THE RAT-CATCHER’S HOUSE.
Fred scanned it as closely as he could in the fading light.
“It’s hard to tell,” he said. “Part of it is Latin and part German; but it’s badly spelled, and there is some of it that must be Dutch. As near as I can make out it reads like this:
“Anno 1284 am dage Johannis et Pauli war der 26 Junii dorch einen Piper mit allerei farve bekledet gewesen 130 Kinder verledet binnen Hameln gebon to Calvarie, bi den Koppen verloren!”
“What gibberish!” Tom exclaimed. “Do you suppose you can translate it?”
Fred looked uncertain; but began word by word, as one construes a Latin lesson in school.
“Anno 1284, in the year 1284, am dage Johannis et Pauli, on the day of St. John and St. Paul, war der 26 Junii, which was the 26th of June—this very day, Tom—a piper with allerlei farve bekledet—that must be parti-colored clothes—led 130 children born in Hameln by the Koppenberg to Calvary. That means to their death I suppose.”
Tom nodded, and for a minute the boys looked at one another without speaking.
“Well, what are you going to do about it?” asked Tom at length.