not to be conquered by the pangs of hunger. Martha took it very seriously, and, poor woman, was very much distressed. As for me, the impos

ling into the ideal world of combinations; he was far a

ing any harm, cleared out the larder the night before, so that now there wa

uld surely not believe in it, that he would set it down as a mere puzzle; that if it came to the worst, we should lay violent hands on him and keep him at home if he thought on

rejected them with indignation; I even went so far as to condemn myself for m

matter, so as not to seem too abrupt, when the Profess

ing out, to shut us

e!" I

d not to

ck!" I cried, li

ed like a man s

, that

y? The d

ed. "The key of

al in the expression of my countenance; for he laid hold of my arm, and speechl

my head u

e was dealing with a lunatic. I

kled with live fire, his ha

And the fact really was that I dared not speak now, so intense was the excitement for fear lest my uncle sho

at key,

aying?" he shouted with

, presenting a sheet of pa

in this," he answered,

proceed to read from th

sor broke out into a cry, nay, a roar. A new r

ried. "You had first written o

, and voice choked with emotion, he read the w

ved in the fo

oculis crater

Julii intra ca

et terrestre c

Arne Sakn

in may be tra

ch the shadow of Scartaris touches before the kalends of July, and you

his head between both his hands; he pushed the chairs out of their places, he piled up his books; incredible as it may seem, he rattled his precious nodules of flints together;

" he asked after a f

clock," I

and I did not know it. I am half dead

s written avdas, and quod

el

er, pack up

?" I

indefatigable Professor,