“Here it is, then,” said Lord Glenarvan, “and that is in a language we all know.”
The words it contained were these:
troi ats tannia
gonie austral
abor
contin pr cruel indi
jete ongit
et 37 degrees 11” LAT
“There are figures!” exclaimed Lady Helena. “Look!”
“Let us go steadily to work,” said Lord Glenarvan, “and begin at the beginning. I think we can make out from the incomplete words in the first line that a three-mast vessel is in question, and there is little doubt about the name; we get that from the fragments of the other papers; it is the BRITANNIA. As to the next two words, GONIE and AUSTRAL, it is only AUSTRAL that has any meaning to us.”
“But that is a valuable scrap of information,” said John Mangles. “The shipwreck occurred in the southern hemisphere.”
“That’s a wide world,” said the Major.
“Well, we’ll go on,” resumed Glenarvan. “Here is the word ABOR; that is clearly the root of the verb ABORDER. The poor men have landed somewhere; but where? CONTIN—does that mean continent? CRUEL!”
“CRUEL!” interrupted John Mangles. “I see now what GRAUS is part of in the second document. It is GRAUSAM, the word in German for CRUEL!”
“Let’s go on,” said Lord Glenarvan, becoming quite excited over his task, as the incomplete words began to fill up and develop their meaning. “INDI,—is it India where they have been shipwrecked? And what can this word ONGIT be part of? Ah! I see—it is LONGITUDE; and here is the latitude, 37 degrees 11”. That is the precise indication at last, then!”