Professor Blick, adjusting his thick glasses, came out and looked over each item as Timkin took it off the truck.
"Our prices are still standard, Timkin," he said. "Two SS-dollars for a specimen of coal. Three for fossil bones. Five for bits of machinery. And ten for the carved stones."
"Why," asked Timkin curiously, "do you pay more for the stones than anything?"
"Because if they could speak they would tell us far more about the ancient civilization of the first moon, than any of the other items. We have a sizeable collection now. We can't translate the writing yet. But some day we're going to find the Rosetta Stone that will give us the clue and open up the whole vast story."
"Rosetta Stone?" Timkin was puzzled.
The professor went on conversationally.
"Yes. You see, back on earth many centuries ago, the archeologists of that time also found carved writings—the ancient records of the Egyptians. And they too were a riddle.
"But one day a stone was found with not only Egyptian heiroglyphics on it but another language! The text on this stone had been written in Egyptian and then copied in the other language. And that second language—ancient Greek—was known! So this enabled all the Egyptian writing to be translated and...."
The professor's voice stopped, with a queer gurgle. Timkin stared. He had just handed him the triangular stone which had been among Larsoe's "gifts."
"Timkin!" screeched the professor. "This is it! This stone has two sets of writing on it. One is the unknown script of the first moon. And the other is—oh, thank the stars!—it's early Rhean, which is a language we know!"